The Christian home should be qualified for this mission.  There can be no such qualification, however, where the marriage alliance involves inequality—­one of the parents a Christian, the other not; for they cannot “dwell together as heirs of the grace of life,” neither can they effectually dispense that grace to their offspring.  When thus “the house is divided against itself, it must fall.”  “Be ye not, therefore, unequally yoked together.”  If one draws heavenward and the other hellward, there will be a halting between Baal and God, and the influence of the one will be counteracted by that of the other.  What communion hath light with darkness?  “What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?  What part hath he that believeth with an infidel?” Thus divided, their home will be unfit for its high vocation.  Hence parents, in their marriage alliance as well as in their individual character, should qualify themselves for the responsible mission of home.  Can the ungodly wife or husband fulfill this mission?  Can the irreligious parent bring up his offspring “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord?”

Many parents disqualify themselves for their home-mission by devoting too much attention to society,—­by spending more time abroad, at parties, theaters and masquerade balls, in gossiping and recreation, than at home with each other and with their children.  They commit their children, with all the family interests, to nurses and servants.  They regard their offspring as mere playthings to be dandled upon the knee, brought up like calves in the stall, and then turned out to shape their own destiny.

This is a sad mistake!  There is no substitute for home,—­no transfer of a parent’s commission, no adequate compensation for a parent’s loss.  None can effectually take the parent’s place.  Their influence is overwhelming and absolute.

    “With what a kingly power their love
  Might rule the fountains of the new-born mind!”

Not even the dark villainies which have disgraced humanity can neutralize it.  Gray-haired and demon guilt will weep in his dismal cell over the melting, soothing memories of home.  Their impressions are indelible, “like the deep borings into the flinty rock.”  To erase them we must remove every strata of their being.  They give texture and coloring to the whole woof and web of the child’s character.  The mother especially preoeccupies the unwritten page of its being, and mingles with it in its cradle dreams, making thus a deathless impress upon its soul.

  “The mother in her office, holds the key
  Of the soul; and she it is who stamps the coin
  Of character, and makes the being who would be a savage
  But for her cares, a Christian man!”

What a folly and a sin, therefore, for Christian parents to give over their holy mission to another, while they immerse themselves in the forbidden pleasures and recreations of the world!  Oh, if you are loving, faithful parents, you will love the society of your household more than the fashions and the fashionable resorts of the world; you will not substitute the “nurse” and the “boarding school” for the more efficient ministrations of the Christian home.