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SERMON VIII.

THE MISTRESS OF THE HOUSEHOLD.

JAMES ii. 23.

He was called the friend of God.

I KNOW not that any such title as this is recorded in God's word of any other human creature. Three times is Abraham "called the friend of God." Here in the text, by St. James; again in Jehoshaphat's prayer in the 2nd Book of Chronicles, "Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham, thy friend, for ever?" (xx. 7;) and again by God himself,

through the prophet Isaiah, "But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, my friend." (Isa. xli. 8.) There are, indeed, other instances where this gracious title of friends is given to men by our blessed Lord in the days of his flesh: and eminently honoured are all such. He called his apostles so: "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth; but I have called you friends;" and then there was a special reason added: "for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you." (John xv. 14, 15.) John the Baptist is spoken of in the character of Christ the Bridegroom's friend; and, in a lower degree, all true believers are so addressed. The invitation from Christ's mouth to his bride the church, to the spiritual feast of good things, is so worded: "Eat, O friends; drink, yea,

drink abundantly, O beloved." (Cant. v. 1.) Nay, in his condescending mercy with mankind, he uses, in colloquial intercourse, this same title even to his bitterest enemies: "Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment ?" (Matt. xxii. 12.) And, when Judas conducted the multitude to the garden of Gethsemane, Christ was pleased to remind him of the relationship which once subsisted between this apostate disciple and himself: "Friend, wherefore art thou come?" (xxvi. 50.) For Christ knew where it was written, many hundred years before, of the scene of that night: "Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me." (Psal. xli. 9.) But none of these seem so peculiarly and individually marked and honoured as he who was supereminently "called the friend of God." It was Abraham's faith, his implicit, unhesitating faith; and this gave him his

title, "the friend of God," with God; and this has made him known and honoured as the father of the faithful, with men. And the apostle teaches us, that in proportion as we "walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham," we are of the true seed of Abraham, and he then "is the father of us all." (Rom. iv. 12. 16.)

In Abraham's exalted character, as one "whose praise is in the gospel," the point which I now bring before you is that in which he is held up to us as promoting domestic piety in his househola. This will afford us the opportunity, as far as God shall give grace for me to speak, and for you to hear, to consider the great Christian duty of family religion. The example of Abraham herein is quite peculiar, because it is so strongly spoken to by God himself: "For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord." (Gen. xviii. 19.)

Hence, in the following up of the female character, we have the opportunity of seeing what the CHRISTIAN MISTRESS of her household owes to those who are under her in the Lord: her great and unceasing duty is to promote the essential duty of family religion.

In discoursing on family religion, as so much under the influence of the female head of every household, let us consider, 1st, The duty of it; 2dly, The use of it; and, 3dly, The way of it.

The duty of it is plain from Scripture. The duties of heads of families are laid down in Scripture fully and frequently, whether they are masters and mistresses over whole households, or parents over children, or stand in both capacities. What St. Paul wrote to Timothy, “Let them learn first to shew piety at home," (1 Tim. v. 4,) is a precept closely applicable to every one, and most especially to heads of families: "That is good and acceptable before God." (v. 4.) And