often reckless of their high vocation. Their moral stewardship is
neglected; their dedications, formal and heartless. No prayers are heard;
no bible read; no instructions given; no pious examples set; no holy
discipline exercised. Their interests, their hopes and their enjoyments;
their education, their labor and their rest, are all of the
world,--worldly. The curse of God is upon such a home!

The importance and responsibility of the home-mission may be seen in its
vicarious character, and in its influence upon the members. The principle
of moral reproduction is manifest in all the home-relations. What the
parent does is reproduced, as it were, in the child, and will tell upon the
generations that follow them. Those close affinities by which all the
members are allied, give to each a moulding influence over all the rest.
The parents live, not for themselves alone, but for their children, and the
consequence of such a life is also entailed upon their offspring. "The
iniquity of the fathers shall be visited upon the children unto the third
and fourth generation." If the parent "sow to the flesh," the child, with
him, "shall of the flesh reap corruption;" but if he "sow to the spirit,"
his offspring, with him, shall "of the spirit reap life everlasting."

Sacred and profane history proves and illustrates this great truth. Did
not God punish the first born of Israel, because their fathers had sinned?
And is it not a matter of daily observation that the wickedness of the
parent is entailed upon the child? Such is indeed the affinity between them
that the child cannot, unless by some special interposition of Providence,
escape the curse of a parent's sin. "If one member suffer, all the members
suffer with it."

The guilt and condemnation of unfaithfulness to the home-mission may be
inferred from its importance and responsibility. Those who are unfaithful