was used with reference to slaves exclusively, and, an- alogicallj', to a sect of philosophers, or a body of gladi- ators." See Smith's Dictionary of Greek and lioman A ntiqiiities.
The Christian family, on the contrary, is a commu- nion resting on an ethico-religious foundation, and forming tlie closest of all human relationships. It is a copj- of the liighest and most perfect union, that of the Church with Christ its head. Christianit}', con- sidered as the true (ideal) family, wherein Christ's power begets, through the Word and the Spirit, chil- dren of faith unto God, who mutually aid each other with their several spiritual gifts, is imaged in the natural family; imperfectlj', indeed, since the life of the Christian family is yet a life in the flesh (Gal. ii, 20); yet truly, because its bond of union is spiritual, being the spirit of Christ. The basis of the Christian family is Christian marriage, or monogamy, the ex- clusive union of one man to one woman. The deepest ground of this union, and its true aim, without which Christian marriage and family are impossible, is the consciousness of unity in Christ, or in the love of God in Christ, the source of individual sympathj', as well as of brotherl}' and universal love. Marriage has, in common with Christian friendship, the bond of tender sentiments ; but the former is an excluaii-e bond be- tween two persons of different sexes, whose personal- ity is comj)lemented, so to speak, by each other. It is therefore a lifelong relation, while friendship may be only temporary. See Marriage.
Two persons thus joined in marriage lay the foun- dation of a Christian family ; indeed, they constitute a family, though yet incomplete and undeveloped. It awaits its comjdetion in the birth of children. In proportion, however, as the married couple live in a state of holiness, so are the natural desires for issue j and their gratification made subservient to the divine- j ly ordered end of the marriage, and accompanied by a sense of dependence on the will and blessing of God. And in order duly to attain this higher end of the fam- ily, it is necessary that, keejiing the merely carnal passions subordinate, both husband and wife should endeavor to subserve each other's moral and fpiritual completeness ; and also thatthev should, when cliildren are born, faithfully help each other in training them proper!}', liy the combination of their particular dispo- sitions, the father's sternness being tempered with the mother's gentleness, and the mother's tenderness en- ergized by the father's authorit}-. The children should see the unity between the father and the mother, in their unity of aim, though manifested according to their different dispositions. Early baptism should be fol- lowed by careful religious training. In this tlie moth- er has a certain priority, inasmuch as, aside from giv- ing her children birth, she is also first in giving them the bodily and spiritual care they require. Yet even in this early period she derives assistance from the husband, who, as the head of the family, counsels, strengthens, and assists her. In after years their rel- ative shares in the education of the children become more equalized, the sons coming, however, more under tlie influence of the' father, while the daughters remain more under the mother's. Those who wish theirs to be a real Christian family must from the first incul- cate on their children (aside from the habit of absolute, unquestioning obedience to the parental authority as divinely instituted) the true ground of obedience, as laid in obedience to God, springing from love to God. "The order in which the love of the child graduates is from the stage of instinctive love to nn-al afl'ection, and from this to the love of its heavenly Parent. De- sirous as the parents may be to lead its affections up at once to the Creator, the previous stages of tiie path must first be passed through. For a while the mater- nal care is the only Providence it knows ; and the fa- ther's experience is to it a world of grand enter- prise, and of power unlimited. In vain it strives to
FAMILY
479
FAMINE
climb the height of his knowledge — his virtual omnis- cience ; nor can it conceive of a diviner guarantee than his promise. To see its parents bend in worsliip, and to hear them speak with holy awe of their Father in heaven, is itself solemn and suggestive as a ladder set up from earth to heaven. The wise discipline, too, which leads the parent kindly to repress its selfish de- sires, and constantly to aim at its mo al welfare, in- varialjly begets in return the highest order of filial love and confidence ; evincing the power of the child to discriminate between instinctive and moral affec- tion, and preparing it to embrace that heavenlj' Parent of whom the earthlj' is but an imperfect representa- tion. And let the parents remark that, from the mo- ment they begin to point their child to God as an ob- ject of reverence and love, they are pursuing the certain course for augmenting its moral affection for them- selves ; while its intelligent love for them is a valuable means and a pledge for its ascending to the love of God" (Harris, Patriarchy^ or the Family, p. 352). This divine lil)ert}', based on fear and love, far from dimin- ishing the respectful love of the cliildreu for their par- ents, will exalt and purify it, and bring it to ita high- est degree of perfection ; it will make it become part of their religion, and whenever a collision may occur between tlie parental wislies and the will of God, it will l?ad the children, while obeying the latter, to cherish all possible reverence and respect for the for- mer. By this personal development of their spiritual life the sons and daughters will becomey'//<?M7A' to their parents; a higher kind of trust, such as is felt in one's equals, is thus reached, witliout diminishing the re- spect which is the duty of the child and the right of the parents. This is the true graduation of the Chris- tian family life, in which the elder children become helps to the parents for the education of the younger, while at the same time they become more thoroughly fitted to fulfil their own duties as heads of families in after life. Where the blessing of children has been denied, it can in some measure, though not complete- ly, find a substitute in the ado[)tion of orphans or other children, and then the duties towards these are the same as towards one's own.