is by rendering effectual their instruc- done when the father retires frequenttions and example of godliness in an-ly with his child and makes it a witswer to their most fervent supplica-ness of his private devotions, mingling tions. It is then the duty of the pa-petitions for its particular case, and rent while he looks to God for the ef- teaching it to look in the same manner fectual operation of his Spirit, to ex to the God of prayer; when the moert himself in the religious instruction ther seeks the solitude of the closet of his child, just as if the faithfulness with her lisping infant, and long after of this instruction was to decide his lisping infancy, to dedicate it in reeverlasting destiny; as the prudent newed faith to her God and implore farmer ploughs and cultivates and his Spirit to take possession of its plants his soil to procure a plentiful heart. In this manner the parents harvest, though it is God alone that may confirm their instructions by exgiveth the increase. ample, and bring the importance of the duty home to the heart. But as it is the duty of christian parents not only to read the word of Eudoxus continued; this is a part God to their children, but to teach of parental duty most plainly incumthem also to read and understand it, bent on the christian professor, and so is it the duty of such parents not absolutely essential to the proper inonly to pray for, but solicitously to culcating of the duty of prayer; insoteach their children to pray. And much that even a punctual attention this can only be effected to any ad- to regular family prayer will be in a vantage by example. A child will great degree ineffectual without it. not be persuaded of the necessity and But alas, though it is to be hoped meaning of such a service unless he is there are some exceptions, there is taught to reverence it in the daily room to believe that the neglect of the practice of his parents. The imme- one is generally accompanied with a diate and natural inquiry of the infan- neglect of the other. And certainly tile heart though it may not be ex- there is a considerable want of conpressed is, "Thou that teachest anoth sistency in separating between them. er teachest thou thyself? thou that To allow that it is right and necessapreachest a man should pray dost thou ry to pray frequently with an individpray? It is therefore the evident du-ual child, is to allow that it is right ty of the parent to bow frequently with his offspring before the throne of grace, and send up particular petitions for the particular circumstances of their wants. For depend upon it unless the child has seen his parent pleading before God for the remis-tary acknowledgment of a Higher Fasion of his sins, and the directions of his grace, it will not be taught to plead for itself. The conduct of its parent constitutes its most rigid standard of rectitude and this remembered only as it is expressed to the eye. Here he was interrupted by Marcellus; it is most certainly a duty of the christian parent to inculcate the importance of prayer by private exainple. But is not this effectually and necessary to pray with all who may be under our charge, and to teach them to unite in the worship of God. And when the child sees both his parents morning and evening careful to begin and close the day with a volun ther and a Greater Head, it receives the most impressive lesson of duty that it can derive from any other ordinary source. Reverence of God and sacred things becomes entwined with the earliest recollections of parental love and social sympathy, and it will cling to the heart in some degree, till its last fibres are broken in death. Yes, when the admonitions of affection have been slighted, when the hedge of early innocence has been ways of the Lord; & no doubt, instituttrampled over, and the feet have wan- ed an altar of prayer and praise to the dered far from its consecrated simpli-God of all his blessings, in the midst of city, still when memory rolls back- his family. The man Job was perfect & ward over days and years and times upright, fearing God & eschewing evil, long slumbering in the waste of the & it was so, that when the days of the. past, and they will do so sometimes feasting of his children had gone about in despite of all resistance; the aban-that lob sent and sanctified them, and doned profligate will weep over the sacred associations of childhood. And oftentimes the Spirit of God will urge the remembrance upon his heart till it breaks in contrition at the footstool of his grace, and returns with penitent grief to pursue that path of peacefulness which had once been pointed out by the kindest of all earthly friends. Still there is every reason to presume a fault in the system of education, when this aberration has taken place at all, for saith the wise man, 'train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.' rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually. And if Job in the obscurity of that dispensation, felt it to be his duty to act in this manner in respect of his children even after they had left the parental roof, how must he have behaved when they were yet under his instruction; and how should the christian father blush who, with all his clearer knowledge and clearer apprehension of the holiness of God, never calls his household together to sanctify them before the Lord, and plead a renewed application of the blood of the Great Sacrifice, lest peradventure some of his children may have sinned and cursed God in their hearts! The responsibility of a master of a family is truly awful; and it is the duty and interest of such carefully to inquire into every thing that may have a tendency to promote or counteract the religious improvement of those who are committed to their care "Pour out thy fury upon the heafor the blood of souls will be required then and upon the families that call at their hands. And although the not on thy name," says the prophet scripture contains no positive injunc- Jeremiah. It is a fearful prayer, and tion of family worship at stated times, it would be well for those who neglect it certainly becomes every professing the duty of family prayer to inquire christian head of a family seriously to with seriousness whether it does not inquire whether the nature of his pro-imply more than the duty of simply fession, the nature of his religion, and acknowledging God by an attendance the duties it imposes does not plain- upon his public ordinances, or calling ly indicate the incumbent duty of upon his name in an individual capaworshipping God in his house with all city. Does it not require every fami his household. Abraham receivedly to wait diligently upon the Lord in this testimony of God, 'I know him its collective character? I should fear that he will command the children of to think and act as if it did not. his household after him; and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice & judgment.' Whence we find that this venerable patriarch was particularly careful to instruct, not only bis children, but all his servants in the Under the oldest dispensation it was considered one principal glory of the patriarchal character to officiate as priest in his own family. To offer up the daily sacrifices and make an atonement for the sins of his household. And it was accounted a chief privi- we generally find no difficulty of exlege of the birth-right, that this duty pressing them in the presence of our devolved upon the eldest son in case fellow men. The humblest beggar is of his father's absence, and after their eloquent when he pleads for that which separation into new families constitut- he knows he cannot do without. So the ed him the High priest over all the sinner duly appreciating his spiritual others. It was the contempt of this necessities, lifts up his petitions withprivilege that aggravated the sin of out embarrassment and in a short Esau when he sold his birth-right, time grows familiar with the language and authorized the apostle to style of prayer. So also the father of a fahim "the profane." So we find A-mily, deeply sensible of the importbraham and Isaac and Jacob, and Job ance of the duty can always pray in and Laban, &c. frequently taking up- an acceptable manner, if his heart is on themselves the exercise of this of-directed to the throne of grace. And fice in their characters of Heads of fa- the longer he habituates himself to the milies. But the sacrifices of the practice, he will become more comchristian are offerings of prayer and petent to express himself clearly and praise, and the pure incense of thanks-appropriately in the language of supgiving unto the Lord. And surely plication. A parent would feel no the christian parent has no reason to embarrassment in the presence of his undervalue and neglect a privilege so family, if he commenced the practice cherished by the friends of God of old. of the duty with the earliest instituBut, interrupted Marcellus, do you tion of his family. Those who pray think every person is qualified to dis-much in their closets will never find charge this office. All these instances which you have mentioned are of men eminent in piety and remarkable in the world. But as every person is not qualified to go forth and preach the gospel, and as every person is not qualified to become the mouth of a mixed assembly in social prayer; are there not also many men for whom it would be highly improper to address God in the circle of their families, who may be naturally by their education or other circumstances incapacitated to discharge the duty in a proper manner. any difficulty to pray in their families. The language of prayer will be natural and easy. And alas, it is to be feared that some of those who plead this diffidence, may attribute it to their inexperience of the duty in their most private retirement. But grant for a moment this plea of incompetence and perhaps in a few instances it ought to be sustained, still the parent is not discharged from other parts of family worship. The obligation to instruct his children and servants in the word of God is still as incumbent as ever. He should call 'My dear friend, resumed Eudoxus, his family together every morning and you do not reflect that the spirit of evening to read a portion of the Bible, your objection may be applied with e- and acknowledge by more than words qual force against any exercise of his supreme veneration of that holy prayer whatever, in the particular ca-book. And it would be well to iuses of some individuals. quire whether his duty did not authoMarcellus. No, the heart may cer-rize him to use a written form of praytainly be taught to pour forth its peti-er rather than totally to omit this sertions, when the tongue would be em- vice of God in his house. barrassed to express them in an intelligible manner for the edification of others. The Jews of old were very careful to instruct their children in the knowledge of God, and christians are unEudoxus. When we feel our wants "der a double obligation to do so now. For friends and fame and fortune brighter smil'd, And yet I have seen many christian-The widow'd mother yields to death's embrace professing parents who seemed to think Her darling child, the last of all her race. Can aught terrestrial e'er her loss supply, that if they barely taught their child-Whose life gave zest to every other joy? ren and servants to read and kept a Bible in their houses, and required them to read it at school or on Sunday as a task book, they discharged all the duties of their responsible relation. While perhaps their children would In prospect of transmission to a child, tears. not see them with the Bible in their own hands from Monday morning till Sat-All hope to build an earthly house is void, The root is wither'd and the branch destroy'd; urday night. Yet heav'nly wisdom bids repining cease, And in celestial accents whispers peace. O! listen to her heart-reviving voice. Why should you morn, when heav'nly hosts rejoice? Marcellus expressed his entire accordance of opinion on this point, and said, he could scarcely conceive how a man, professing to consider the word of God to be written in the Bible, and to love that book over all other books, could yet neglect to read and talk about it every day in the midst of his family. When saints & angels tune their golden lyres, To hail her welcome to their radiant choirs! wiles, The world's allurements and harrassing toils, brow, The conversation now began to run into other subjects. The evening was agreeably occupied and sped with imperceptable but rapid motion to the hour of retirement. Then again I mingled with delight in the wonted devotions of the evening, and withdrew to rest as usual, deeply impress-Must the Redeemer and his work appear! To her, how glorious, beautiful and dear, ed with admiration of the peace and So in death's trying and impartial hour, contentment that ever tabernacled in She bore sweet witness to his love and power. the dwelling of Eudoxus. MINUTIUS. Let all the sparkling joys of sense unite, They cannot greet us with a scene so bright. Bless then, O mourner, bless his sovereign grace, The following Lines on the death of Miss Margaret Hammell, (who died some years ago) have been handed us for publication. They were first published in the "Cumberland Register," a paper printed some years since in Carlisle. We can trace in them the language and the sentiments of our correspondent Amanda. Our worldly comforts, ever on the wing, Diffusing fragrance through this vale of woe. Which thus has been extended to thy race INDEX. Mr. Summmerfield, 106 Religious Miscellany, No. 8. "Say ye to the daughter of Zion, behold, thy salvation cometh." fire! Mort. This is bad news, indeed! But what is your authority for this intelligence? Clem. I was an eye witness of it. About three o'clock, the roof fell in with a tremendous crash; and with it was precipitated, headlong, the towering figure of Apollo; whose elevated height, on the top of the Theatre, stood, no doubt, as the proud ensign of this school of morals and virtue. Mort. Nay, Clement, you are too severe; you must admit it is a calamitous event. Vol. III. seeing that the routine of a Theatre so peculiarly exposes it to this calamity, that one is only surprised it is not more frequently the victim of this species of destruction. Clem. This is very true, I grant you; and yet I cannot help being much impressed with the event of last night. For, in my youthful days of sin & folly been present at the opening of that with shame I confess myself to have Theatre, some years back; and I well remember that in the prologue to the representation of the first evening, the element of fire was set at defiance; (and thereby the power of that God was set at nought too, without whose permission a sparrow cannot fall to the ground;) the theatre being supposed to have been rendered perfectly secure by an immense reservoir of water in the roof, by which, it was alleged, the house could have been drowned in a few minutes; and by an iron curtain, which separated the stage and the spectators: with this extinguisher, and this barrier, the prologue bid defiance to the flames; which, it seems, have, last night, been an over-match for both. be no water in the reservoir, just at Mort. I presume there happened to the time; and in the dead of the night there might not be hands sufficient to manage the iron curtain. Clem. If there are no lives lost, however I may feel for any who may have lost their property by the event, I cannot with my sentiments of the pernicious effects of a Theatre, regret, that for a season, at least, much evil will be prevented; nor can one help thinking that the displeasure of the Almighty is manifested by these repeated instances of Theatres being destroyed by fire, for there is scarcely a Theatre in and about the metropolis,trol they are. which has not shared the same disaster. Mort. Surely, Clement, you are not for dealing out judgments in this way; Clem. Say rather, friend Mortimer, that a regard only to second causes is the mark of an unbelieving heart; which excludes from the events of Providence the approving or permissive will of Him, under whose con Mort. Notwithstanding all you have said, I feel very keenly the conflagration of last night; it will be a great loss to the public, who will thereby |