MY DEAR
FRIENDS--
Our meeting today has special reference to ourselves and to
our children. We meet as mothers, to provoke one another to
love and to good works--to call up to remembrance our past negligences,
and to combine our renewed determinations to serve God in our
families, with earnest supplication for the divine assistance
and blessing. Standing, as we do, on the brink of the old year
and the borders of the new, surely it is an appropriate season
for devout acknowledgment, tenderhearted confession, and united
prayer. If our heavenly Father will require at our hands
that which is past, shall we not carefully review it,
and seriously inquire, "What have I done?" What have
I done for my own soul--what have I done for the eternal welfare
of my beloved children? Have I been faithful to my solemn responsibility?
Have I walked before my house with a perfect heart? Have I uniformly
regarded my children as a sacred trust, and has it been my unremitting
concern to train them up for Christ? Have I had my heart deeply
affected with their lost and unsaved condition? Have I wept
over their impenitence and unbelief, and have I tried by every
means, and by every discussion, to bring them to the Great Physician?
Have I sought His aid by hearty, frequent, and special prayer,
nothing doubting, but "strong in faith, giving glory to
His name?" Have I consulted the Bible as the rule of my
conduct towards them, just as diligently as I should consult
a guidebook, if I had to undertake a long and arduous journey?
Have I conversed with them, according to their ages and circumstances,
on spiritual subjects, so as to touch their consciences, to
win their affections, and to convince them that there is nothing
so important to me as their salvation? Have I endeavored
for their sakes to be spiritually minded, to cultivate my mind,
to restrain my appetites, to control my feelings, and to grow
in the exercise of every Christian grace?
Alas for us, my friends! Who can lay her hand upon her heart
and say, "I have washed my hands in innocency?" Not
one. Are we not individually ready to confess our manifold offenses
towards our offspring? Do we not, even on this hasty recollection,
call to mind much that we would fain obliterate? Are we not
sensible of yielding to slothfulness and indifference? Have
we not often restrained prayer, or prayed with faint expectation
of success? Has not our example been frequently of the worst
description--worldly, trifling, and unprofitable? Have we not
given them an unlovely representation of the religion we profess,
by the indulgence of those dispositions which Christianity is
mighty to subdue? If, then, dear friends, our children are still
in darkness--still in spiritual bondage--still unsanctified,
let us not reflect upon Providence, but upon ourselves. If we
are to have a change in them, ought there not also to be a change
in us? Let us, as mothers, apply ourselves more seriously to
discover our individual errors. One may err by excessive indulgence--another
by undue severity; one may slight prayers--another may neglect
corresponding effort. There are innumerable ways in which we
may prejudice their minds and harden their hearts. What then
are we to do? And here I would say, we must be more thoughtful.
Inconsideration is at the root of much that is wrong
in families and individuals. We do not devote sufficient time
to quiet, patient, solitary thought. We adopt a system suited
to our inclinations, and pursue it with little examination as
to its effects. We are contented to do as others do, not striving
to do better. Then we must be more in earnest for our children's
salvation. If we were truly set on this, how should we explore
the Word of God for its hidden consolations--its promises and
its instructions! How should we pursue our inquiries of those
whom God has been pleased to bless, and how should we watch
as those who must soon give their account! Look at the vigilance
and care of the gardener, rising early and late, taking no rest,
anticipating every atmospheric change, studying every characteristic
variety in his tender plants, now exposing them to the sun,
now screening them from its power, and pursuing the greatest
diversity of means to one end--the perfection of the young vegetable.
Ah! Have we the hearts of mothers, and can we be satisfied whilst
any one of our children is living "without God and without
hope in the world?" Impossible! The supposition shocks
us; and yet, to exemplify and carry out this earnestness, involves
a life of much diligence, of daily self-denial, of increasing
devotedness. Added to this, and connected with it in all its
details, must be prayer--importunate, unceasing prayer: not
the prayer which is offered up and forgotten, but the prayer
which is attended by an unquenchable desire, and succeeded by
a well-directed effort;--prayer founded on the promise of the
covenant, and which will not be denied. When we have such consideration,
such earnestness, and such prayer, we shall not be long without
a blessing.
Should we not embrace every day as a favorable opportunity
put into our hands, and redeem it for advancing their spiritual
interests? If every mother would keep this subject uppermost
in her thoughts, and secretly resolve to let no day pass without
a direct effort for her children's good, much would be gained.
If she would apply herself to their characters, tastes, and
habits, sympathize with them in their useful pursuits, invite
their confidence, and accommodate herself to their youthful
feelings, she might persuade them to cooperate with her in higher
and holier undertakings. O, how desirable it would be to gather
our children around us at the opening or at the close of each
day, and read with them a portion of the sacred Scriptures,
making our own remarks, and inviting theirs! And surely this
may be done, if we set about it in the right way, and in the
right spirit. Let children themselves arrange the plan, and
they will carry it out with greater interest. Let them keep
a short record of the time thus profitably spent, and they will
recur to it with much satisfaction. Especially let us enter
afresh into our closets, and there implore a double measure
of divine grace to rest upon us. We all feel how much our usefulness
to others depends on the state of our own souls. Let us therefore
begin at home--begin with ourselves, and proceed, as Job proceeded,
to intercede for every individual of our beloved circle. O,
we ought not to despair of the divine goodness! God waits to
be gracious; he loves to be entreated; and instead of rebuking
us for our importunity, He says, "Hitherto ye have asked
nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy
may be full."
