his conscience with a reality and force which he will scarcely feel while death seems afar off, and eternity a land he knows not of. If ever, the deep necessities of his spiritual nature will then be realized: and the claims of God will then, if ever, be felt in their majesty and might. How good is such an impression! What mercy in the lessons of such a season of affliction. Good indeed is it to be afflicted, when affliction teaches the value of the soul, and imparts the wisdom which is unto salvation. Many a man has brought from his sick-bed, impressions of the vanity of the life, of the solemnity of eternity, the odiousness of sin, the preciousness of Christ, and the glory of salvation through his blood, which he would not part with for worlds. And though in a world of temptations, the sufferer may afterwards lose much of the freshness and force of these lessons, yet it is possible that as long as being lasts, he may bless the hand that in smiting him to the ground, broke the charm of the world, and tore away the illusions of sin. O! deem not they are blest alone, Whose lives a peaceful tenor keep : ADVICE TO PARENTS. Many parents, who are more or less guilty of the sin of Eli, in ''not restraining" (1 Sam. iii. 13.) their children sufficiently when they are young, are laying up in store for themselves and their offspring, trouble and shame, and perhaps vice, to an amount of which, till overtaken by the evil consequences of their neglect, they have no notion Now, only let those that have families to bring up, recollect what a charge is thus entrusted to them. No one would think of defending the conduct of a parent who would neglect the bodily health and comfort of a child; is he less to be blamed, if he disregards the welfare of its soul? Suppose that a child is left to starve for the want of proper support; or, for want of proper management and attention on the part of its parents, grows up crooked, or deformed, or becomes unhealthy or maimed; who is not ready to confess that God will certainly call these unnatural parents to account for not having done their duty by their child? Is it not reasonable then to believe, that those who, while they indulge the froward will, and pamper the corrupt flesh and blood of their offspring, leave the immortal soul with comparatively little or no care, must one day answer for this before the throne of Christ? "Cruel, wicked parents!" is the universal cry, if through their fault, the child suffers at all in a bodily way. But far more cruel, ten thousand times more wicked, are those parents, whatever may be their care of the bodies of their children, by whose fault the souls of those little ones are placed in danger of ruin. Nor is it an excuse to say, that you did not put them in the wrong way; nay, it is but a poor excuse to bring, even if you put them in the right way, unless, with unceasing pains and watchfulness, you have been always endeavouring to keep them therein. Human nature is fallen, and naturally inclined to what is evil; therefore the man who is not ever on the watch, lest his child go astray, the man who forbears to check and correct him when he is going astray, does in effect become a partaker in his sin. Thus "he that refuseth reproof, causeth to err." (Prov. x. 17; translation in margin.) Children are "to be brought up in the fear and nurture of the Lord:" (Marriage Service) but may we not here apply the words of Scripture used on another occasion, and ask, If a child fear not his father, whom he hath seen, how shall he be taught to fear God, whom he hath not seen?" (compare 1 John iv. 20.) Again, children are bidden to "obey their parents, for this is right;" but will they do this of themselves, without being taught? It must, then, be the positive duty of every parent, to teach this wholesome lesson to his family; and no excuses that can be made for neglecting this, will set him free from the obligation. One may say, "I have no time to spare to teach my children what is right." Another will exclaim, "I am no scholar, I need to be myself taught; how should I teach them any thing?" Another will say, yet more foolishly. "Poor things, it will be time enough to instruct, and correct, and find fault with them by and by." And so might we go on through many more excuses of this kind. Now, as to not having time to teach, the want of this opportunity ought certainly to make labouring people more anxious and zealous than they commonly are, not only to send their little ones to a good religious school, but also to keep them regularly to their school; a duty about which too many are very careless. But, after all, no instruction received elsewhere can be made to supersede the watchful eye, and firm but gentle check of a parent at home. Let those, then, who declare that labour allows them no time to spare for the training up of their families, honestly answer these two questions-first, do they make a right use of what time they have? and secondly, do they employ all the time that they can really spare for that purpose? Only let them try, with God's blessing, to be enabled to answer, "Yes," to both these questions; and then they will be so far doing their duty, and will want no excuses of this sort. Then, with regard to parents being themselves in need of instruction, and little qualified to teach others, this may be true in one sense, and yet not serve for an excuse. It is very well for people to confess their own ignorance, when they are willing and endeavouring to be made wiser; otherwise to boast of want of knowledge, and rest contented in it, quietly making it a cloak for our carelessness and neglect, is folly and wickedness. God has given us all un P derstanding to know right from wrong; we have the Bible to guide and to teach us; assuredly then the most ignorant amongst us might, if he would, if his heart was but set right to do it, bring up his family in the right way, especially as God is ever ready to hear the prayer of the simple ones, and to assist the humble and lowly-minded. But we need not imagine what might be; we need only look at what has been, and even now is. Some of those, upon whom the world looks down as most ignorant, are able, being blessed with Christian faith, and acting under a Christian sense of duty, to bring up their children better than many of higher attainments do, “in the fear and nurture of the Lord." And what some have done, others might do. Depend upon it, our heavenly Father never gives men duties to perform, (as in the case of bringing up families), without also giving them the means of doing this; only remember, these means must be diligently sought after with prayer. As to the absurd excuses of fond indulgence, always putting off until tomorrow the proper correction of the child, which God to-day requires at the hands of the parent; let the wisdom of the wisest of men bear witness against it: "He that loveth his son chasteneth him betimes." From refusing calm and moderate correction, when it is needed, one of these two consequences must follow;-either a double share of punishment will be necessary at some future time, or (what is the worse and more likely thing to happen,) the fault will escape altogether uncorrected and unreformed. The thorns which might, whilst young and just coming up, have been removed, will, if allowed once to take strong root, be too likely to grow up and choke even the good seed that may have been sown in the youthful Christian's heart. From such careless disregard it arises, that we may sometimes hear from a parent's mouth the disgraceful, self-condemning confession, "I cannot manage my children; I cannot check them, they will not mind me." Very true; but if this is now out of the question, was there not a time when they might have been managed, and checked, and made to mind? And if, unhappily, that time, that golden opportunity has been suffered to slip away, so far as the elder branches of a family are concerned, then the only possible way of repairing past errors, is to take care that the same mistake shall not happen with respect to the bringing up of those that are yet of tender age. Still, men have so many temptations to give way to the idle fancies of the children whom they love, so much trouble is it to correct them, not by brute force, but (as they should be corrected,) in a moderate and reasonable way, in a manner firm and decisive, though kind and gentle,—that excuses are never wanting. When a foolish and wrong compliance has been begun with a child's bad passions or vain desires, I have heard it said in excuse, "Never mind, children will be children!" So they will; but let fathers and mothers recollect, that with them rests the task, upon them lies the responsibility, of rendering their offspring fit before long to think and and to act as becomes men and women. At any rate, though in one sense children will be children," recollect, it depends, under God, greatly upon their parents, and their mode of training, whether they shall be good or bad children now, and good or bad members of society by and by; nay, their future portion, either with the good or with the bad, for all eternity, may in some degree depend upon their early training. Either ill or well, the younger members of a family must turn out; and though it does not entirely rest with the parent which of these two it shall be, yet let him reflect, how much his grief hereafter over his child's sin would be inflamed by the stinging recollection, that he had himself been, in some measure, the root and cause of it! 66 Scarcely any one would venture to defend the conduct of those persons, who neglect to bring their little ones to |