Chapter XIII: The Watchful Mother

No eye should be so wakeful and watchful as a mother’s.

I. Watch over your children _in infancy_.

Exod. ii. 8. 1 Sam. i. 23.

It is described as next to impossible for a woman to forget her sucking
child. Isa. xlix. 15.

A well-watched infancy, under God’s blessing, avoids many future ills.

II. Watch over your children’s _education_.

Judg. xiii. 8.

In every minute particular.

Learning—clothing, &c. 1 Sam. ii. 19. Prov. xxxi. 21, 23.

Contrast the dirty, unmended clothes of the poor, uncared-for child,
with the clean and neatly mended garments of him whose childhood is
guarded by the watchful eye of a mother.

III. Watch them in times of sickness and death.

No eye so quick to discover a hidden ill.

2 Kings, iv. 19, 20. John, xix. 25.

IV. Above all watch over the precious soul.

Never lose sight of the soul, in care for the body.

1. _Watch_, as those that must give account. Heb. xiii. 17.

2. _Watch_, to detect sin, and check its growth.

Mark first sign of the plague spot.

3. _Watch_, for opportunity to lead to Christ. Prov. xv. 23. Deut.
vi. 6, 9. Mark, x. 13.