e truths of the Gospel; and that they must do this,
not only through the period of childhood, but also through the season of
youth, or till their children are old enough to think and act for
themselves. It is admitted by all, that it is _desirable_ that parents
should do this interesting and responsible work in person. No one else
can do it with the feeling and unction natural to parents. All not only
admit this to be true, but _feel_ it, too, to the very centre of their
souls. But some think that it is not only very desirable, but altogether
indispensable--that any other course is an unwarrantable substitution of
human wisdom for the explicit direction of the all-wise God. The reader
must judge whether this position is tenable or not.

There is another objection: If missionaries' children are sent home,
then one very important _influence of a missionary's family upon the
heathen_ is in a great measure lost. Among the heathen, the family
constitution is in ruins. The state of society is almost a perfect
chaos. It is of immense importance, therefore, not only to inculcate the
principles of domestic peace, but actually to bring before their eyes
living examples of well-ordered and happy families. They need to see,
not only young children well governed, but also the mutual interchanges
of love, affection and duty, between young people and their aged
parents. But this they cannot see if children are sent home. A
missionary's family, who sends his older children home, and keeps with
him only those that are quite young, is not like a tree adorned with its
natural and well-proportioned branches, but presents the aspect of a
tree closely trimmed, and with only a few twigs left at the very top.
And when all his children are sent away, his family presents the aspect
of a trunk without branch, shoot, twig or foliage, standing alone in an
open field. This is unnatural, blighting to much of the comfort and
cheerfulness of the parental abode, and is not the example which it is
desirable to hold up before the eyes of the heathen. One important
reason, then, why a missionary should have a family, is lost in sending
his children home.

I mention as another objection, the dangerous influence to which
children are more or less exposed on a _long voyage at sea_. From some
of the missionary fields, the voyage must be five, six, or seven months.
I speak not of what are called the dangers of the deep, or the hardships
of a sea life for six o