the Israelites, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart, and thou shall teach them dilligently unto thy children, and shall talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. The occasional dropping of religious sentiments in the hearing of children, though there be no direct address to them, has a good tendency, and is sometimes exceedingly useful. The religious parent will watch for opportunities to instill sentiments of piety into their minds, and will improve those seasons when any awakening providence or remarkable event has disposed them to be more thoughtful than usual. If he observes them to be under any serious impressions, he will endeavor by every suitable mean, to render those impressions lasting, to fix their wavering resolution for the service of God, and stir them up to their duty, by all the awakening motives of the gos pel. Beginning with the most plain and simple truths, you should endeavor gradually to lead them on, as they may be able to follow, to further and more enlarged views of the doctrines and duties of our holy religion. Their memories however ought not to be overburdened; and nothing should be unnecessarily imposed which may lead them to consider religion as a task. Much of your success will depend upon your conciliating their good affections, and so manageing your instructions that they may listen to you with pleasure. This will probably be the effect, if you can let them see that their good and happiness are the objects of your solicitude. Let some little premium occasionally reward their diligence and attention. Commendation and praise for improvements already made, will whet their ambition, and excite emulation in making further progress.

As the religious householder will be thus dilligent in teaching his family in private, so it will be his care

that they regularly attend upon public instruction and the several means which heaven has appointed for our growth in the knowledge of God, and of our duty. This is a special part of that service which we owe to God, and which he, at a stated season, expressly requires. To instruct both parents and children in the doctrines and duties of the gospel, the standing ministry of God's word is appointed. On this ministry, at the seasons set apart for divine service, every family ought to attend. If the master of a house be himself truly religious, he will not suffer any under his care to be unnecessarily absent. If a passion for rambling or novelty tempt a child or a servant to distant and various places of worship, such irregularity upon the Lord's day, will be frowned upon and checked by the householder, who has any mixture of wisdom with his piety. He will never approve of such disorderly behaviour. Much less will he himself set so ill an example. It is but a poor character which the scripture gives of those who have itching ears and are always ready to turn their backs on tried and faithful instructors, to follow strangers. These are unstable souls, light and empty minds. The judicious christian is incapable of such levity and caprice. He moves on in one steady uniform course of goodness, and his authority is exerted in preserving order and regularity in his family. At the hour of divine worship, he appears in his place at the head of his household. He watches the demeanour of the younger branches, that they may be serious and attentive, They know that when the services of the day shall be over, some account of what they have heard will be required. This excites their attention, and puts them upon taking pains to treasure up divine instruction. Visits and social intercourses for the purposes of amusement, are resolutely avoided on this day. The Sabbath is not only begun and closed with the exercises of secret and family worship; but the whole.

day is regarded as sacred to religious improvement, Nor is it on the Sabbath only that the religious householder engages in the immediate service of God; he has every day his stated seasons for devotion. He is regular in offering up the morning and evening sacrifice, both in his closet and in the presence of his assembled family. On these occasions no member is permitted to be absent without some just excuse. Their minds are improved in religious knowledge, and prepared for the more solemn exercises of devotion, by the previous reading of some portion of scripture. In all the families where the resolution of Joshua is adopted, these services regu. larly performed, preserve order and decorum, cherish the principles of piety, and promote the practice of the social virtues, accompanied with harmony and love, joy and peace. Hence such houses become schools of virtue, temples of devotion, and nurseries for heaven.

Ye heads of families, thus to preside in your hou. ses, you are bound by all the regard which you owe to God. If you believe in him, you must be sensi ble that all your social as well as personal comforts are derived from his munificence. His providence led you into those tender connections which have issued in a hopeful offspring, like olive plants surround. ing your table. Your table itself is daily spread by his bounty. He blesseth the works of your hands, and giveth you richly all things to enjoy. If you have comfortable accommodations for your families and the means of supporting them-all are from him, and you are continued in the possession of them from day to day by his guardian care. Laban, with an air of ignorance, said to Jacob, These daughters are my daughters, these children are my children, these cattle are my cattle, and all that thou seest is mine.' But with what perfect propriety, ye householders, does the great God address you in this style, remind

ing you that all you have, your families, your possessions, and even yourselves are his? Knowing then, your entire dependence upon him, must you not feel your obligations to love and serve him, to use all your influence and authority in your own house, that your families may love and serve him too? How fit and reasonable, how well-founded are these his claims upon you? Can you, dare you withhold from him the tribute which he demands for the blessings of which he has put you in trust, and the possessions which you hold of him? In the tabernacles which the Lord hath pitched for you, will you not erect alters to him, and daily render him the oblations of prayer and praise? Will you not give back to him by an carly and solemn dedication, the children you receive from him? On the birth of every child in your family, the voice of his word and providence to you is, take this child and nurse it for me.' Will you not accept the pleasing charge from your heavenly Father, and be faithful in training it up for him in the ways of virtue and holiness.

To this and the other branches of family religion, I would further urge you by all the regard which you feel for your families. Possessed of that affection which is natural to the conjugal and parental relations, you exercise a constant and a tender concern for the interest and comfort of your famalies. This concern influences you in the management of your temporal affairs, and puts you upon the exertion of all your skill and abilities in providing, each one, for his own house. You look upon your children, and seeing your own features in them, you consider them as parts of yourselves, and are tenderly solicitous for their welfare. Helpless, they look up to you for sup port; defenceless, they fly to you for protection: they cling around you and think themselves safe under your paternal care. You cannot disappoint their confidence. You cannot resist the feelings of nature

towards them. The idea of their being exposed to danger, or of their falling into wretchedness, harrows up your bosom. Whatever is within the compass of your abilities you will do, to procure their safety and their comfort.

Your care for them is not limited to the providing for them in their present state of minority; It throws your thoughts forward, and leads you to consider how you shall introduce them into the world under such advantages, as may afford a prospect of their passing respectably through it; if not of their rising to wealth and honor, yet of their possesing situations which may be easy and comfortable. This care prompts you to give them such an education as may qualify them for the stations which it is expected, they may hereafter fill, or for the callings and employments for which they are intended.

But, my brethren, as christians, must not your natural affections, your reason and your piety, all conspire to produce in you a further and a more impor tant care still-a care for their future and everlasting well being? Looking upon your children as candidates for immortality, as having a part to act in the present world that will be followed with everlasting happiness or misery in the next; and knowing that unless they be interested in Christ and through the influence of a lively faith in him, approve themselves the sincere servants of God, there can be no hope; and apprized of the danger they are in of neglecting Christ and salvation through the depravity of their nature, the lusts of the flesh, the snares of the world and the temptations of satan; sensible of all these things, must you not feel an anxiety for their souls incomparably greater than any concern you can have for their temporal welfare! Overburdened with this anxiety, must you not wish to lighten its weight upon your own mind by devolving it upon One able to do for your children more than you can ask or think?