Guard your parlor, therefore, from the corrupting influence of all immoral associations.  Be not carried away by the pomp and glare of refined and decorated wickedness.  Let not the ornaments and magnificence of mere outward life divert your attention from those hidden principles which prompt to action.  In the choice of companions for your children in the parlor, look to the ornaments of the heart rather than to those of the body.  Be not allured by the parade of circumstance and position in life:  Be not carried away by that which may intoxicate for a moment, and then leave the heart in more wretchedness than before.  Ever remember that the future condition of your children, their domestic character and happiness, will depend upon the kind of company you admit in your parlor.  This leads us to the consideration of the part Christian parents should take in the marriage of their children.  This we shall investigate in our next chapter under the head of “Match-making.”

CHAPTER XXIII.

MATCH-MAKING.

SECTION I.

THE RELATION OF PARENTS TO THE MARRIAGE CHOICE OF THEIR CHILDREN.

  “Youth longeth for a kindred spirit, and yet yearneth for a
      heart that can commune with his own;
  Take heed that what charmeth thee is real, nor springeth of
      thine own imagination;
  And suffer not trifles to win thy love; for a wife is thine unto
      death!”

One of the most affecting scenes of home-life is that of the bridal hour!  Though in one sense it is a scene of joy and festivity; yet in another, it is one of deep sadness.  When all is adorned with flowers and smiles, and the parlor becomes the theater of conviviality and parade, even then hearts are oppressed with sorrow at the thought of that separation which is soon to take place.

The bridal is a home-crisis.  It is the breaking up of home-ties and communion, a separation from home scenes, a lopping off from the parent vine, an engrafting into a strange vine, and alas! too often, into a degenerate vine.  As the youthful bride stands beside her affianced husband, to be wedded to him for life, and reflects that the short ceremonial of that occasion will tear her forever from the loved, objects and scenes of her childhood-home, what tears of bitter sorrow adorn the bridal cheek, and what pungent feelings are awakened by her last farewell!

  “’I leave thee, sister! we have played
      Through many a joyous hour,
  Where the silvery gleam of the olive shade
      Hung dim o’er fount and bower.’

“Yes!  I leave thee, sister, with all that we have enjoyed together; I leave thee in the memory of our childhood-haunts and song and prayer.  We cannot be as we have been.  I leave thee now, and all that has bound us together as one; and hereafter memory alone can hail thee, and will do so with her burning tear; therefore, kind sister, let me weep!