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“LIFE IN THE WEST; OR, THE MORETON FAMILY.”—­This tasteful little work, coming out under the sanction of the American Sunday-School Union, hardly needs from us an item of praise; but we cannot consent to pass it by unnoticed.  A more faithful and interesting picture of the trials of a Christian family in removing westward, and of their surmounting such trials, we have never seen.  Religion, the religion of home, they take with them; and by the wayside, and in the log cottage, they worship their father’s God.  We needed such a delineation, in the form of an attractive narrative, to show us that in passing through the trials of a strange country, we are yet to be on the Lord’s side.  But beside this, there is in the work the loveliness of a well-ordered home; the picture of a faithful, thoughtful mother, and of children and husband appreciating such a mother.  To give one little extract—­“The mother’s room!  What family knows not that sociable spot—­that heart of the house?  To it go the weary, the sick, the sad and the happy, all sure of sympathy and of aid; all secure in their expectation of meeting there the cheering word, the comforting smile, and the loving friend.”  In thorough ignorance of what a new home should mean, little Willie inquires, “Home is not a house, is it?” Most sensible question for a child.  To such as desire an answer to the inquiry, we recommend the work, as one which will be of value to them and their children.

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Original.

PARENTAL SOLICITUDE.

In my intercourse with Christian parents, and it has not been limited, I have often found a deep anxiety pervading their hearts in relation to the spiritual state of their children.  And why should not such anxiety exist?  If a parent has evidence that his child is in an impenitent state—­especially if that child is growing up in habits of vicious indulgence—­he ought to feel, and deeply feel.  That child is in danger, and the danger is the greater by how much the more his heart has become callous, under the hardening influence of a wicked life; and every day that danger increases.  God’s patience may be exhausted.  The brittle thread of life may be sundered at any moment, and the impenitent and unprepared soul be summoned to the bar of God.  With great propriety, therefore, may the parent feel anxious in regard to his unconverted children.

But to some parents it seems mysterious that such deep, constant, corroding anxiety should be their allotment.  They sometimes attempt to cast it off.  They would feel justified in doing so, were they able.  But that is impossible.  Now, to such parents allow me to address a few thoughts which, may the Divine Spirit, by his gracious influence, bless to their comfort and direction.