These temporal blessings God bestowed upon thers, out of respect to the piety and faithfulness of their father Abraham, and their other pious and faithful parents. But these were only minor favors. God granted them a rich profusion of spiritual and divine blessings. He circumcised their hearts to love the Lord their God supremely, to walk in his ways, and to promote his glory. There never was before, nor has there been since, a more religious people, than the seed of Abraham, whom God chose for his own peculiar people. In the days of Joshua and the elders that outlived Joshua, and in the days of David, Solomon, and other pious princes, pure religion greatly flourished and prevailed. And though there were some general declensions from time to time, yet they continued the only nation in the world, that maintained the true religion until the gospel day. It was owing to the proper exercise of parental authority, that these infinitely rich spiritual blessings were transmitted from Abraham down to Zacharias and Elizabeth, who walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless, and by the proper exercise of their parental authority, trained up their only son to be the most eminently pious and extensively useful man so long as he lived. Though all the temporal and spiritual blessings of Abraham do not come upon his spiritual children; yet those who walk in the steps of their father Abraham, have ground to expect similar tokens of the divine favor. Similar causes produce similar effects. There is a natural and constituted connection between the piety of parents and the piety of their families; and there is a natural and constituted connection between the piety of fami lies, and their temporal and spiritual peace, harmony,

and prosperity. Let parents, at this day, employ the same means that Abraham did, to promote the peace, harmony, and prosperity of his family, and they may hope to receive similar expressions of the divine love and approbation. "For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly." Though God may sometimes frown upon those who properly exercise parental authority, and upon those who enjoy the benefit of it, yet all things may eventually work together for their good. So that it still remains a general truth, that the proper exercise of pa rental authority, is infinitely important, as it tends to draw down the richest temporal and spiritual blessings on individual persons, private families, larger communities, and whole nations and kingdoms. The faithful exercise of parental authority stands connected with the best blessings that God can bestow, and men can receive in this world.

IMPROVEMENT.

1. If it be so important as has been said, that parents should properly exercise parental authority over their children and households; then it is highly important, that they themselves should be pious. It is really important, that children and youth should be pious, in order to escape the evils and dangers to which they are exposed in their early and inexperienced age, and in order to glorify God, and enjoy the hopes and consolations of the gospel. But it is much more important, that those, who have come upon the stage of life, and are placed at the head of a family, should exercise

that love to God, which is the fulfilling of the law, and prepares them for the discharge of every important duty devolved upon them. They cannot walk within their house with propriety, nor properly perform their duty to those, who are under their care, instruction, and government, before they cordially and unreservedly give up themselves to God, and resolve to live to him, and not to themselves. Nothing short of vital piety, can enable and dispose parents to discharge the great and self-denying duties which they owe to their children and households. They must first give themselves to the Lord, before they can give their children and households to him. They must first walk in the ways of the Lord, before they can consistently and sincerely command their children and households to walk in his ways, and avoid every evil and false way. Young people have reason to tremble at the prospect of entering into a family state, before they are prepared to fulfil the weighty duties, which will result from it. Parents are solemnly responsible to God for their conduct towards their children and households, whose temporal and spiritual interests are, for a while, suspended upon their treatment of them. If they faithfully perform their parental duties, they may be the means of promoting their temporal and eternal good; but if they are negligent and unfaithful, they may be the means of their temporal and eternal wretchedness.--Those children and households are in a deplorable condition, whose parents, or masters, or mistresses, are destitute of vital piety, and totally neglect to watch over, instruct, restrain, and govern those, whom God has committed to their trust. But are not such unhappy parents and children every where to be seen?

It

deeply concerns impenitent, unbelieving, and unfaithful parents to reflect upon their own guilty character and wretched condition, and upon the unhappy and dangerous state of their children and households, who may perish through their neglect, and whose blood, in that case, will be required at their hands. It is painful to think over the rising and numerous families here, who have no pious parents, or parent, to devote them to God, to instruct them in duty, or to restrain them from walking with the wicked in the broad and smooth path to destruction; nor to carry them to the throne of divine grace. Can you endure the thought of teaching your children to treat you with ingratitude, and disrespect in this world, and with bitter reproach, in another world? If not, reform yourselves, that you may re. form your children and households, and that you both may escape the wrath to come.

2. If it be so important that parents should duly exercise their parental authority over their children and households as has been said; then they are entirely inexcusable and guilty, if they neglect to do it. There is no duty, perhaps, among those, who call themselves christians, and among those who are real christians, so much neglected as the duty of commanding their children and households to keep the way of the Lord.--Parents are generally disposed to give their children, and households a common education, and often to give some of them a liberal education, but there are only a very few, if any, that are sufficiently disposed to give them a good religious education. In this respect, parents are extremely apt to be too negligent and unfaithful. You may find a great many parents, who spare no time, nor expense to adorn the bodies of their chil

given them their authority, requires them to exercise it, and they feel no hesitation to command, forbid, and restrain authoritatively, in regard to every thing but religion, which is infinitely more important to themselves and to their children, than any thing and every thing else. This excuse will be of no avail in the sight of God, nor sooner or later in the view of their own conscience.

But they often make another, and they imagine a more plausible excuse for their neglect. They plead that others, and such as they view wiser and better than themselves, do not exercise their parental authority, with respect to the moral and religious conduct of their children and households, and therefore, they cannot command and control them in respect to such things as are highly esteemed among men, though they know they are an abomination in the sight of God.And if they could control them in such things, it would be an injury to them, to be more strict and rigid than other parents. It would spoil their characters, and totally prevent their appearing with reputation and making their way in the world, which is too great selfdenial for them to exercise, and for their children to endure. There would be great weight in this excuse, if they and their children were designed to live only for time, and not for eternity. Let them, therefore, only view themselves in the light of eternity, and this excuse will entirely vanish. In a word, it is vain, and worse than vain, to devise and cherish any excuse for disobeying God, and betraying the eternal interests of those committed to their watch, and care and govern

ment.

3. If the proper exercise of parental authority be so important as has been said, in order to promote and