of fourscore years, and we vainly imagine that our own lives will be protracted to the same extent. We are, in consequence, apt to suppose, that the days of childhood are not the time to lay up stores of that learning, which is to fit us for another world, rather than this.

Yet no theory surely, was ever more delusive or more dangerous. Does not the grave yawn for the young as well as for the aged? How few of you are there, that are parents, who have not wept over some blighted hope, some fair promise nipt in its bloom. Survey the memorials of mortality by which you are now surrounded; of how many does the legend tell, who have sunk into the night of the tomb, before the first years of manhood had been attained. It is then as important for the young to be prepared to die, as for the aged; they all have souls to be saved, and it will be as fearful for one to fall into God's hands unprepared, as for the other. "The hoary head," says the wise man, "is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness;" and no less beautiful is the piety of the infant brow. What task, then, can be more delightful to a parent's care, than to "train up a child in the way he should go," to guard him against the snares of the world, before its fascinations are spread around his heart; and to teach him the way to holiness, before he has become hacknied in the paths of vice. The

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innocence of infancy is a favourite theme, and we are very prone to use it in a much wider sense, than we have any just grounds for doing. The infant, indeed, is at first incapable of committing any actual sin; but no sooner do the powers of the reason begin to unfold themselves, than the wickedness of the heart is discovered too. And this, indeed, is one of the strongest proofs which can be given of the innate corruption of our nature, that we do in effect commit sin, before we can possibly have learnt it from any external communication. The period of childhood, then, must surely be the time, in which religious instruction may be imparted with the best prospects of success. We have seen, in the example of Timothy, that it is a labour which God will vouchsafe to prosper. The doctrines too, of our holy faith, may be early instilled into the youthful mind. A child may soon be taught to feel itself a feeble and erring creature, to look up to its Saviour for help and assistance, to pray in his name, to hope for pardon in his merits, to endeavour to be obedient to his laws. And what better foundation can be laid for his future welfare, than that which has Jesus Christ as the cornerstone? What better support than this can be provided against the time of adversity, or the hour of distress? If it has been your fate, my Christian brethren, to experience the storms of

adverse fortune, to encounter the scorn, the contumely, and the disappointments of the world, did you not, in the day of tribulation, find religion the only balm for your wounds, the only solace in your troubles? With God's blessing, then, strive to impart this source of consolation to your children also. It will be a better inheritance than the fairest estate-a better legacy than a mine of wealth. You may enlarge their minds with the varied stores of human learning; you may imbue them with the records of the present and the past; you may teach them to grasp the tongues of other days as well as your own; and yet will one spark of Christian knowledge be of more value than all this varied lore. It may be your lot, as it has been that of thousands before you, to behold the flower you have reared with so much care, droop and languish; it may be your painful office, to bear about in sickness the fragile frame, which you have hitherto caressed in its mirth and vigour, and to feel the burden grow lighter every hour; it may be your lot to watch the pillow of its feverish rest, to see the eye grow dim, and feel the tiny heart flutter in its trembling tenement. At an hour like this, say, would it give you comfort, to reflect upon the earthly wisdom, which you had laboured to impart to the fading blossom before you? Would it yield you any delight, to remember the zeal and

care, with which you had endeavoured to inspire an interest for the principalities and powers that perish? Would not one breath of humble hope, one glance of the eye to heaven, one faint whisper of trust in God, and resignation to his decrees, take away even the bitterness of death? It is possible, indeed, to follow to the grave, under such circumstances, the child of our affections, almost without sorrow; and to "commit his body to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in sure and certain hope of a joyful resurrection."

But when the early reason is suffered to grow wanton, for want of proper culture; when no pains are taken to nurture religious graces, at the same time with intellectual acquirements; we may naturally expect that the latter will run riot in their luxuriance, and overstep the limits, within which they ought to be confined. And this is actually the case. There is a flippancy and a levity about men in the present day, and especially, I fear, about the young, which proclaim but too clearly the defective nature of their early education. It is a melancholy reflection too, though it may be productive of much benefit to ourselves, that the brightest talents are often the most degraded by these unseemly accompaniments. We may learn indeed from all we hear and see, that neither the endowments of body nor of mind,

will form a blessing to their possessor, if God does not breathe a blessing upon them; and we may rest assured, that he will not bless, except we implore him to do so.

In providing then for the future welfare of your childreu, strive to lead them to the search after "treasures, in heaven," rather than "treasures upon earth;" propose as their model, not the rich and luxurious, not the learned and the mighty, in the world, but the humble child of piety and devotion, the Christian Timothy. But, my brethren, before you can so train up your offspring, you must become instructed in the truth yourselves. You cannot open the fountains of sacred knowledge, until have also drunk their pure you

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waters. The bible is to too many amongst us a sealed book; we neither peruse it with an unfeigned belief in its truth, nor a sincere desire to obey its precepts. We forget that it is only by the aid of the Holy Spirit, that we can understand the Spirit's revelations and that when his gracious assistance is withheld, the Holy Scriptures will be made, as by many they actually are made, to countenance doctrines foreign to the spirit and intention of Christianity. They are able indeed to make us wise unto salvation, not by our own feeble attempts to obey their moral injunctions, but through the faith which is in Christ Jesus. This sacred principle pervades