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explicit, too, is the command of God, that no parent can be justified in neglecting or transferring the duty to others, unless he is placed in such circumstances as to incapacitate him for discharging it. So long, therefore, as it is said-" And ye shall teach them your children," parents are to be regarded as the divinely appointed primary teachers of their offspring; and they cannot neglect or transfer this duty to others, without neglecting or setting aside the ordinance of God.

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As God has thus clearly defined who are to be the teachers, so he has no less clearly pointed out what are to be their qualifications-" Therefore," says he, "shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.' In these words, we have a beautiful and highly instructive description of what every parent should be, as the head and instructor of his family. The words of God, thereby referring to the doctrines to be believed, the commands to be obeyed, the ordinances to be observed, the prophecies to be fulfilled, the promises to be realized, and the threatenings to be dreaded and shunned, are to be laid up in the heart and in the soul, that they may enlighten the understanding, regulate the conscience, and sanctify the affections, that they may from thence flow out into the act ons of the life, and qualify them for teaching the whole will of God, and for being living examples of all that the Lord our God requires of us. soul, in all its views, emotions, and exercises, is to be entirely under their influence; and this it cannot be, without being at the same time "a living epistle of Christ, known and read of all" who behold it. The allusion, also, to a sign or signet upon the hand, and frontlets between the eyes, beautifully illustrates the prominence which should be given to "the words of God," in their practical bearings on the life. The religious parent is not to be ashamed or afraid to give the utmost prominence to his piety before his family. On the contrary, his deep and abiding reverence of God, his faith in Christ, and supreme love and devotedness to him and his cause, and his constant obedience to his commands and ordinances, in private as well as in public, are to mark all his course, and infuse their influence into his whole character, if, as a religious parent, he would be duly qualified for training up his children for God and for the church, either in this world or in heaven. Having thus glanced at the qualifications of the teachers, let us consider

III. The matter and manner of the teaching which God has enjoined. "And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thine house, and

upon thy gates." Such is the injunction of God on this all-important subject; and it is so plain that he who runs may read it. In the present age, however, the great object which many of the leaders of public opinion seem to have in view, is to banish religion from education, and secularize it as much as possible, under the vain and groundless plea that it is too sacred to be mixed up with the common routine of instruction, or too difficult and sublime for the mind in childhood to have to do with it. But here, as in everything else in regard to which the depraved heart of man is left to judge for itself, "God's thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor his ways as our ways." God says, "These my words ye shall teach your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up;" but no, say these modern theorists on the training of the infant and youthful mind; for this would be to pre-occupy their minds with truths before they can be supposed capable of understanding them, and would therefore lead only to hypocrisy. Or, if anything is to be said on the subject of religion, say they, why not confine it to the Sabbath and the sanctuary? Why should we be always talking about it? Is not this the sure way to disgust the young mind in reference to it, and to fill it with prejudices against it? But to all such objections, how plausible soever they may appear, it is enough to adduce the explicit command of the text. For, can we suppose, without being guilty of the grossest impiety, that the Creator of the human soul, and the unerring Judge of the universe, can be in error on such a subject as this, and that we can amend any of his institutions? The very thought is blasphemy; and the efforts which are made to carry it into execution are fearful acts of rebellion against God. If we had no relations to sustain, nor duties to perform, nor evils to dread, nor hopes to cherish, but those which arise from our connection with the present world, it might be all well enough to exclude God and his words from the family circle, and from all parental counsel, and warning, and example; but so long as it is true that the human soul is immortal; that in consequence of the apostacy of our first parents, it enters this world in a state of sin; that it is prone to depart from God, even from its earliest days; that the world is full of errors and allurements calculated to lead it to destruction; that it is not capable of guiding or saving itself, and that the words of God alone point out the way which leads to salvation here, and to glory hereafter, just so long will it be wise and necessary for parents not only to lay them up in their own heart and soul, but constantly to put forth their best efforts in order to give them a place in the heart and soul of their children. Nothing short of this, indeed, can prepare them even for the proper discharge of the secular duties of future life, or for safely mingling in its corrupting scenes, or for bearing its many disap

pointments and afflictions, or for securing the guidance and blessing of God during it, and for at last closing it in peace and entering on an eternity of glory and blessedness. The parent, then, who duly feels his parental obligations, and endeavors to act up to them, will ever be diligent in teaching the words of God to his children, speaking of them when he sits in his house, and when he walks with them by the way-when he lies down, and when he rises up; nor will he be ashamed to have them appear as ornaments or mementos upon the posts of his house, and upon his gates. The men of science or antiquarian research are not ashamed to have their habitations adorned with the emblems of their respective studies; and why should not the Christian have. his ornaments and everything around him, proclaiming that God in Christ, and his words, are all in all to him? Thus, should the family conversation, the family example, the family worship, the family instruction, and the family mansion in its ornaments, all conspire to train up our children in the words of God, that from their earliest days they may know "the way in which they should go." In place of leaving them to the negative and cheerless influence of a godless system of education, and to the consequent complete secularization of the heart in all its aims and pursuits, the Christian parent will endeavor so to instruct his children that they will never be able to recollect the period when these were unknown to them, or when their heart and conduct were not directed to a supreme regard to them. For surely it requires no argument to show that nothing is so worthy of engaging the first recollections of the mind as "the words of God," nor anything so important as to have the heart-before it is immersed in the cares and anxieties of life-fully brought under the guidance of God, the grace and the love of Christ, and the attractions of heaven. And to attain this, should elicit the daily efforts and the daily prayers of the Christian parent, as he sits in his house, or walks by the way, or lies down, or rises up. It is, indeed, to be the one great object that is to be ever before his mind, in reference to those whom God has placed under his care. Nor can this be done without experiencing the most ample reward. Let us therefore consider

IV. The happiness which may be expected to result from this. "That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth." There are those who would make us believe that these, and all similar promises of a temporal nature, which we meet with under the Old Testament dispensation, have no place under the New, and that it is now vain to look for their fulfillment in the experience of any, no matter how faithful they are in discharging the duties with which

they are connected. But so long as it is true that "in the keeping of God's commands there is a great reward," and that "godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come," and that there is a natural adaptedness in a life of piety to promote the universal well-being of man, I cannot see how that such interpretations of Scripture can be according to truth. The pen of Old Testament inspiration declares that "the way of transgressors is hard," and that "many sorrows shall be to the wicked;" declarations which we find to be as true now, and as descriptive of the actual dealings of God with the various classes of transgressors of the present age, as ever they were in ancient times. And why should not those of an opposite character still hold equally true? Is it not as true now as ever it was, that "the Most High rules in the kingdom of men," and that his character in the government of the world is still the same? If parents, then, of the present age faithfully fulfil the duty which is enjoined in the text, we feel persuaded they may safely cherish the expectation "that their days, and the days of their children, will be multiplied, as the days of heaven upon the earth," just as long as may be for their good and the glory of God. It is quite true, however, that the chief and most glorious part of "the recompense of the reward" is spiritual, and such as can be fully enjoyed only in the heavenly state; but this was as true of the Old as it is of the New dispensation; and the faithful Israelite as well as the faithful Christian had to "look within the veil" for it. If it is a blessing, then, for parents to have their children preserved to them, as the sources of hope and joy to them in future years; and a blessing to children long to enjoy the instruction, the example, and the prayers of parents, the faithful discharge of the duty enjoined in the text is surely far more likely to secure it than the neglect of it; for in this, as well as in everything else, we shall no doubt find the declaration to be verified: "Them that honor me I will honor; but they who despise me shall be lightly esteemed." But though this, we feel persuaded, is the only correct sentiment that can be entertained on this part of the subject, viewed as a matter of Divine promise, yet we need not rest the matter here. For is it not a truth indelibly impressed on the experience and observation of all ages, that piety, in its divinely enlightening and directive principles, its sanctifying grace, its holy affections, its pure morality, its spiritual and exalted enjoyments, supplies us with influences which operate as so many conservative principles to the health of the mental as well as the corporal constitution of man; and thus it cannot but tend to the prolongation of human life. The restraints, too, which it throws over us against the too eager pursuit of the affairs of this world, are no doubt designed to guard us against that oppressive load of perplexity, anxiety, and disappointment, usually at

tendant on a life of unrestrained worldly ambition and enterprise, and which, in multitudes of instances, bring down their votaries to a premature grave. The sustaining influence and abounding consolation also which it imparts. and the cheering and wellgrounded hopes which it cherishes, with regard to glory and blessedness hereafter, under all the inevitable afflictions and trials of life, are eminently calculated to soothe the mind, and uphold it under all the cares which are more or less incident to our present condition. Thus, whilst it effectually protects us against all unnecessary tear and wear of the constitution by the excessive perplexities and anxieties attendant on all undue connection with plans of worldly aggrandizement, and by the destructive influence of sinful indulgences, by its grace and consolations, it also sustains and soothes the mind under all the inevitable ills of the present world, and thus cannot but exert an important influence favorable to the duration of human life. Besides all this, the early and decided piety, and the due discharge of the filial duties which children owe to their parents, and the peace and happiness which may naturally be expected generally to flow from such a system of training, cannot but free the minds of parents from much of that anxiety which they cannot fail more or less to feel in reference to their children. Nor is it the burden of care and anxiety alone which is thus either alleviated or taken away; there is the joy which the parental heart cannot but feel as it surveys the holy and happy circle around it, or ventures to look forward into the future, and pictures each one, as they rise into mature years, verging off into some new path of usefulness and happiness, as Providence may allot to them in "serving their generation," and thinks of the expanding influence which they may thus have in sustaining the cause of the Redeemer in the world, or ventures to look forward to the closing scene of all, and to their happy meeting in some of the mansions of glory in heaven. As these are circumstances which seem eminently calculated to free the parent's heart from care, and to fill it with exalted joy, so they cannot but have a favorable influence on their health, and therefore on the prolongation of their life. The undutifulness and impiety of a child have broken many a parent's heart, shortened their days, and at last brought down their grey hairs with sorrow to the grave. But, in the case before us, there is nothing of all this. Piety, in all the maturity and fruitfulness of age, on the one hand, and in all the loveliness and freshness of childhood and youth on the other, throws its hallowing and cheering influence over all, so that their days pass" as the days of heaven upon the earth." And when death comes, and breaks up the happy circle, parent and child can part in peace and joy, and in the delightful assurance of soon meeting again in a far happier home, in a mansion into which sin

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