Remember too, that having lived for a short time in this mortal state, you will at last arrive at its close, and be stretched upon your bed of death. Think what delightful sensations, or what terrible pains, will then be experienced by you, according as you have performed or neglected this duty. Shall you have given your children a pious education, and seen them walking in the paths of truth and godliness, you will then be enabled to leave them without regret, and to bid them farewell with calmness; you will be able to commit them with confidence to the Father of the fatherless, knowing that they shall rest with safety under the shadow of the Almighty. You will be armed against the terrors of the approaching separation, by remembering that you have performed your duty to them, though imperfectly, yet sincerely; and by anticipating that period when you shall again be united before the throne of God. "Though such a parent die," says the wise son of Sirach, " yet he is as though he were not dead; for he hath left one behind him that is like himself. While he lived, he saw and rejoiced in him; and when he died, he was not sorrowful." (Ecclesiasticus xxx. 4, 6.)

Shall you, on the contrary, at the hour of death, be forced to remember that you have neglected your children, and by your carelessness destroyed their souls? Ah! this reflection will kindle a hell in your bosom, will give double terrors to death.

"God

gave me children," you will cry in agony: "God gave me children, committed to me the care of their immortal souls, and ordered me to bring them up in his fear. At the period of their baptism, I vowed thus to do; but I have slighted my vows, and forgotten my engagements; I have been careful of their temporal interests, and anxious for their outward welfare, but have been careless of the state of their souls: I have sold them to sin and to satan; I have been the instrument of their perdition; they are lost; but their blood is about to be required at my hands." Parents, are you desirous that these should not be your feelings on the bed of death? Begin then instantly to bring up your children "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."

Remember, finally, that the day of judgment is approaching: Death shall lay your bodies and the bodies of your children in the dust; but at the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, you shall wake from the long slumbers of the grave to receive your final doom. Oh! what joy shall swell the heart of the godly parent, when the voice of the archangel shall cry, arise, thou pious father, thou holy mother; arise and re-embrace those righteous children whom death tore from your arms; arise, open your eyes upon your dear children who closed them when you expired; arise, press to your parental bosom these your descendants whom you early dedicated to God, and educated in his fear; go before them to the

throne of the Judge, and exclaim in humble triumph, "behold us O God, and the children whom thou hast given us." (Isaiah v. 18.)-"Those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost." (John xvii. 12.) He will give you the crown of righteousness; he will cause you never more to be separated from each other, nor from him.

But, O criminal parent, these joys are not for you-for you are reserved tortures, which the heart in vain attempts to conceive. That son, that daughter, whom you are leading to perdition, will descry you amongst the assembled crowd; as they sink in the flames, they will imprecate the vengeance of God upon your head; they will cry to you in a voice that will rend your heart; " wretched parent ! it is you that have brought us hither! it is you who communicated to us a corrupted nature, and were careless of leading us to God, and inspiring us with holy sentiments; wretch! why didst thou call us into being? why didst thou plunge us into hell? our doom is remediless; but we will become thy tormentors! we will forever present ourselves to thee, surrounded by those flames which consume us, weighed down by those chains of darkness with which we are bound; we will cry to thee, behold thy work! The groans, the shrieks, the howlings, which we shall through eternity pour forth, will vibrate in thine ear, will reproach thee for our misery and thy guilt, will kindle a hell within thee more in

tolerable than the flames in which thou shalt be enwrapped."

But I forbear. This picture is too appalling. If the mere anticipation of such a scene freezes the blood, what, oh! what must be its reality!

SERMON III.

EARLY PIETY.

2 CHRONICLES xxxiv. 3.

"While he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father."

AN earthly panegyrist in giving the character of a celebrated king, would have talked much of the extent of his dominions, the power of his arms, the splendour of his court; but the spirit of God, overlooking these objects as unworthy of attention, mentions as the most glorious characteristic of the king of Judah, that "while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father." How much more honourable to Josiah is this eulogium, than the most brilliant description of his dignities and wealth could have been? His dignities and wealth could not have accompanied him beyond the grave; his palace has long since fallen to the dust; his throne has crumbled to ruins, his crown has lost its lustre : but his early piety has followed him into the unseen world, where he dwells in the palace of the King of kings, seated on a durable.