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changeable happiness and honour of the life to come?

And yet, though the question when thus accurately stated stands beyond all reasonable doubt, and leaves us without excuse in preferring human authority to divine, such is the antipathy and resistance of human nature to God, that his statutes which rejoice the heart are obstinately withstood; while to the ordinances and customs of men we willingly yield our necks. There be multitudes with whom the voice of the Lord of hosts hath no sway against the voice of fashion; and the saintly graces of the Spirit of God no chance against the graces of polished life. Multitudes, with whom the calls of low sensual instinct prevail against the calls of the Almighty to glory and honour, and to whom life's commonest drudgery is an enjoyment compared with the observance of a godlycustom or the obedience of aChristian precept!

This reluctance to divine, and compliance with human institutions, might seem to bear against that which was advanced above, upon the superior wisdom and suitableness of the former, and to prove that God in devising for human improvement had failed in his purpose. We think it good therefore to show how this reluctance comes about, and how we find ourselves at man's estate so enamoured of the world's bondage as to feel it like a second nature, not to be given up for the service of God without the most violent and painful effort. Which inquiry, by revealing the sources of our enmity to the law of God, will show the

time at which, and the means by which that enmity may be most successfully withstood.

In the beginning our enmity was as strong to the world's institutions as it is now to the institutions of God. For there is in every nature a preference of its own will, and a reluctance to surrender it to another. And it is not till after many struggles that a mother gains the mastery of her child, and not till after much discipline that a youth gives willingly in to the tasks of his teacher. And to the moral and decent customs of life we know that many youths can never bring themselves to conform at all, but set them at open defiance, or hide in secresy their violation. In so much that after twenty years of training to what is honourable and good, never omitted for a day, and hardly for a single hour, with the constant presence of examples and the constant terror of censures, such is the urgency of nature and her reluctance to control, that a youth shall no sooner remove from the neighbourhood of his early restraints than he will cast them at his feet, and take the whole scope of his self-willedness. And thus, many run to ruin when they leave the home of their father and the eye of their friends. Let us not be amazed, therefore, that the statutes of the Lord, to which there is no constant nor sufficient training of parents and of masters, and which take under their control not only the form and fashion of life, but the whole thoughts and intentions of the heart, should fare the same, and have a fearful struggle with Nature's independence.

By the same means of early discipline and example by which we were brought to acquiesce in the government of our parents, the mastery of our teachers, and the authority of life's many forms and customs, we shall most likely be brought to acquiesce in the statutes of the Lord. And as no parent who wished his child to be a well-doing member of society, would for the first years of his life turn him adrift from counsel and correction, but find for him masters to instruct, and patterns to copy after, adding to all the influence of his own parental authority and affection

even so, if you would have your child to flourish in religious life, you must not sequester the subject of religion from your table or your household, nor keep him in the dark till he arrive at years of reflection; but from the first dawn of thought and effort of will, teach him with a winning voice, and with a gentle hand lead him into the ways of God. The raw opinion, that a certain maturity of judgment must be tarried for, before entering into religious conference with our children, comes of a notion which pervades the religious world, that religion rests upon the right apprehension of certain questions in theology, to which mature years are necessary; whereas it rests upon the authority of God, which a child can comprehend so soon as it can the authority of its father; upon the love of Christ, which a child can comprehend so soon as it can the love of its mother; upon the assistance of the Spirit, which it can comprehend so soon as it is alive to the

need of instruction or help from its parents; upon the difference between right and wrong, which it may be taught so soon as it can perform the one and avoid the other. There is a religion of childhood, and a religion of manhood; the former standing mostly in authority, the latter in authority. and reason conjoined; the former referring chiefly to words and actions, the latter embracing also principles and sentiments. But because you cannot instil into children the full maturity of religious truth, is no more an argument for neglecting to travel with them on religion, than it would be an argument to refuse teaching them obedience to yourself and respect of others till they could comprehend the principles on which parental obedience and friendly respect are grounded.

Now, we must confess it hath seldom fallen to our lot to see religion taught in the family with that diligence with which good manners, parental respect, and deference to custom are taught. The right and wrong of things is not often distinguished with reference to the divine commandment, but with reference to the opinion of others and the ways of the world. Excellence is not urged from the approbation of God, and the imitation of Christ, and the rewards of heaven, but out of the emulation of rivals, and the ambition of this world's placés. Companions are not sought according to their piety, their virtue, and their general worth, so much as according to their rank and their prospects in life. To which neglect of

means, parents do often add the practical contradiction of all religion, swearing perhaps, perhaps quarrelsome at home, entertaining worldly views of most subjects, religious views of almost none; and for six days in the week, banishing the face and form of religion from the eyes of their household. What glorious opportunities these for the despight of Satan to revel in! The mind impressible as wax, wondering after novelty, and thirsting after knowledge of good and ill, unbound by habit and roving in its freedom, from within and from without solicited to evil, in this, the springtime of human character, when ye the husbandmen of your children's minds should be labouring the soil, and spreading it out to the Sun of righteousness, and sowing it with the seed of the everlasting Word; ye are leaving it waste and undefended, for the enemy to enter in and sow it with the tares of wickedness, to take root and flourish, and choke any good seed which the ministers of grace may chance afterwards to scatter!

Have ye the conscience to think that for this neglect an occasional visit to the church Catechism of a Sabbath night will compensate? or can you believe that certain words lying dormant in the memory during the years of budding manhood will operate like an eastern talisman, or a catholic scapular, against the encounter of evil? Why should the wounded prejudices of any man wince while thus we speak, as if it were not God's truth we spoke? Have we not the experience within ourselves, of having been mastered by this world's