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assumed the human form. But then it is added immediately afterwards: "And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart." This was the first exhibition of filial obedience to his earthly parents which is recorded of the Redeemer. The last is still more touching and memorable. When the weary pilgrimage of the Man of Sorrows was drawing to a close; when the last passover had been eaten with his disciples; when the kiss of Judas had been received by which he was betrayed; and deserted by all who had seemed most faithful, he had stood at Pilate's bar had been mocked, scourged, crowned with thorns, and at length led away to the cross of Calvary, and nailed on the accursed tree;the Apostle John relates-"Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home."

In that last hour, when earth and hell were combined against the Redeemer of mankind, and in agony of soul he cried out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" yet even then we find him looking with compassion upon her, the highly-favoured among women

-the mother of that human nature so mysteriously linked with the divine. It was the hour of fulfilment of the prophecy of the aged Simeon, when he held the infant Saviour in his arms, "Yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also." This manifestation of filial tenderness and compassionate love appears to have been the very last act of Christ in fulfilment of his earthly mission. Immediately thereafter, the evangelist remarks: "After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst." And when the last prophecy had been accomplished, even to the minutest title of Old Testament records, and the dying Saviour had received the vinegar from the Roman soldier, he said, “It is finished, and gave up the ghost." Familiarity is apt to lessen the influence of the most remarkable lessons of Scripture. Enjoying the privileges of daily reading and hearing the word of God, we grow so accustomed to its lessons, that we forget all their power. When we dwell upon the remarkable incidents of this wonderful narrative of Christ's last sufferings, and of the final manifestation of his filial love, we ought to feel constrained to cry out, like the Roman centurion,

Truly this was a righteous man;" still more, “This was the Son of God." Let the same spirit that was in him be in us-a spirit of holy obedience to God, and of love to man.

The illustrations of filial and parental affection are

The

happily so numerous that volumes might be filled with them. Not a chapter, indeed, but a work might be written under the two titles of the happy and the unhappy home;-the home in which the spirit of kindness and the law of love prevail,—and that in which divisions, angry passions, and the consequent strife which results from these, convert the true arena of domestic joys into the scene of greatest misery. first and happiest of all human homes was that which God created in the garden of Eden; and it serves as an illustration of all others. Sin intruded upon it, and then followed strife, jealousies, quarrelings, and at last murder. One brother rose up against the other, and Cain became a wanderer and a vagabond on the earth, while the blood of his brother called out against him from the ground, where it had been impiously spilled. Yet though sin has marred so much of the loveliness of creation, and has intruded on the perfect happiness of that domestic life created by God for the complete interchange of love, yet somewhat of its spirit still survives, and the Christian poet has justly exclaimed:

"Domestic happiness, thou only bliss

Of paradise, that has survived the fall

Though few now taste thee unimpaired and pure,

Or tasting, long enjoy thee! Too infirm,
Or too incautious, to preserve thy sweets
Unmixed with drops of bitter, which neglect
Or temper sheds into thy crystal cup.
Thou art the nurse of virtue; in thine arms
She smiles, appearing, as in truth she is,
Heaven-born, and destined to the skies again

Thou art not known where pleasure is adored,-
That reeling goddess, with the zoneless waist
And wandering eyes, still leaning on the arm
Of novelty, her fickle, frail support;

For thou art meek and constant, hating change,
And finding in the calm of truth-tried love,

Joy that her stormy raptures never yield!"

On no single principle does this precious gift of a happy home so entirely depend as on the self-denying spirit of each preferring another better than himself. It was by such a spirit that the good Philip Henry made the domestic circle at Broad Oak one of the fairest exhibitions of family peace and mutual forbearance which English biography records. One of his biographers remarks :—

"The scene of domestic happiness and piety which the Broad Oak family presented, was one of the loveliest examples of virtuous contentment and kindly affections that was probably ever exhibited among the happy homes of England.' Everything moved in well-ordered harmony and peace; no discords jarring its sweet melody. Of the genial domestic piety, and the sweet interchange of Christian sympathy which bound him and his wife so closely together, some idea may be formed from the following remarks of his son. After referring to the following reflection of his father as to secret prayer, 'There are two doors to be shut when we go to prayer; the door of our closet, that we may be secret; the door of our hearts, that we may be

serious; Matthew Henry adds, 'Besides this he and his wife constantly prayed together morning and evening; and never, if they were together, at home or abroad, was it intermitted: and from his own experience of the benefit of this practice, he would take all opportunities to recommend it to those in that relation, as conducing very much to the comfort of it, and to their furtherance in that which, he would often say, is the great duty of yoke-fellows; and that is, to do all they can to help one another to heaven. He would say, that this duty of husbands and wives praying together is intimated in that of the apostle, where they are exhorted to 'live as heirs together of the grace of life, that their prayers' especially their prayers together be not hindered;' that nothing may be done to hinder them from praying together, nor to hinder them in it, nor to spoil the success of those prayers. This sanctifies the relation and fetcheth in a blessing upon it, makes the comforts of it the more sweet, and the cares and crosses of it the more easy, and is an excellent means of preserving and increasing love in the relation."

In a family where such Christian principles reign, as the actuating principle of each of its members, selfdenial becomes a habitual and an easy duty. Sometimes, however, the Christian is forced to exhibit a selfdenying love, that seems to rob the objects of his affec