n. Observe how all the
diversities of human condition and character manifest themselves in
the family.

First of all, there are the two opposite poles of masculine and
feminine, which contain within them the entire of our Humanity--which
together, not separately, make up the whole of man. Then there are the
diversities in the degrees and kinds of affection. For when we speak
of family affection, we must remember that it is made up of many
diversities. There is nothing more different than the love which the
sister bears towards the brother, compared with that which the brother
bears towards the sister. The affection which a man bears towards his
father is quite distinct from that which he feels towards his mother;
it is something quite different towards his sister; totally diverse
again, towards his brother.

And then there are diversities of character. First the mature wisdom
and stern integrity of the father; then the exuberant tenderness of
the mother. And then one is brave and enthusiastic, another
thoughtful, and another tender. One is remarkable for being full of
rich humour, another is sad, mournful, even melancholy. Again, besides
these, there are diversities of condition in life. First, there is the
heir, sustaining the name and honour of the family; then perchance the
soldier, in whose career all the anxiety and solicitude of the family
is centred; then the man of business, to whom they look up, trusting
his advice, expecting his counsel; lastly perhaps, there is the
invalid, from the very cradle trembling between life and death,
drawing out all the sympathies and anxieties of each member of the
family, and so uniting them all more closely, from their having one
common point of sympathy and solicitude. Now, you will observe that
these are not accidental, but absolutely essential to the idea of a
family; for so far as any one of them is lost, so far the family is
incomplete. A family made up of one sex alone, all brothers and no
sisters; or in which all are devoted to one pursuit; or in which there
is no diversity of temper and dispositions--the same monotonous
repeated identity--a sameness in the type of character--this is not a
family, it is only the fragment of a family.

And precisely in the same way all these diversities of character and
condition are necessary to constitute and complete the idea of a
Christian Church. For as in ages past it was the delight of the Chu