to the land which the LORD will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the LORD's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head, and worshipped. Exod. xiii, 14-16. And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the LORD brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage: And it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the LORD slew all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both the first-born of man, and the first-born of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the first-born of my children I redeem. And it shall be for a token upon thine hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes: for by strength of hand the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt. Exod. xvi, 32-34. And Moses said, This is the thing which the LORD commandeth, Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations; that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt. And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations. As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept. Josh. iv, 22-24. Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. For the LORD your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over; That all the people of the earth might know the Land of the LORD, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the LORD your God for ever. Josh. xxii, 24, 25. And if we have not rather done it for fear of this thing, saying, In time to come your children might speak unto our children, saying, What have ye to do with the LORD God of Israel? For the LORD hath made Jordan a border between us and you, ye children of Reuben, and children of Gad; ye have no part in the LORD: so shall your chit dren make our children cease from fearing the LORD. VALUE OF SUCH INSTRUCTION. Prov. x, 1. The Proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. Prov. xv, 20. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish man despiseth his mother. Prov. xvii, 21, 25. He that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow; and the father of a fool hath no joy. A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him. Prov. xix, 26. He that wasteth his father, and chaseth away his mother, is a son that causeth shame, and bringeth reproach. Prov. xxii, 6. Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Prov. xxiii, 15, 16, 24, 25. My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even inine; Yea, my reins shall rejoice when thy lips speak right things. The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice; and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him. Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice. Prov. xxviii, 24. Whoso robbeth his father or his mother, and saith, It is no transgression; the same is the companion of a destroyer. Prov. xxx, 11. There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother. Isa. i, 2. Ilear, O heavens; and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. PATERNAL BLESSINGS. Gen. ix, 24-27. And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. Gen. xxvi, 10, 29, 32-38. And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death. Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.' And Isaac his father said unte him. Who art thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy first-born, Esau. And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who? where is he that hath taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten have blessed him? yea, and he of all before thou camest, and shall be blessed. And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, even me also, O my father! And he said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing. And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me? And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I fustained him: and what shall I do now unto thee, my son? And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father! And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept. THE FAMILY PROPHECY Gen. xlix, 1-29. And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. Gather yourselves together and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father. Reuben, thou art my first-born, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the ex water, thou shalt not excel; becellency of power: Unstable as cause thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch. Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. O my soul, come not assembly, mine honour, be not thou into their secret; unto their thou united! for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bear, unto bowed his shoulder to be thine, and shall be called after Heb. xii, 24. By faith Moses, SPIRITUAL ADOPTION-ITS Hosea i, 10. Yet the number of John 1, 12, 13. But as many as pent by the way, an adder in ADOPTION. Behold what ITS BLESSINGS. Ps. lxxxix, 26, 27. He shall cry unto me, Thou art my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation. Also I will make him my first-born, higher than the kings of the earth. Jer. iii, 4, 19. Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth? But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me. Rom. viii, 14-17. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suller with him, that we may be also glorified together. 2 Cor. vi, 18. And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Gal. iii, 26. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Gal. iv, 5-7,19,28. To redeem them 1 John iii, 2, Beloved, now are ITS DUTIES. Matth. v, 45. That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. Eph. v, 1. Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children. Phil. ii, 15. That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the Heb. xii, 5. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. 1 John iii, 3, 10. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not right eousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. Gen. xiv, 16. And he [Abraham] brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people. Gen. xxviii, 5. And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padan-aram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's mother. and Esau's Gen. xxix, 4-6, 12. And Jacob said unto them, My brethren, whence be ye? And they said, of them, Know ye Laban the son of Haran are we. And he said unto Nahor? And they said, We know he well? And they said, He is him. And he said unto them, Is 218 well: and, behold, Rachel his daughter cometh with the sheep. And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's brother, and that he was Rebekah's son: and she ran and told her father. Gen. xxxvii, 14. And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. . . . . . Gen. xliii, 6. 7. And Israel said, Wherefore dealt yo so ill with me, as to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother? And they said, The man asked us straitly of our state, and of our kindred, saying, Is your father yet alive? have ye another brother? and we told him according to the tenor of these words. Could we certainly know that he would say, Bring your brother down? Exod. iv, 18. And Moses went and returned to Jethro his fatherin-law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren which are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace. Exod. xvii, 5-8. And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife unto Moses into the wilderness, where he encamped at the mount of God. And he said unto Moses, I thy father-in-law, Jethro am come unto thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her. And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and did obeisance, and kissed him; and they asked each other of their welfare: and they came into the tent. And Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done unto Pharaoh, and to the Egyptians, for Israel's sake, and all the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how the LORD delivered them. Num. x, 31, 32. And he said, Leave us not, I pray thee; foras much as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes. And it shall be, if thou go with us, yea, it shall be, that what goodness the LORD shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee. Ruth ii, 1, 20. And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz. And Noami said unto her daughter-in-law, Blessed be he of the LORD, who hath not leit off his indness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen. 1 Sam. xvii, 17. And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, | blessed thee since my coming: and run to the camp to thy and now, when shall I provide for brethren. mine own house also? Esther ii, 10, 11. Esther had not shewed her people, nor her kindred: for Mordecai had charged her that she should not shew it. And Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women's house, to know how Esther did, and what should become of her. Luke 1, 39, 40, 56. And Mary arose in those days; and went into the hill-country with haste, into a city of Juda; And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth. And Mary three abode with her about months, and returned to her own house. Acts vii, 13, 23. And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh. And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel, FAMILY CARES AND ANXIETIES. Gen. xix, 12-16. And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it. And Lot went out, and spake untohis sons-in-law,which married his daughters, and said, Up, get ye out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law. And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. And, while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters, the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. Gen. xxvi, 35. Which [Esau's two marriages] were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah. Gen. xxvii, 46. And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me? Gen. xxx, 30. For it was little which thou hadst before I came, and it is now increased unto a multitude; and the LORD hath Gen. xxxii, 6-8. And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying. We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands; And said, It Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape. Gen. xliii, 8. And Judah said unto Israel his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go; that we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, and also our little ones. Num. xii, 1. And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married; for he had married an Ethiopian woman. Num. xxxii, 26. Our little ones. our wives, our flocks, and all our cattle, shall be there in the cities of Gilead. Deut. iii, 19, 20. Bat your wives. and your little ones, and your cattle, (for I know that ye have much cattle,) shall abide in your cities which I have given you, Until the LORD have given rest unto your brethren, as well as unto you, and until they also possess the land which the LORD your God hath given them beyond Jordan: and then shall ye return every man unto his possession, which I have given you. 1 Kings iii, 1. And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about. 1 Kings ix, 24. But Pharaoh's daughter came up out of the city of David unto her house which Solomon had built for her: then did he build Millo. Neh. v, 1, 2. And there was a great cry of the people, and of their wives, against their breth ren the Jews. For there were that said, We, our sons, and our daughters, are many; therefore we take up corn for them, that we may eat, and live. BROTHERLY AFFECTION, ETC. Gen. xxix, 13. And it came to pass, when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob his sister's son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought And he told into the army, and came and saluted his brethren. bim to his house. Laban all these things. Gen. xxxiii, 4. And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him, and they wept. Gen. xxxvii, 30. And he [Reuben] returned unto his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, whither shall I go? Gen. xliii, 29-31. And he lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, Is this your younger brother, of whom ye spake unto me? And he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son. And Joseph made haste; for his bowels did yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there. And he washed his face, and went out, and refrained himself, and said, Set on bread. Gen. xlv, 1-4, 13-17. Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him while Joseph made himself knownunto his brethren. And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph: doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence. And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen; and ye shall haste and bring down my father hither. Moreover, he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them:and after that his brethren talked with him. And the fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh's house, saying, Joseph's brethren are come: and it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto thy brethren, This do ye; lade your beasts, and go, get you unto the land of Canaan. Gen. 1, 18, 21. And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants. Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them. Exod. iv, 27. And the LORD said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him. 1 Sam. xvii, 22. And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage, and ran and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent beMark iii, 31, 32. There came fore thee Moses, Aaron, and then his brethren and his mother, Miriam. O my people, remember and, standing withont, sent unto now what Balak king of Moab him, calling him. And the multi-consulted, and what Balaam the tude sat about him; and they said son of Beor answered him from unto him, Behold, thy mother and Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may thy brethren without seek for know the righteousness of the thee. Ps. cxxxiii, 1-3. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard; that went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion; for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore. WANT OF DOMESTIC Gen. xlv, 24. So he [Joseph] sent his brethren away, and they departed: and he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the way. Deut. xxxili, 9. Who said unto have not seen him; neither did his father and to his mother, I he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own children: for they have observed thy word. and kept thy covenant. Judges ix, 21. And Jotham ran away, and fled, and went to Beer, and dwelt there, for tear of Abimelech his brother. Prov. xviii, 19. A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city; and their contentions are like the bars of a castle. Thou wast Ezek. xvi, 5. . . . . cast out in the open field, to the loathing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born. But Obad. 10, 12, 13. For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever. thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have distress. Thou shouldest not have spoken proudly in the day of entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity. Micah vi, 4, 5. For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, Lord. Luke xii, 51, 52. Suppose ye that I tell you, Nay; but rather divisI am come to give peace on earth? ion: For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. DIMINUTION OF FAMILIES, A SORE JUDGMENT UPON Lev. xxvi, 32. And I will bring the land into desolation; and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. Deut. xxviii, 62. 63. And ye shall be left few in number, whereas yo titude; because thou wouldest not were as the stars of heaven for mulobey the voiceof the LORD thy God. And it shall come to pass, that, as the LORD rejoiced over you to do yon good, and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to nought: and ye shall be plucked destroy you, and to bring you to from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. Judges v, 7. The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel. Prov. xiv, 11. The house of the wicked shall be overthrown: but the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish. Isa. vi, 11, 12. Then said I, swered, Until the cities be wasted Lord, how long? And he anwithout inhabitant,and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate; And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. scattereth Isa. xxiv, 1-3. Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the with the maid, so with her misservant, so with his master; as tress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word. Jer. iv, 25, 26. I beheld, and, 10, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his flerce anger. Jer. ix, 10. For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burnt up, so that none can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle: both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone. Jer. 1, 13. Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that gooth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues. Exek. xii, 20. And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, Ezek. xxxii, 15, 16. When I shall make the land of Egypt desolate, and the country shall be destitute of that whereof it was full, when I shall smite all them that dwell therein, then shall they know that I am the LORD. This is the lamentation wherewith they shall lament her: the daughters of the nations shall lament her: they shall lament for her, even for Egypt, and for all her multitude, saith the Lord GOD. Ezek. xxxiii, 28, 29. For I will lay the land most desolate, and the pomp of her strength shall cease; and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, that none shall 221 pass through. Then shall they know that I am the LORD, when I have laid the land most desolate, because of all their abominations which they have committed. Ezek. xxxv, 9. I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not return; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. Zeph. i, 2, 3. I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the LORD. I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the LORD. Zeph. ill, 6. I have cut off the nations: their towers are desolate; I made their streets waste, that none passeth by: their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none inhabitant. |