his wicked son; by and by their armies met in battle, Absalom was defeated, pursued, and slain; his aged father refused all consolation, he went up into his chamber, and wept as he went up, saying, "O my son Absalom; my son, my son Absalom, would GOD I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!" These are instances of the love of earthly parents for their children. And I remember another instance which struck me much at the time I heard it.

There was a family in a foreign country, which was reduced to very great distress; there was a famine in the land, and they found their provision every day lessening, without any prospect of getting a supply; the parents ate very little, that their children might have the more; they at length came to the very last loaf, and that they divided among the little ones, without tasting a morsel themselves. It was done, and the poor little children clamoured, and wept, and asked for more; there was none to give, and already the little things looked half-starved and hungered, from their having taken a very small quantity of food for many days past, in order that it might last the longer. Well! they cried for bread, and the poor father and mother sobbed and cried with

The

them, but there was no friend at hand to supply their necessities; and then they resolved on doing a very horrid deed; they determined to do what the woman did in the eighth chapter of the second book of Kings, they determined to kill one child to save the other-but the difficulty was which of them it should be, for they had four children. person who told the anecdote, said, the parents went into another room, and called to them the eldest, with the desperate resolution of putting him to death, but looking on him with all a parent's affection, they both exclaimed together, "This one! it must not be; this one we cannot part with so, for he is our firstborn child; he must, he shall be spared." The next was called for, and the fond mother fell on his neck and sobbed aloud, and declared he should not die, " for he was so much like his father." The third came, it was a sweet little girl, a little prattling girl, and the father caught her in his arms, and brokenhearted, pressed her to his bosom, and cried out, "This, this little darling shall not perish, for she is the very image of her beloved mother." There was but another, a little one, a very little one, and was this to be the victim? No; their hearts gave way, "This is our

Benjamin, our youngest, our little one, we cannot part with this, we'll all perish together, we'll all perish together."

Such was the love of earthly parents;—and GOD Almighty loved his Son, his well-beloved, we know not how, and therefore I dare not compare the two,-he loved him, but for our sakes he spared him not, "he freely delivered him up for us all;" he so loved the world, that he gave him as an universal sacrifice for human transgressions, and by this wondrous, merciful act, astonished earth and heaven with his regard to man.

O my children, what should you do for such a gracious God and for such a Saviour! Surely, surely you ought to love him in return. This is what he requires-this is all he requires. But remember, if you love God, you will try to please him, you will not do what he has forbidden, you will read your Bibles, you will pray for his blessing, you will try to be good, you will be kind and tender-hearted towards others, you will keep the commandments; for "this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments:" then will you be blessed. He will be your protector and guide in this life; his grace will support you in the solemn hour of

L

death; and eternally with his people you shall prove by a delightful experience,

"That this of heaven is heaven,

That GOD himself is love."

That this may be the portion, &c. &c.

SERMON X.

LUKE XV. 11-27.

And he said, a certain man had two sons, &c. &c.

MY CHILDREN,

Of all the Divine attributes, that which it is most delightful to meditate upon, that to which Scripture most frequently and most impressively solicits our attention, is the goodness of GOD. And wherefore, think you? Why is it that the Almighty has especially chosen to represent himself to us as infinitely kind and gracious? We know he is just, and we are assured he will punish the wicked; but why does he rather present himself to us, as rejoicing over us to do us good, and delighting in mercy? Why is this, think you? I will tell you why. He knoweth what is in man, and as his object is our happiness, in bringing us back from the service of Satan, to the love and service of him