shall rise up to bless you; and from the spirit you have infused, multitudes shall date the commencement of their Eternal Bliss.

When parents look round on those to whom they have given life-while a thousand tender hopes and fears rise alternately, and call forth tears mingled with smiles, gleams of delight dashed with trembling apprehension,-to reflect that by their neglect, by their inadvertence, these innocents may be victims of guilt and remorse, and at the great and last tribunal have just cause to upbraid the authors of their miserable beingis a thought which must rouse all that is human within them, to avert so dread an evil before it is too late.

How much do parents naturally exult in their children's temporal prosperity! With what triumph behold them esteemed and beloved, useful and happy! What transport to your hearts, all that is cheering and satisfactory to theirs!

O! what joy then will it be to see them rise in the morning of the resurrection, beautiful in goodness, placed on the right hand of their Saviour and their Judge; crowned with immortal happiness! God incline the hearts of parents to fulfil their unspeakable obligations, and hereafter grant unto them this transcendent recompence!-Amen.

SERMON VIII.

THE DUTY OF CHILDREN.

PROV. x. 1. A wise Son maketh a glad Father, but a foolish Son is the heaviness of his Mother.

TO the generous mind, how greatly diminished is the value of every enjoyment, which cannot be tasted, without inflicting pain and sorrow upon others! But to wound the heart of our faithful friend, our disinterested benefactor, through the very tenderness of their affection, is so unnatural, that there can be few selfish pleasures which would not change their nature on such conditions. The

consciousness of such ingratitude must damp every sensation of delight; and, while one spark of ingenuous feeling remains, the self reproaches of the mind must become insupportable.

How powerfully affecting then, to all young persons of amiable disposition, is that motive to a virtuous character and conduct, which arises from the grief and shame, or gladness and triumph, which their conduct necessarily brings to affectionate parents. It is in their power to pierce the hearts of those who love them with tenderness unutterable, and to make that tenderness the source of inconceivable sorrow: it is also in their power to give to those so dearly, so justly, beloved and honoured, such joy as the parental heart alone is capable of tasting-joy that may álmost divest old age of its infirmities, give cheerfulness to adversity, and a smile to death itself. Though broken with cares, sunk in misfortunes, and hastening to decay, parents who can still lean on their dutiful and affec