tality is his reward. The difficulty of this task, then, should animate him to diligence in instruction, and to fervor and constancy in family devotion. To animate and encourage him, he should consider

4. What present comfort will flow from success:"I have no greater joy," said an apostle," than to see my children walking in the truth." Every faithful minister can say the same, and every good parent. It is a sight to draw tears from strangers, to see a family well instructed, of serious spirit, dutiful and affectionate, devoted to God and devout, a heavenly temper duly manifested-and all apparently growing up into a meetness for a better world, and cherishing the hope of a final meeting there. Such present happiness is worth a mighty and a constant effort on the part of the parents. The two great means to this end are prayer and instruction-family prayer-parental instruction. Consider too,

5. The blessing such a family proves to the commonwealth and the church. Children so trained give no trouble to the laws or the magistrate; they are a law unto themselves. By their example, they exert an influence, favorable to order and peace, to industry, integrity and benevolence. They are a blessing to the church. It is to families trained up by daily devotion and early religious instruction, that we look to find those who shall make and adorn a profession of religion. In such, religion is a thing of early, gentle, constant growth; and appears in principles and habits, more than in flashes of passion, in excited feelings, soon

warm, soon cool, which is the case with

many, who are at times wrought upon, without previous knowledge or principles fixed in the mind. If then, beloved parents, you desire the welfare of the community, and the growth and honor of the church of Christ, and the spread and increase of that religion, which appears in holy principles and holy habits, rather than in flights of passion, in glaring exercises for a season, and then a falling away, train your families by the daily practice of family prayer and parental instruction.

But I have not time farther to enlarge on this interesting subject. In closing, permit me to hope that the parents of this assembly are disposed to see, that the resolution of Joshua is proper for every parent in a christian land, and that you will severally say, " As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Olet your grateful hands be employed in building your family altar. Let not the sun of this holy sabbath go down without your fixed purpose to worship God in your families, if in any of your cases it has been neglected. Draw around you the souls committed to your charge and commend them to God; and instruct them diligently. Indulge not the thought that you shall be singular, or that you have not abilities for the task, nor any other plea so prone to check and destroy a good resolution.

Parents and teachers, the young are the hope of the flock; let us render to them an attention from the pulpit, at home, in the public schools, and in the sabbath school, which, crowned with the divine blessing, may cause these immortal plants "to spring up as among

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soon, one shall

the grass, as willows by the water-courses.' Then say, I am the Lord's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob, and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel."

So may God grant, through Jesus Christ, the great shepherd, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding. For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.

There is scarcely any subject, on which a minister can address his people of more eventful importance, than that of the moral and religious education of the

young; and this is the reason why I address you more frequently on this topic, than any other.Those of us, who have children, need to have our minds frequently incited to the important duty we owe to them. The most diligent and faithful parent too often relaxes his watchfulness, and slumbers over his task; and while he sleeps, the enemy comes and sows tares in his field. The exhortation in the text is addressed to children-Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.— But the obligation of children, presupposes the advan

tage of careful instruction. The exhortation to children, therefore, implies the duty of parents.

For several years I have preached on the subject of religious education, just as we were about to open the Sabbath School, that great and important means of improving the young, which all over the christian world is producing such happy results. The success of the Sabbath School depends mainly on the co-operation of parents. It is not, therefore, a substitute for parental instruction, but an auxiliary; it is not to relax their exertions, but to aid and encourage them, that it has been instituted and sustained. In two important rerespects let parents afford their co-operation with the Sabbath School, this day to be opened-First, in securing the attendance of their children—and, secondly, in explaining to them the practical end of all their sabbath lessons; that they are not words merely to be engraven on the memory, but instructions in what they must believe and do, in order to be happy. If parents will, to the best of their ability, do this, great will be their reward.

But I pass to the particular object of this discourse; which is, to suggest a few important things, which should be kept constantly in the mind of the parent, in conducting his children from early childhood, to that time of life in which they must be resigned to the conduct of themselves; a period of life perhaps the most important of all, as then the dispositions of the mind take their direction and bias, and the habits fix their root. I shall not pretend to mention in one discourse,