heart readily, but will not so readily be taken out. You must be true examples, when you journey abroad, when you lie down, when you rise up; that is, you must let no opportunity escape you, of giving such impressive instruction to your children, as will fix them more and more firmly in faith, and in love to God. Indeed, home is the place most especially adapted to such instruction. Home displays a picture of human life in miniature; for here it is that the changes of life, its meetings, and partings, its joys and sorrows, its superfluities and wants, are continually manifested. Who has not experienced these events in his own family? Now rational and conscientious parents will teach their children from such occurrences, as from pictures of life. By this means, the instruction goes deeper into the tender soul of the child, and fixes itself more firmly there. When joy enters your dwelling, or when grief makes its inroads into your life; then direct your sons and daughters to the one only God; then point out to them the source of all good; tell them of Him who lays on the burthen, and helps us to bear it. Turn to profit every scene of life, so as to win your children more and more to God and His teachings, to warm their hearts in His service, to enlarge their views, to rectify their ideas, to purify their feelings, and to ennoble their course. It is only in this manner that you can bring up and form your children to become pillars of our belief; it is only by these means that they will be true to God with their whole hearts and minds, and so remain, when you are no longer here to guide them, when you depart on the long journey that leads to your home, when "YOU LIE DOWN." My friends, when age makes you inactive, or

when sickness chains you to your couch, when you lie down never more to wake on earth, and your children must remain here alone Alone did I say? O no; for though dead, you will hold converse with them; they will have you still; they will hear and see you, as they contemplate how you are gone before them, rich in piety, and in the fear of God; they will love you still, for they will still love God, and therefore can never forsake you, nor themselves, nor Israel, nor religion, never, never!

And when ye shall rise again in that morning" you will know them, and greet them joyfully, for you will have no need to be ashamed of them, or they of you. Such children are the pillars of our faith, and we have need of such. We, who are grown up, and advanced in years, are too feeble, too dull, too slow, too fond of our ease, too indolent, too unapt for the work that is to be done. We must bring up young workmen, and seek to furnish them with abundance of energy, courage, and wisdom; these, these must give proof, how much may be effected, by men who worship their God, revere Him, and love Him, with all their heart, and with all their soul, and with all their might. As often as we suffer this, our confession of faith,' to pass our lips, do we take this vow on ourselves :—to bring up in our sons and daughters, a pious, enlightened, and wise race of beings, and to make it our primary object that they shall live in God, and He in them.

My dear friends, live according to the spirit of this creed, and all that the earth has great and precious will

will come to maturity. The power of faith will enter into our lives, it will pervade our homes, our families, our schools, and our temples; and one day will combine with another, to the production of one beautiful and harmonious whole, firmly bound together by the bonds of love.

To this end, O Father of Mercies, lead us to penetrate deeper and deeper into Thy sacred instructions, and teach us the way to cling to Thee evermore heartily and more affectionately, as long as we live.

Amen.

191

SERMON X.

OUTWARD AIDS TO RELIGION.

DEUTERONOMY vi. 8, 9.

Is it your earnest desire to strive after the God-like, my friends? Of God's favor ye are certain, for long, long since was it assured to you, for long since He pointed out unto you the way that leads unto happiness, unto life. I therefore again exclaim, "O, happy we! how goodly is our portion, how pleasant our lot, how beautiful our inheritance! O, happy we, that we begin and end each day with the Divine sound, re-echoed by every heart, resounding throughout worlds: "HEAR, O ISRAel, the LORD OUR GOD IS ONE; AND THOU SHALT LOVE THE LORD THY GOD WITH ALL THY HEART AND WITH ALL THY SOUL, AND WITH ALL THY MIGHT: AND THESE WORDS SHALL BE IN THY HEART, AND THOU SHALT TEACH THEM UNTO THY CHILDREN, AND SHALT SPEAK OF

THEM CONTINUALLY." These words rightly understood, and faithfully obeyed, will, must, keep you in the path of virtue, for they furnish a key to a godly life. In my last sermon I called these words the Israelite's confession of faith; and, in explaining them, I endeavoured to make manifest to you, that they include the firm basis of our faith, i. e. the existence of one only God (in this belief the pious live); the working power

of our faith, i. e. love to God (which love embellishes the life of the pious); and further, that in these words we are instructed to promote this belief by seeking to make ourselves constantly more intimately acquainted with its all-important doctrines, and, by availing ourselves of every opportunity to render it familiar to our children, by means of striking examples. Will not such a course ensure to us the favour of God? I then told you that this confession of faith speaks also of visible and outward signs, by which our belief may be aided, and I promised that my discourse this day should refer to that point. I come, with the help of Him who hath appointed us unto His service, to fulfil that promise, and to render His holy word familiar to you.

AND THOU SHALT BIND THEM (the doctrine of the unity of God and of love unto Him), AS A TOKEN, UPON THY HAND, AND THEY SHALL BE AS FRONTLETS BETWEEN THINE EYES; AND THOU SHALT WRITE THEM ON THE DOOR POSTS OF THINE HOUSE AND UPON THY

GATES.

We are well aware, my friends, that the same, or at least similar passages, occur in the writings of the Prophets, as also in the Psalms and Proverbs, which cannot be interpreted according to the letter, but are to be taken figuratively. Nevertheless, it is easily to be understood, that the orator and poet, adopts a style totally different, from that of the instructor and legislator. The latter must be clear and intelligible, and seek to avoid the use of metaphors: thence it is, that besides the Rabbis, many learned and profound commentators on