omes. Nothing can supply
this want. No attendance at any church is to be for a moment compared to
attendance at the sacred shrine of an affectionate family. But when, a
little while ago, a young man, who had been for years a clerk in Boston,
was asked in how many families he was acquainted, he replied quickly,
"Not one." Yet he was a member of an Orthodox Congregational Church,
which, I take it, is to be as good as anybody can be in this world, and
a regular attendant upon religious services in one of the most
influential Orthodox churches in Boston. Sunday after Sunday he occupied
his seat, yet neither pastor nor people--not one of all that great
congregation--ever took him by the hand and constrained him to sit by
their hearthstones, ever welcomed him to the warmth and gladness and
gentle endearments of their homes. What is the communion of saints? If
that young man had brought a letter of introduction from some
distinguished person, would they have thus let him go in and out among
them unnoticed and uncared for? But to church-members, surely, a
certificate of church-membership ought to be as weighty as a letter of
introduction. A Christian church should be so managed that it should be
impossible for any attendant upon its services to escape observation;
and it should be so trained to its social duties that every person who
takes shelter in its sanctuary should at least have the opportunity to
find shelter in its homes. I think it would be well, even, that those
who are present at a single church service should be courteously noticed
and encouraged to repeat the visit. If the church is indeed God's house,
let the servants of the Master dispense His hospitalities in such a
manner as befits His divine character, remembering that the world judges
of Him through them. Let fathers and mothers be on the watch to speak
kindly words to such homeless wanderers as may roam within the circle of
their influence. If a stranger is introduced into the family pew, let
him be no longer a stranger, but a guest. Let him not remain during the
service and pass out at its close without some brotherly or fatherly
recognition, without some assurance by word or look or little attention
that his presence there gave pleasure. This is a beginning of home
feeling.

It would be a fit thing, if every country pastor should give to every
boy who leaves his parish a letter of introduction to some clergyman in
the city whither he is going, so that ther