into the joy of thy Lord!"

CHAPTER VIII.

THE FAMILY BIBLE.

"What household thoughts around thee, as their shrine,
Cling reverently!--Of anxious looks beguiled,
My mother's eyes upon thy page divine,
Each day were bent; her accents, gravely mild,
Breathed out thy love; whilst I, a dreamy child,
Wandered on breeze-like fancies oft away,
... Yet would the solemn Word,
At times, with kindlings of young wonder heard
Fall on my wakened spirit, there to be
A seed not lost; for which in darker years,
O, book of heaven! I pour with grateful tears,
Heart-blessings on the holy dead, and thee!"

The family bible! What sweet and hallowed memories cling like tendrils
around that book of books! How familiar its sacred pages! How often in the
sunny days of childhood, we were fed from its manna by the maternal hand!
It was our guide to the opening path of life, and a lamp to the feeble,
faltering steps of youth. Who can forget the family bible? It was the
household oracle of our grandfathers and grandmothers,--of our dear
parents. It bears the record of their venerated names; their birth, their
baptism, their confirmation, their marriage, are here; and

"Though they are with the silent dead,
Here are they living still!"

How joyfully they gathered around the cheerful hearth to read this book
divine. How often their hearts drew consolation from its living springs!
What a balm it has poured into bleeding and disconsolate hearts. It has
irradiated with the glories of eternal day, the darkest chamber of their
home. What brilliant hopes and promises it has hung around the parental
heart! And here too are the names of our parents,--long since gathered with
their fathers. Here too are our names, and birth, and baptism, written by
that parental hand, long since cold in death!

"My father read this holy book
To brothers, sisters dear;
How calm was my poor mother's look,
Who loved God's word to hear.
Her angel-face--I see it yet!
What thronging memories come?
Again that little group is met
Within the halls of home!"

That old family bible! Do we not love it? Our names and our children's
names are drawn from it. It is the message of our Father in heaven. It is
the link which connects our earthly with our heavenly home; and when we
open its sacred page, we gaze upon words which our loved ones in heaven
have whispered, and which dwell even n