24 THE MOTHER OF A MISSIONARY. For the Mother's Magazine. "Lo! they haste to every nation, Onward! Christ is your salvation, And your Death is Victory." THE MOTHER OF A MISSIONARY Is an honoured woman. Is she not a happy woman also? True, she shall no more see the child of her love, on earth. The sea, it may be, rolls between them, and their bones will be laid in different lands: but, notwichstanding all this, is she not a happy woman? If she love the Redeemer sbe must be so. For to him has she given her child; and in his blessed presence they shall meet, when the "work of faith and labor of love" shall have been accomplished. Christian Mothers, a word to you on this subject. We need more missionaries. The valleys of the East and West are full of dry bones. Birmah cries aloud-China lifts up her mighty voice-Africa will take no denial. Although the field is the world, yet, wide as it is, the field is ripe. You have prayed for the heathen-"Lord, send forth laborers," and now we call upon you to test the sincerity of your prayers. We call upon you in the name of Christ, and in the name of a world, to train up your children for the high honor of becoming ambassadors of the King of Zion at a foreign court. Do your bosoms, Christian Mothers, tremble, or do they kindle at the thought? Are you willing and desirous, in submission to the will of God, that the child which is even now smiling upon you, and upon which you cannot look without feeling a tide of love and hope gushing from your hearts, are you willing that that young immortal shall one day stand where the sainted Martyn stood, or become the meek helpmeet of some second Judson? Is this your desire: would it be to you an honour, and a happiness; and do you inquire, "what can I do, thus to train up my child for Christ?" I answer I. You cannot convert the soul. Yet "the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous availeth much." You have all the promises, and the multitude of souls converted through maternal instrumentality, for your encouragement. Your example may point the road to heaven. Your instructions mav be con stant. Your prayers may be fervent and unceasing. II. You can awaken the sympathies of a young heart, by pourtraying the condition of the heathen world. This may prove the means of your children's conversion. It will display to them the condition of all who are without God in the world. And should the Holy Spirit change their hearts, this knowledge of heathenism this sympathy in the condition of those who are born but to perish; and the consequent habit of contributing, which you will be careful to cherish in them, will be as seed sown in good ground. This knowledge, this sympathy, and this habit, will exert a most important and happy influence. III. You can communicate to your child, your wish and hope under God, in reference to his future course: That you would feel honored and blessed of God if he should become a missionary. Such a declaration, when coupled with the simple story of the love of Christ, which is the foundation of your wish, and poured into a young soul, will, by the blessing of God, exert an influence which could scarcely be believed the earliest and most deeply impressed recollections of such a soul would be a mother's sacrificing love to the cause of Christ, the prayer of that mother. that he might become a missionary, and the love of the Savior as a motive to self-devotement to his church. We forget not that all these means are but means. But we also remember that among them is included humble prayer through a prevalent mediator. And now, Christian Mothers, we leave this subject with you. When you bend over the cradle of your beloved babes; when you gaze, with a mother's eye, and a mother's heart, upon those whom God hath given you, and your souls swell with a parent's love till they are full to overflowing;-oh, then think of the perishing heathen! think of Jesus Christ; of all that he has done for you; and ask, "Am I ready to say 'thy will be done?' Am I willing that this young immortal shall become a missionary to the 'benighted ones?'" Will you not pray that God would, if such be his holy will, confer upon your child this high houor? And will you not tell that child, when able to comprehend it, what you have thus done? Christian Mother! that child may lead a multitude to Heaven! And you, you WILL BE HELPING TO CHRISTIANIZE A WORLD. Princeton, December, 1833. C. THE following Discourse, recently preached by a Pastor, to the people of his own charge, is inserted in the "Mother's Magazine" by the kind permission of the author. We are persuaded that it will be perused with deep and thrilling interest, especially by Mothers. HANNAH AND SAMUEL: THE PIETY AND USEFULNESS OF CHILDREN TRACED TO PIOUS MOTHERS. 1. Sam. 1; 27, 28. THE history of Samuel is one replete with interest and instruction. In whatever light we view him, as a Christian, a minister, or a statesman; whether in childhood, manhood or old age, he is alike the object of our veneration and love. At a very early age, just after he was weaned, he was carried by his pious parents to the house of God in Shiloh, and there left to minister as an assistant to Eli the priest, according to his mother's vow when she asked him of the Lord. Very soon after this, and while yet a child, he was consecrated, and became a prophet of the Lord. "And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba, knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord. Besides attending to the spiritual concerns of the kingdom, as the prophet of the Lord, it is said that he judged Israel all the days of his life. And as a judge, his character for uprightness and integrity was without reproach. Few public officers can say as did this man of God, at the close of his life, "Behold now I am old and grey headed; and behold my sons are with you, and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day. Behold here I am. Witness against me before the Lord and before his anointed; whose ox have I taken, or whose ass have I taken, or whom have I defrauded, whom have I oppressed, or of whom have I received any bribe, to blind my eyes therewith, and I will restore it. And they said thou hast not defrauded nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken aught of any man's hand." Thus in every relation of life, we find this man alike distinguished for his eminent piety and unimpeachable morals; next to our blessed Savior, the most spotless human being whose history is recorded in the annals of the church, or of the world. In considering the character of this wonderful man, we are naturally led to inquire into the causes which combined to produce it. In this investigation we shall be able, I trust, to arrive at some degree of certainty. And happy shall I be if I can throw such light upon the subject, as shall, by the Divine blessing, be the means of giving to the church and to the world more such men as Samuel. In this discourse I shall endeavor to select from among the causes, what appears to me to be most prominent-His Mother. If I mistake not, I think I can distinctly trace to this pious Mother, under God, the origin of all his goodness and all his greatness. Let me call your attention to the following facts. I. God created Samuel in answer to the prayer of his pious Mother. We read that for years after her marriage with Elkanah, she was childless; that she, with her husband, went up on a certain festival occasion, to worship the Lord in Shiloh, and that here, after the sacrifice was offered, she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore. And she vowed a vow and said, "Oh Lord of Hosts, if thou wilt indeed look upon the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then will I give him unto the Lord, all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head." (Num. 4: 5.) The Lord answered her prayer, and she called the child Samuel, which means, asked of the Lord. Here we find the first intimations of the future greatness and goodness of this wonderful man. He had a mother of such eminent piety, that she could move God, to put forth his creative energies, and give to the church and to the world a man, a saint, a prophet, and a judge. It was for this her holy soul wanted to be a mother. Not merely that she might feel the thrilling gladness of a mother's heart, but that she might have a child to give to God. Well were it for the church and for the world, if every Christian Mother could, with equal propriety, call her child Samuel-asked of the Lord. Well too were it for the church and the world, were there more Hannahs. Then would the bitterness of the curse, which rested upon woman at the fall, be removed, and the terror which now agitates her, be allayed, by the prospect of giving to the world one who would bless it. And then too would the promise, 1 Tim. 1: 25, which ought to be translated, "Notwithstanding she shall be saved, in raising children, if they continue in faith and charity, and holiness, with sobriety," be fulfilled. II. Samuel's mother, with great self-denial and sacrifice, fulfilled her vow When she had weaned him, she brought him to the house of the Lord in Shiloh. "And they slew a bullock and brought him to Eli. And she said, Oh, my Lord, as thy soul liveth, my Lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here praying unto the Lord. For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition, which I asked of him. Therefore also have I lent him to the Lord; as long as he liveth shall he be lent to the Lord. And he worshipped the Lord there." The parents then returned home, and the child did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest. How does this selfdenying act of Hannah show the vigor of piety! Here she leaves her little son at an age when most he needed a mother's care, and when most he was entwined around a mother's heart. She leaves him never to claim him again. Methinks that blow which sundered him from her arms, and separated her from his sweet infant loveliness, must have almost sundered the strings of life. As she turned away from Shiloh, to her home, how must the mother's heart have bled, and a flood of tears dimmed her eye, as she imprinted the last kiss upon his infant cheek, and resigned him to God forever. She left him to see him but once a year, and then only to renew her weeping and her dedication. How touching the short note of her annual visit to Shiloh. "But Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child girded with a linen ephod. Moreover his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice." In these two facts, of the birth and dedication of Samuel by his mother, we have the most undoubted evidence of her eminent piety, and the most undoubted origin of his. Very little is said of her husband, although enough to lead us to believe, that he too was a good man. But the word of God has thrown upon the sacred page a flood of light, as it regards Hannah, and perhaps for this very reason, to show us how much the future destinies of the child, are involved in those of the mother. How few mothers are there at the present day, who make such an unconditional surrender of their children to God, when they pray for their existence, or their salvation. How few are there who feel, when converted, that they belong to God. The glory of God, seems not to be their object when they pray. (To be Continued.) 28 REMINISCENCES. For the Mother's Magazine. REMINISCENCES. 66 I WELL remember, when about nine years of age, returning from school one day, with a request to my mother that I might attend a children's baļļ, which was to take place the next evening. One or two had been held before, at which most of my companions were present; but myself and my sister, who was still younger, had received no invitation, as it was well understood that our mother was 66 very strict," and probably would not permit us to attend. But on this occasion a note was handed us, as we were returning from school, requesting our company for the next evening; and as we entered the parlor where our mother was sitting, our little hearts swelled with desires, to which they had, until then, been strangers. We asked her permission to attend, which she gently, but firmly denied, giving us, at the same time, some of her most important reasons for so doing. We felt the propriety of her objections, and in fact had little inclination to enter into an amusement with which we were wholly unacquainted; but the dread of the sneer, and ridicule of our companions, and their remarks upon the unnecessary strictness of our dear parents, overcame every other feeling; and we begged that we might go, at least once, in order to show them that she was more indulgent than they supposed. I shall never forget the tone of seriousness my mother assumed as she represented to us the responsibility incurred by Christian parents, in giving up their children to God. You, my dear children," said she," are consecrated children. Your parents have covenanted with God to train you up for his service. How can I, without a fearful violation of that covenant, permit you to enter a place where every thing you see and hear will be calculated to divert your minds from serious things. Would not God be justly angry with me, and could I expect his blessing in my endeavors to train you up for Him? Now which do you prefer, that I should displease God, or your companions." This was enough,-we were entirely satisfied, and were able to meet our companions the next day without shame or fear; indeed, shall I say it, we felt a secret pride in the integrity of our dear mother's principles. Though afterward invited on one or two other occasions, we felt not the slightest inclination to accept,-the question was settled, and settled forever; and how often, since having reached a mature age, have we looked back to that period with indescribable interest, and with fervent gratitude to our parent for the firmness and wisdom she then manifested. How much inconvenience and expostulation did she thus avoid, and from how many temptations and conflicts secure our youthful years. Much of the indifference with which we have ever regarded amusements of this kind, even since the formation of our own principles, may doubtless be traced to the impression thus early made upon our minds. And might not every parent, by a similar course, throw the same safeguard around the future welfare of her child? Surely such children will ever have cause to bless the honored name of mother! FILIA. |