this description, especially if they be conversant with the religious part of the community, we must generally look for eminent piety and efficient service. Let your children, then, be early encouraged to imbibe the spirit of that charity which becomes the gospel; that expansive charity, which, flowing from supreme love to God, the heart's highest motive, descends to every one of the human family, widening in its manifestations, as they advance in life, from the relief of a beggar at the door, to the support of schools, hospitals, and the various benevolent and religious institutions of their native land. Let them be early led to witness the order and excellence of our Sunday Schools, and be invited to render their personal assistance there. Let them be taught the economy and utility of our Tract, our Bible, our Missionary Societies. Let them learn, from their early years, not only to respect and love these institutions at heart, but, as their age and means increase, to seek to promote their efficiency, with all the power they have at command.

We urge these things on parents and the

heads of families, not only as being in themselves lovely and of good report, but as religious duties, which the actual state of the church, and the world at large, has made binding on every Christian who has any influence with the young. It is a solemn duty which we owe to our Lord and Master to enlist the rising generation in his service, and to bring them into the ranks of his soldiers, according as they shall be qualified by himself 'to come to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.”

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Christian parents, you will perceive, from what we have advanced, that the duties devolving upon you are important in the highest degree. They involve, as it regards yourselves, a due sense of your accountability to God, who says to you, of each one of your offspring, "Take this child and nurse it for me." And as it regards your families and household, they embrace every element of their well-being for time and for eternity. But they are not less arduous than they are important. You cannot look at them without a feeling of absolute insufficiency of yourselves

to discharge them. The feeling is just. No human resources are equal to them. But be not dismayed. He that calls you to these duties knows what gifts and graces you need to qualify you for them. He has them all at his disposal; "wisdom and might are his," and he is ready to bestow them. When he calls to duty, he expects you to ask him for the grace required. Is your duty perplexing ?pray to him, with David, "Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness, make thy way straight before my face." Is it onerous, and hard to bear?-think of the encouraging invitation of your Lord; "Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for my yoke is easy, and my ourden is light." And why does he thus invite, but to intimate that his assistance will be afforded to make the yoke and the burden easy and light? Are your duties severe and trying to your natural affections ?_" the Lord loveth the righteous; the trial of your faith worketh patience; and blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him."

I would say, then, to every Christian parent who duly feels the responsibility of his station, and is anxious to acquit himself aright before God, "Go in his strength, and fear not. The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee; send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion !"

But you are not all christian parents, though you assume the name. Some of you are void of religious impressions, and "God is not in all your thoughts." No doubt you love your children. Natural affection is strong within you. You are not indifferent to what you reckon the welfare of your family. You are sufficiently anxious to provide for them "what they shall eat, and what they shall drink, and wherewithal they shall be clothed." You secure to them, it may be, what you consider a good education, and set them in a way of what the world calls "doing well for themselves;" but unenlightened by divine truth, and strangers to the grace of God, you feel no concern for your own salvation, and neglect the immortal interests of your children and

household. We pray you consider your position. Independently of your own danger, you are hazarding the never-dying souls of those who are parts of yourselves, and for whom you are accountable. Neglecting to train them for God, you are abandoning them to sin, Satan, and everlasting destruction. What then, is the religious character of your children nothing to you? Is it nothing to you. whether they are the objects of God's favour, or his wrath; whether they are going in the way to heaven, or to hell? Surely, if you thought that such weighty considerations were depending on your conduct, you would be deeply concerned that that conduct should be correct. Were you sufficiently aware of the awful responsibilities resting upon you, as parents, you would be most anxious to learn how you could fully meet them. But responsibilities infinitely more awful than we can describe devolve upon you; considerations vastly more grave than we can explain arise from your parental and domestic relations. Repent ye, therefore, of your past negligence. "Acquaint yourselves with God, and be at