a most unkind and
even uncourteous manner, in a manner in which he would not dare to speak
to any one else; I know he may not mean unkindness, but is it not a
wrong? I say nothing of its unchristianness; is it not a wrong done to
her who loves him more than she does all the world, to treat her far
more uncourteously than the world would do?

Is it not shameful that she who has borne all the pain, and care, and
anxiety, and burden of his children, should ever have an unkind word or
look from him? Nay, is it not a meanness, an entirely unchristian
meanness, that a husband should presume upon the very loveliness of his
wife, upon the very affections of her pure heart, to treat her thus
rudely? And is it not as cowardly as it is mean, thus to act towards
one whose only defense is in himself? I say cowardly, for were many a
husband to speak, and to act towards another woman as he allows himself
to do and to speak towards his own wife, he would not always escape the
punishment due his ungentlemanly conduct. Let us, who are husbands and
wives, endeavor all of us to be on the watch in this thing; and let it
be our rule to treat no one in the world more kindly or more politely
than we do our own wives and our own husbands. Not long since, at the
bedside of a dying wife, I heard a husband, with quivering lip and
tearful eye, say, "Beloved wife, forgive me, if I have ever treated you
unkindly." If you would be saved from the anguish of ever feeling that
you needed forgiveness from the dying lips of your dearest earthly ones,
be kindly affectioned, therefore, one to another.

Let us, in the next place, seek to apply this direction to the
intercourse of brothers and sisters. No association of beings on earth
can be more interesting than that of the family; there are found the
tenderest sympathies and the most endearing relations. There the painter
seeks for the sweetest scenes by which to exhibit his art, and the poet
finds the inspiration which gives melody to his song. The highest praise
which we can give to any other association of men, whether in church or
state, is to say that they dwell together as a family; and cold and hard
indeed must be that heart which does not sympathize and rejoice in
family ties. In nothing short of the developments made in the cross of
Jesus do the wisdom and love of God towards our race shine more
conspicuously than they do in this grouping us in families. The result
has been, that society has been