it
looks to you for direction,--for compass and for chart; your prayers for
it will be heard; your hand can save it; the touch of your impressions will
be a savor of life unto life, or of death unto death.

"Then take the heart thy charms have won,
And nurse it for the skies!"

CHAPTER X.

HOME DEDICATION.

"The rose was rich in bloom on Sharon's plain,
When a young mother with her first born thence
Went up to Zion, for the boy was vowed
Unto the Temple-service; by the hand
She led him, and her silent soul, the while,
Oft as the dewy laughter of his eye
Met her sweet serious glance, rejoiced to think
That aught so pure, so beautiful, was hers,
To bring before her God!"

Beautiful thought, and thrice beautiful deed,--fresh from the pure fount of
maternal piety! The Hebrew mother consecrating her first-born child to the
Temple-service,--dedicating him to the God who gave him! What visions of
unearthly glory must have been before her, as she led her little boy before
the altar of the "King of kings!" Happy mother! thou hast long since gone
to thy great reward. And happy child! to be led by such a mother. Ye are
now together in that temple "not made with hands, eternal in the heavens,"
and with united voice swelling those anthems of glory which are poured
from angelic lips and harps to Him who sitteth upon the throne.

What an example is this for the Christian parent! God is the Father of
every home. From Him cometh down every good and perfect gift; and hence to
Him should all the interests and the loved ones of the household, be
dedicated. This is essential to the very conception of a Christian home.

But especially should the children be dedicated to the Lord. That infant
over which the mother bends and watches with such passionate fondness, is
"an heritage of the Lord," given to her only in trust, and will again be
required from her. As soon as children are given they should be devoted to
Him; for "the flower, when offered in the bud, is no mean sacrifice." Then
and then only will parents properly respect and value their offspring, and
deal with them as becometh the property of God. By withholding them, the
parents become guilty of the deed of Ananias and Sapphira. Like the Hebrew
mother, every Christian parent will gratefully devote them to Him, and
rejoice that they have such a pure oblation to "bring before their God."

"My child, my treasure, I have given thee up
To Him w