effectually sustained them under afflictions so heavy, they would answer that the only application, which has soothed these wounds is the recollection of the innocence and rectitude and piety of the departed, and the hopes, inspired by such recollections, of their translation to a state of unmixed and advancing virtue.

Such indeed are the only proper objects of parental solicitude. Every system of education, which neglects them, is criminally deficient. Every personal or intellectual accomplishment, which is inconsistent with them, or which retards them, or which indeed does not contribute to them, is so far either criminal or worthless. Let these then be the high purposes to which your desires and labors continually tend. Watch over their innocence with a vigilance, which never tires nor sleeps

Teach them to be virtuous and pious above all things. else by the power of a virtuous and pious example. Go before them yourselves in the path in which you desire they should walk. Satisfy them by your own temper and sentiments, your life and labors, that no other objects are so dear to your own heart. The influence of parental example in favor of virtue, when presented in an unaffected, unsuspicious, and unobtrusive form, is allpowerful. It will give an irresistible eloquence to your counsels; it will force your persuasions home to the hearts of your children; but the counsels of an angel must fall unheeded and in vain, when contradicted by the life. Precept and instruction may do much; but parental example, parental example has an immeasurably greater power.

Christian parents! It is a momentous trust which God has committed to you. The children, which he has given you, he commands you to educate for him. You are to seek to prepare them to pass through the

world so that they may surmount its trials and escape its pollutions. You are to fit them, as far as depends on you, for usefulness, so that they may work the work assigned them by doing good in the world to the extent of the abilities, with which God has entrusted them. They are immortal and accountable beings. Innocence, and virtue, and piety are the only qualifications for a better life. See that nothing is wanting to advance their moral and religious improvement. You must meet them in the presence of God; and there answer for the manner in which you have performed your duties. Unutterable must be your misery and confusion, if they then upbraid you as, by your neglect, improvidence, or vice, the instruments of their corruption and degradation and ruin; and inexpressible must be your felicity if then, when they recognise you in that solemn day of account, they point to you as those, who by fidelity and discretion, assiduous labors, faithful counsels, virtuous example, humble and devoted piety, guided them into the path of glory, and honor, and immortality.

SERMON XVI.

FILIAL PIETY.

1 TIMOTHY v. 4.

LET THEM LEARN FIRST TO SHOW PIETY AT HOME AND TO REQUITE THEIR PARENTS: FOR THAT IS GOOD AND ACCEPTABLE BEFORE

GOD.

THE piety, here spoken of, is filial piety; the subject which I now intend to consider.

No relation can be more close or interesting than that which subsists between the parent and child. It is the appointment of God, and the duties, which arise out of it, are all of them duties of religion. Religion aims to strengthen all the charities of human life ; to elevate them; and to render them more pure; sources of greater usefulness and superior satisfaction. The connexion between the parent and child is, like most of the relations of life, a connexion of mutual dependThere are reciprocal ties and reciprocal duties. The strength of parental affection is proverbial. "Can a mother," says the prophet, "forget her sucking child?" an interrogatory which is equivalent to an affirmation, as though such a destitution of natural affection and such a desertion of maternal duties were

ence.

scarcely possible. No sentiment of which our nature is capable, is known to exist in a superior degree of ardency, self-devotion, and disinterestedness, than that to which parental affection is often known to rise. Filial affection, it is reasonable to conclude, should correspond to parental affection. We are made to love, and to be loved; if parents are made to love their children, children are made to love their parents.

We will speak of the grounds on which the claims of the parent rest; of the extent to which they reach ; and lastly, of the manner in which they are to be answered.

I. The claims of the parent over the child rest, in the first place, on what may be strictly termed the ties of nature. The child stands in a relation to the parent, which cannot subsist between that child and any one else. The parent, under God, is the cause of his existence; it is in the bosom of maternal tenderness and love, that he first finds repose and protection; and thence he draws nourishment and the support of life. Nothing is more remarkable than the helplessness of human infancy; its dependence on foreign aid is complete and absolute. To the parent, nature directs the child to look for the aid it requires, and without which it must perish; and what but the unconquerable strength of parental affection, would ever induce those arduous labors and those wasting and painful watchings, which the weaknesses and wants of infancy and childhood render necessary. The parent holds to the child the relation of its natural supporter, protector, and guide; who, regardless of every expense and hazard, labors in these duties in season and out of season, spends and is spent ; deems no personal sacrifices too costly, no