ch has instituted, such as Sabbath schools, bible classes and
catechisation.

Home-education does not imply a system of parental training isolated from
the educational ministrations of the church; but is churchly in its spirit
and in all its parts, and should in all respects be connected with the
church. Home training is a duty you owe to the church. By virtue of your
relation to her, she has the authority to demand of you such a training of
your child; and by virtue of your relation to the child, he has a right to
such an education, and can demand it from you. It stands on the basis of
parental duty imposed on you by God Himself. It is a prime necessity. It is
your children's birthright, which they themselves cannot sell with
impunity, for the pottage of gold or silver or pleasure: neither can you
neglect or abuse it without guilt before God.

It is, therefore, a duty which you cannot shake off, and which involves
both for you and for your child, the most momentous consequences. Christian
parents! be faithful to this duty. Magnify your office as a teacher; be
faithful to your household as a school. Diligently serve your children as
the pupils that God has put under your care. Educate them for Him. Teach
them to "walk by faith, not by sight." Cultivate in them a sense of the
unseen world,--the feeling of the actual influence of the Spirit of God,
the guardianship of his holy angels, and of the communion of saints. Teach
them how to live and how to die; and by the force of your own holy example
allure them to the cross, and lead them onward and upward in the living way
of eternal life. You are encouraged to do so by the assurance of God that
"when they grow old they will not depart from it."

CHAPTER XVII.

FAMILY HABITS.

"Dost thou live, man, dost thou live, or only breathe and labor?
Art thou free, or enslaved to a routine, the daily machinery of habit?
For one man is quickened into life, where thousands exist as in a torpor,
Feeding, toiling, sleeping, an insensate weary round;
The plough, or the ledger, or the trade, with animal cares and indolence,
Make the mass of vital years a heavy lump unleavened."

Much of the character, usefulness and happiness of home depend upon home
habits. No one is without habits, good or bad. They have much to do with
our welfare here and hereafter. Hence the importance of establishing proper
habits.

Habit is a state of any thing, implying some continuance or