Deut. xxvii. 16. Prov. x.x.x. 17.
VI. It is a parent"s _duty_ to enforce obedience. Allowed disobedience brings misery into the home. 1 Tim. iii. 4; v. 4.
Eli. 1 Sam. ii. 23.
David. 1 Kings, i. 6.
How solemn then, Mothers, is your responsibility.
How earnest should be your prayers that _your_ commands may agree with _G.o.d"s_. Gen. xviii. 19. Deut. x.x.xii. 46. Eph. vi. 1.
Seek for wisdom in commanding.
Firmness in insisting.
XX. CONVERSION.
We meet time after time at our Mothers" Meeting, but how few of us are truly converted, and changed in heart.
Ask yourselves this night two questions.
I. Do you earnestly seek your own conversion? "What shall it profit you, if you gain the whole world, and lose your own soul?"
Mark, viii. 36, 37.
Delay not. Isa. lix. 1.
II. Do you earnestly seek for the conversion of your children?##
1. Perhaps you do not _care_ for it. You do not seek _first_ for them the kingdom of G.o.d. Matt. vi. 33. Be honest to yourselves in this matter. Are you ready to give up for them anything that keeps them from Christ?
Matt. v. 29, 30.
2. Perhaps you do not _pray_ for it.
Observe how the mother prayed. Matt. xv. 22, 28. David. 1 Chron.
xxix. 19. Job, i. 5.
3. Perhaps you place _hindrances_ in the way.
You draw them to the world instead of to Christ. Matt. xviii. 6.
4. Perhaps you forget the necessity of the _Holy Spirit"s power_. Isa.
xliv. 3, 4, 5.
Pray this night for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon yourselves-your husbands-your children. Matt. vii. 11.
Remember, "except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Matt. xviii. 3.
XXI. THOU, G.o.d, SEEST ME.
G.o.d"s penetrating eye. Rev. i 14.
I. He sees _all_. Prov. v. 21.
Bad and good. Prov. xv. 3.
II. _Where_ does He see you?
1. He sees the mother _in secret_. Matt. vi. 6.
Each secret prayer-each sigh-each tear.
No privacy from Him. Eccles. xii. 14. Ps. xix. 12. Jer. xxiii. 24.
Many would give worlds to hide from G.o.d.
2. In her _daily path_. Job, x.x.xiv. 21. Ps. cx.x.xix. 3.
3. In _every circ.u.mstance_. 2 Chron. xvi. 9.
III. _What_ does He see?
1. The mother"s _heart_. Jer. xx. 12. 1 Sam. xvi. 7. Her motives-desires-yearnings.
You may deceive _others_. You may even deceive _yourselves_, "but all things are naked, and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." Heb. iv. 13. Luke, xvi. 15.
2. The mother"s _sins_. Ps. xix. 12; xc. 8. Isa. lvii. 18. Amos, v.
12.
Sins of omission and commission.
3. The mother"s _sorrows_. Exod. iii. 7.
Both inward and outward trials. 2 Kings, xx. 5. Ps. cxlii. 3. Acts, vii. 34.
There are many sorrows it is not well for a wife and mother to speak of to others, but take comfort! Your Saviour knows each grief-each trouble-each tear for your own sins or the sins of others.