and with all your soul, He will turn your captivity and have compassion upon you and gather you from all the nations among which you are scattered, though it be from the end of the earth, and make you plenteous in every good thing. If this promise has not been fulfilled, it is because you have not returned unto the Lord your God, in the manner which he has required. "God is not a man that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it; or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”* The same disobedience, which first occasioned so many calamities to your fathers, continues to occasion them to their children. Had you avoided the sins of your ancestors, and returned to the Lord, he would have returned unto you in boundless love and compassion; he would have "circumcised your hearts," according to his promise, and "the hearts of your seed," and have caused you to know, by happy experience, the full and important import of such a declaration. Instead of being at this time scattered among the nations of the earth, subject to the innumerable miseries and disquietudes incident to such a condition, you would now have been in the country, which God gave to your fathers, there enjoying his smiles, receiving his protection, and rejoicing in all the bounties of his providence. Think not that I thus speak, in order to reproach you, or to wound your feelings. I am not aware that I could touch the subject at all, with any degree of faithfulness, and say less. Flattery is never indicative of good will;-we are taught from high authority, that "faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful."†

If the fact be so, that disobedience to the law of God has brought such a multiplicity of evils on your land and nation, and has caused them to continue to the present time, it would seem, that you could not fail to inquire, with anxiety, into the nature of that disobedience. Should you fully ascertain that point, it would also seem, that you could not fail of being solicitous to regain the long lost favor of Heaven, and to avail yourselves of the promises set before you. To ascertain this important point, therefore, shall be my next endeavor.

If we examine all the offences mentioned, and forbidden, in Scripture, I know of but one, which your fathers had not committed at one time, or another, long before the destruction of Jerusalem, and the events which followed; and until that time, as we have already seen, the wrath of God had not been consummated. The offence to which I refer, was a final rejection of the authority of God. I imagine that I see you start at this suggestion; and that you ask, with amazement, when, and how, did such a rejection take place? Have not our fathers and ourselves been his peculiar people, the depositaries of his revealed truth, and the defenders of the worship of the LIVING, AND TRUE GOD? Have we not asserted his worship, even during the long and gloomy period of our dispersion; and, by so doing, have we not exposed ourselves to persecution, and distress? I readily answer, yes;-still you may have finally rejected his authority in the most absolute sense. No small offence, surely, can have brought upon you the evils, which you have experienced. Your fathers, and, I fear their children have done the same, confided in a dangerous error. They thought that so long * Num. xv, 22. + Prov. xxvii, 6.

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as they abstained from direct idolatry, they were not chargeable with forsaking the Lord; and that, if they paid to him an external homage, they did all, which his law demanded. But a man may forsake the Lord, even while he abandons idols; and may render to him an external homage, while he little regards him at heart. "Man looketh at the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart;"* and he is satisfied with no homage, in which that is not concerned. But if a mere external obedience, even to the whole of his law, is not what God requires, much less will he accept such an obedience when rendered to only a part. The rejection of a part of his law oftentimes amounts to a rejection of the whole. Saul was not an idolater, nor a professed apostate from the true religion; still he rejected the authority of the Lord. Even while pleading in his own excuse, that he had executed a commission from God, and while he thought himself secure in his plea, Samuel announced to him the appalling message from Heaven, "Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king." It does not belong to us to make our own selection from the divine commands, and to determine which we will obey, and to which we will refuse obedience. Nor can the offering of the most costly sacrifices, nor the performance of the most self-denying penance, be regarded as substitutes for obedience; or as making amends for some partial transgression. "Behold," says Samuel to Saul, "to obey is better than sacrifice; and to hearken than the fat of rams."-Now the offence of your fathers was like the one committed by Saul;-such a voluntary and obstinate rejection of a part of God's commandments, as amounted to a rejection of the whole. But to renounce the commandments, or word of God, is to reject his authority in the completest sense. That the rejection in question was final, is evident from the fact, that the judgments, which followed it, have continued, without interruption, for eighteen centuries, and have entirely corresponded, in character, with those, which the Almighty declared, by the mouth of Moses, should await such a transgression. If such a transgression of the law of God, as was threatened with the consummation of his displeasure, has not already taken place; and if the evils, which, for so long a period, have been brought upon your nation, do not comprehend the whole of those, which he denounced against a total rejection of his commands; will you name the offence, which remains to be yet committed before the full developement of his wrath shall be made; or name the threatened evil, which your nation has not yet experienced, and which is to be the peculiar chastisement for this future offence? I know that you will reply, there has been a consummation of wrath in all respects except its duration. With the like exception, then, there must have been, infallibly have been, a consummation of the offence; and until this shall cease, the the wrath will not be withheld.

(To be concluded in our next. )

EDUCATION.

It is generally admitted, that education is of high importance. Yet the generality of people, it is believed, are very far from being duly *1 Sam. xvi, 17. † 1 Sam. xv, 23.

# 1 Sam. xv, 22..

impressed on this subject. Probably very few, perhaps none, sufficiently estimate the consequences, which result from education. My present purpose is, not to consider the subject generally; but to offer a few thoughts on two particulars, in which, I apprehend, there is special occasion for amendment.

The first of these is government. Respecting this, as well as all other branches of education, the word of God is the most sure guide. This contemplates children in their true character. It considers them not only as feeble and ignorant, but as depraved beings, needing the restraint and coercion of authority. It requires children to obey their parents in the Lord, and parents to enforce this obedience. If milder measures are ineffectual, chastisement, even that of stripes, must be applied. "Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." "Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying." "The rod and reproof give wisdom; but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame." No more punishment of any kind is to be inflicted, than is necessary to maintain authority and procure prompt obedience. So much is the fruit of genuine love. "He that spareth his rod hateth his son; but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes." Yes, betimes does he chasten him. Much depends on the early establishing of parental authority. It may be established with far less difficulty, both to the parent and the child, as soon as the latter is capable of understanding the requirements of the former, than at any later period. If complete submission be insisted on at the commencement, and a proper course afterward pursued; a repetition of punishment will, in many instances, be unnecessary. And in most instances, it may be expected, that two or three repetitions will prove permanently sufficient. How different is the case where parental government is not commenced in due season, and never thoroughly established? In instances of the latter description, more pain is given to the child, in a single month, and continued for years in succession, than in the former during the whole course of parental discipline. The stripes are increased an hundred fold; and yet the object of government is not half so well attained. Is this kindness? Is it proper parental tenderness? Alas! it is cruelty; it is sinful cruelty!

From what has been already suggested it appears, that parental government is an indispensable duty. Some considerations, however, in confirmation of this proposition, will still be added. That God requires parental government, appears from passages of Scripture already recited. From these and other passages it appears, not only that he requires it; but that he is highly pleased with the performance of it, and highly displeased with the neglect of it. By way of approbation he says of Abraham, "I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him." On the other hand, of Eli he says, "I have told him, that I will judge his house for ever, for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not." So important is it, that parents rule their own houses well, and have their children in subjection, that the performance of this duty is ranked among the essential requisites, both

of the office of bishop and that of deacon. Parents, then, can by no means dispense with this duty, and be guiltless.

Another consideration, which shows, that parental government is a duty indispensable is, that with the performance of this duty, the moral character of children is very intimately connected. It may properly be considered as one of the most important means of salvation. Without this, others seem rarely to be efficacious. "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." What child was ever thus trained up without government? Human attempts at improvement have, indeed, made the experiment. Some, who would be wise above what is written, have attempted to train up children in the way they should go without the exercise of coercive authority; but with very discouraging success. Unrestrained by government, children usually make themselves vile, as did those of Eli. They went on, from one step to another, till they became ripe for ruin, Yet he was a good man. He doubtless gave his children good instruction. We are expressly informed, that he expostulated with them for their evil conduct. But expostulation was not sufficient. This alone, was unavailing. The good king David unquestionably taught his children the way of the Lord. But he was deficient in government. This was wounding to his tender feelings. He probably felt, as is common for parents, a reluctance at crossing the inclinations of his children; a disposition to be indulgent; a strong propensity to yield to their wishes. Some of them consequently, became as thorns in his sides. They wounded him to his heart. Two of them, Absalom and Adonijah, became so audaciously wicked, that they, in succession, sought to usurp his kingdom. Of the latter we are expressly told, what was, doubtless, equally true of the former, that "his father had not displeased him at any time, in saying, why hast thou done so?" It is added, “And he also was a very goodly man.' Both these sons possessed comely persons and engaging manners. They were from childhood, as there is reason to suppose, unusually sprightly and promising. It is trying, indeed, to the fond, the doting parent to displease such children.* Why are these instances of Eli and David left on record? Are they not recorded for our admonition? Let those parents, who yield to their children, instead of requiring their children to yield to them, consider what will probably be the consequence. I say not, possibly; but probably. That children ungoverned in their early days, will prove rebellious children, both against parents and against God, is an event to be expected. Do not facts within our own observation concur with the word of God on this point? What parents have been distinguished by singular troubles from their children? Have they not been those, who have neglected to govern, and have been excessively indulgent? Many painful instances of this kind have come within the observation of almost every person, who has reached the meridian of life.

*It is a weakness common to parents, to imagine they discern extraordinary excellences in their own children. A specimen was given in the following anecdote related to the writer some years since, by a respectable clergyman now deceased. A woman of his society in con. versation with him respecting a child of hers, a few years old, observed, with no small degree of apparent concern, that she did not expect she should enjoy him long; for she thought he was a very extraordinary child; and that such children, she believed, commonly died young To console her, he replied, that he had half a dozen in the same predicament; that his had hitherto been preserved, and perhaps hers might continue to be preserved.

The promise annexed to the fifth command, with the apostle's explanation, confirms the idea, that parental government is one of the means of grace. "Children obey your parents in the Lord; for this is right. Honor thy father and thy mother (which is the first commandment with promise) that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth." Children have special encouragement to obey this command, and parents have special encouragement, and are under special obligation, to exact this obedience.

But some parents will, perhaps, plead in excuse, that some children are more difficult to be governed, than others; and that to govern weil requires a talent, which every parent does not possess. It is true, that some children are more difficult to be governed, than others. It is also true, that, in many instances, this is owing, in no small degree, to a criminal neglect or mismanagement of parents. It is further true, that to govern well requires the exercise of all the judgment and prudence, which the most judicions parent possesses. But no persons in the place of parents are to shrink from this duty, or to feel satisfied with a partial performance of it. For the assistance of those, who find difficulties in their way, I will offer a few rules which, if adopted, will enable them, in a good degree, to overcome these difficulties. 1. Be determined in your own minds, that your children shall obey Let them be convinced of this, and they will soon become obedient. Small children know, that parents are able to govern them. The reason why they persist in obstinacy, is, they hope their parents will yield. There is often too much foundation for such a hope. In instances, not a few, the very tone of voice, in which a command is given, betrays in the parent a want of a determination to be obeyed. A bystander may perceive it. The child perceives it. Threats are sometimes added: yet apparent in the voice is the same lack of determination. The tender parent seems fearful, lest, by a manifest decision, he should so commit himself, as to be under the necessity of entering upon a controversy, which might eventually become too seri

you.

ous.

But if controversy there must be, no alleviation is gained by postponement. The reverse is more probable. Commands should be considerately given; and, when given, no room suffered to remain, for the child to hope to avoid a compliance.

2. The parent must govern himself. He must not on one hand, be rendered by passion too severe; nor, on the other, by tenderness too forbearing. "Provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged." "Let not thy soul spare for his crying."

3. Be sparing of threatening. It may be questioned whether it be ever best to threaten a child, that, upon his doing, or not doing, a particular thing, he shall be punished. Disobedience to a parental command ought always to be understood as a sufficient reason, why a child should be called to an account. To these I will add one more rule, which is,

4. Be uniform in government. You must not, at one time, punish or frown for certain conduct; and, at another, suffer the same, or what is equally heinous, to pass unnoticed. Nor must you begin with frowns, and end with flatteries. Be careful never to have occasion to make concessions, and without occasion never to make them.