stable as water. One duty will interfere with another. You may have
family prayer and instruction to-day, but something will prevent it
to-morrow. Establish the habit of Christian industry. Be diligent; not
slothful in business. Industry must be the price of all you obtain. You
must be instant in season. The Christian home cannot be an indolent, idle
home. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might. Press
forward.

It is said of Rutherford that "such was his unwearied assiduity and
diligence, that he seemed to pray constantly, to preach constantly, to
catechise constantly, and to visit the sick, exhorting from house to house,
to teach as much in the schools, and spend as much time with the students
in fitting them for the ministry, as if he had been sequestered from all
the world, and yet withal, to write as much as if he had been constantly
shut up in his study." Such should be the industry of each Christian home.
Without it, temptation will beset the members. "A busy man is troubled with
but one devil, but the idle man with a thousand."

Establish the habit also of perseverance in well-doing. "Be steadfast,
immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord." "Be not weary in
well-doing." Let the strata of your home be made up of the immovable Rock.
He only that continueth unto the end shall be saved. Having done all,
stand! Let your motto be, _Perseverando vinces_. Form the habit of
contentment with your home and condition in life. "Godliness with
contentment is great gain." If your home is humble, and not adorned with
the embellishments and luxuries of life, yet it may be holy, and hence,
happy. Avoid all castle-building. Do not fancy a better home, and fall out
with the one you enjoy. Never permit the flimsy creations of a distorted
imagination to gain an ascendancy over your reason and faith. Live above
all sentimentalism and day-dreaming; and in all the feelings and conduct of
your household, submit to the guidance of a superintending Providence,
walking by faith and not by sight, assured that your present home is but
probationary and preparatory to a better home in heaven.

CHAPTER XVIII.

HOME-GOVERNMENT.

"Alas! for a thousand fathers, whose indulgent sloth
Hath emptied the vial of confusion over a thousand homes.
Alas! for the palaces and hovels, that might have been nurseries for
heaven,
By hot intestine broils blighted into schools for hell;
None knoweth his place