SERMON

VII.

the means of honeft and comfortable maintenance hereafter, depend upon your obedience to that care which has been provided for you in this houfe of refuge. By -obedience you will become virtuous and happy, the favourites of God, ‹ and refpected by thofe with whom you are connected: by difobedience you will become wicked and miferable, the outcasts of Heaven, and the fcorn and deteftation of the world...

Be not then your own enemies; and God will be your friend, and he will make others your friends. Expofe not yourselves -to temptations; and the grace of God will fupport you harmless against those, which others may offer to you. Be good and religious; and God will take care that you fhall be happy. Forget not him; and never will he forget to bless you.

May

VII.

May he indeed bless you! may he make SERMON you good, useful, happy in this world;

and may he hereafter receive you as his children in Heaven!

SERMON VIII.

ON THE DUTIES OF CHILDREN.

ON

ECCLES. chap. iii. verfe 12, 13.

My fon, help thy father in his age, and
grieve him not as long as he liveth.
And if his understanding fail, have patience
with him, and defpife him not when thou
art in thy full ftrength.

at the

1792.

A FORMER difcourfe on filial duty Preached was principally directed to very young Afylum, perfons, who were still under their parents roof, dependent on their care, protection, and munificence. I now propose to carry reflections a little farther, to the time

my

when

VIII.

when children are independent of them as to circumstances; when they are bound only by piety, by gratitude, by past endearing, affectionate recollections.

The volume of duties in this ftate of the relationship is certainly not diminifhed, but rather increased, by the ability to make fome return for those obligations, which have been the foundation of our prefent happiness and profperity. Obedience is ftill a filial duty, though qualified, and extremely different, from what it has hitherto been. The voice of a father has a claim of reverence to the latest hour of his life: but if our own folid and impartial judgments, and our unavoidable diftinct interefts fhould at any time forbid us to obey, our refusal must be accompanied with fuch refpect, as will prevent it from giving a rational umbrage to a parent's feelings.

The