Establish the habit also of perseverance in well-doing.  “Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.”  “Be not weary in well-doing.”  Let the strata of your home be made up of the immovable Rock.  He only that continueth unto the end shall be saved.  Having done all, stand!  Let your motto be, Perseverando vinces.  Form the habit of contentment with your home and condition in life.  “Godliness with contentment is great gain.”  If your home is humble, and not adorned with the embellishments and luxuries of life, yet it may be holy, and hence, happy.  Avoid all castle-building.  Do not fancy a better home, and fall out with the one you enjoy.  Never permit the flimsy creations of a distorted imagination to gain an ascendancy over your reason and faith.  Live above all sentimentalism and day-dreaming; and in all the feelings and conduct of your household, submit to the guidance of a superintending Providence, walking by faith and not by sight, assured that your present home is but probationary and preparatory to a better home in heaven.

CHAPTER XVIII.

HOME-GOVERNMENT.

  “Alas! for a thousand fathers, whose indulgent sloth
  Hath emptied the vial of confusion over a thousand homes. 
  Alas! for the palaces and hovels, that might have been nurseries for
    heaven,
  By hot intestine broils blighted into schools for hell;
  None knoweth his place, yet all refuse to serve,
  None weareth the crown, yet all usurp the scepter;
  The mother, heart-stricken years agone, hath dropped into an early grave;
  The silent sisters long to leave a home they cannot love;
  The brothers, casting off restraint, follow their wayward wills.”

Home is a little commonwealth jointly governed by the parents.  It involves law.  The mutual relation of parent and child implies authority on the one hand, and obedience on the other.  This is the principle of all government.  Home is the first form of society.  As such it must have a government.  Its institution implies the prerogatives of the parent and the subordination of the child.  Without this there would be no order, no harmony, no training for the state or the church; for—­

  “Society is a chain of obligations, and its links support each other;
  The branch cannot but wither that is cut from the parent vine.”

The relation of the parent to the child is that of a superior to an inferior.  The right of the parent is to command; the duty of the child is to obey.  Hence it is the relation of authority to subordination.  This relation includes the principles of home-government.  The parent is not the author of his authority.  It is delegated to him.  Neither can he make arbitrary laws for home; these must be the laws of God.  It is as much the duty of the parent to rule as it is for the child to be ruled.