It is a book for the mind, the heart, the conscience, the will and the
life. It suits the palace and the cottage, the afflicted and the
prosperous, the living and the dying. It is a comfort to "the house of
mourning," and a check to "the house of feasting." It "giveth seed to the
sower, and bread to the eater." It is simple, yet grand; mysterious, yet
plain; and though from God, it is nevertheless, within the comprehension of
a little child. You may send your children to school to study other books,
from which they may be educated for this world; but in this divine book
they study the science of the eternal world.
The family bible has given to the Christian home that unmeasured
superiority in all the dignities and decencies and enjoyments of life, over
the home of the heathen. It has elevated woman, revealed her true mission,
developed the true idea and sacredness of marriage and of the
home-relationship; it has unfolded the holy mission of the mother, the
responsibilities of the parent, and the blessings of the child. Take this
book from the family, and she will degenerate into a mere conventionalism,
marriage into a "social contract;" the spirit of mother will depart;
natural affection will sink to mere brute fondness, and what we now call
home would become a den of sullen selfishness and barbaric lust!
The bible should, therefore, be the text-book of home-education.
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