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away by death, after having arrived at the years. of responsibility, and yet without affording an encouraging hope that there was a renewal of heart and a preparation for heaven, what must be the anguish of your heart; and how fearful must be the superadded poignancy of that anguish, if you feel that you have reason for self-upbraidings on the ground of parental procrastination and negligence! Should you, on the other hand, find yourselves approaching the confines of eternity, and about to leave the children of your love in this world of temptation and danger, without any satisfactory evidence of their personal religion, how may the thought come over your mind at the last hour, like a darkening cloud over the face of the setting sun, that you have been culpably wanting in fervency of prayer and in assiduity of exertion, to promote the interests of their immortal souls! Enter, then, christian parents, into those benignant and heavenly emotions which animated the heart of the holy prophet, who was about to ascend in his ethereal chariot, to the world above; when, feeling that his translation to glory would yield him still greater felicity, if he should have the joy of augmenting the happiness of his successor in office, he said to Elisha ;-" Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee!"

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Lastly, Let there be an anticipation of the meeting between Parents and Children, which

must hereafter take place before the judgmentseat of Christ.

At that eventful and decisive day, there must pass in review before the eye of conscience, and before the eye of the Judge, the course of training pursued by the parent, and the course of conduct adopted by the child. And the results-what will they be? Approval or condemnation! The blessing which invites to glory, or the curse which dooms to woe! Ah, what would be the agony of beholding the children entrusted to your care, on the left hand of the Judge, and of hearing from their lips the bitterness of reproach! On the contrary, what must be the extatic blessedness of being encircled by the objects of your tenderest love, as you occupy a glorious station on the right hand of Him that sitteth on the throne, and being able to say, with adoring gratitude" Here, O Lord, are we and the children thou hast given us!" May this be your unspeakable happiness, through the merit and oblation of that Redeemer, who "loved us and gave himself for us;" to whom be glory throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

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LECTURE XIV.

THE DUTIES OF CHILDREN.

EPHES. VI. 1, 2.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honour thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise.

THERE are two methods of pursuing happiness which are directly opposed to each other: the one is, the pursuit of our own enjoyment at the expense of the happiness of those around us; the other is, the pursuit of our own gratification, in the effort to promote the happiness of others. The former is the method to which multitudes are impelled, by the selfishness of a depraved heart; but it never fails to issue in disappointment. The latter is the method to which we are directed by the religion of the bible; and it never fails to verify the assertion, that "Godliness is profitable for all things." We cannot be rendered blessings to others, without being ourselves the recipients of blessedness. This assertion might be verified

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by the most extensive observations on human agency and human happiness, in all the intercourse of man with man; but most striking and most delightful are the proofs and illustrations which present themselves to our view, within the range of the domestic circle. We have seen the intimacy of connexion between being blessed, and being made a blessing, in the most endearing of all the relations of life; and we have seen it also in the relation which Parents sustain towards their Children. It will now, I trust, be made to appear, in the correspondent relation which Children sustain towards their Parents.

I would now direct my address, with every feeling of pastoral affection, to my dear young friends, while I endeavour to exhibit--

The Duties which Children owe to their Parents and the Motives by which they should be induced to discharge those Duties with promptitude and delight. Let your fixed attention be directed,

FIRST, To the Duties which Children owe to their Parents.

First, It is the duty of children to cherish towards their parents true and strong affection.

Of the six commands of the decalogue which regard our fellow-men, this is the substance: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Now if you are required thus to love your neighbour in

that extensive sense of the term, which excludes not from its comprehension even the stranger or the foreigner, what must be the order of feelings which belong to filial affection? What do you not owe to your parents? Do you not owe to them your existence, and all those blessings which render that existence desirable? Can you estimate the obligations under which you are laid by their perpetual care, and most affectionate solicitude? Who was it that watched over your infancy with tenderest love, and ever-wakeful vigilance? Who was it that by night, as well as by day, fondly sustained and caressed you, while

you knew not the value of maternal endearments? Who were they that hailed the dawn of reason in your infant mind, as the welcome signal for commencing that course of instruction, which has never been discontinued or suspended? Who were they that listened to the first inarticulate lispings of your voice, even as if it had poured forth a tide of eloquence? Who were they that addressed themselves, by daily exertion, to the labour of the hands or of the mind, that the first period of your life, as well as its subsequent years, might be deficient in none of the sources of enjoyment? Let your hearts reply to questions such as these; and surely it will then be impossible to requite a father's or a mother's tenderness with cold and base ingratitude. Of all the sights which may be

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