01.06. The duties of PARENTS contd
4. EXAMPLE is necessary to give power and influence to all other means.
One of the tritest of all proverbs, is the power of example; but its force is greatest upon the youthful mind—"During the minority of reason, imitation is the regent of the soul, and they who are least swayed by argument, are most governed by example." We all learn of this preceptor, before we can reason, and before we can speak. If then we would have our children live in the fear of God, we must ourselves be seen by them steadily walking in the way of his commandments. In alluring them to religion, we must be enabled to say, "Follow me." Our religion should not only be upon the whole sincere, but it should be visible—our light should shine before our family, that they seeing our good works, may glorify God. But for our religion to produce any effect, it must be eminent—there must be no doubt, no uncertainty about the matter; it must not be a thing of a questionable nature. Our religion should be consistent. I remember once conversing with a man of great eminence for station, talents, and piety, who said to me, "I owe everything, under God, to the eminent and consistent piety of my father. When I was a young man, though I was not vicious, I was worldly; and in order the more effectually to get rid of all interference with my pursuits from religion, I wished to think it all mere profession and hypocrisy. For this purpose I narrowly watched the conduct of my father; for such was the height on which he stood as a professor of religion, that I very naturally concluded, if I could convict him of such inconsistency as amounted to a proof of hypocrisy, and a little thing would at that time have sufficed for such a purpose, I would have gained my end, and have concluded that all piety was but a name and a delusion. But so thoroughly consistent was he, that I could find nothing in the smallest degree at variance with his character as a professor of religion. This kept its hold upon me. I said to myself there must be a reality here, and I must try to understand and feel it; for I have seen such meekness in a temper naturally irritable, such comfort amid the greatest agonies, and all this supported by such uniform devotion, that I must try to catch his spirit." This beautiful instance of the influence of parental example is, perhaps, not altogether unique—though in all its circumstances, perhaps rarely equaled.
Children have their eyes always upon their parents, and are quick to discern any violations of consistency. If notwithstanding our profession of religion, they see us as worldly-minded, as grasping and anxious after riches, as solicitous to be surrounded by splendid furniture, luxurious gratifications, and fashionable habits, as the people of the world—if they see the righteous rarely at our table, except when they are great people, or popular characters, but on the contrary observe there the gay, the fashionable, the ungodly—if they see us deceitful, implacable, or malicious—if they know us to be cruel or neglectful to our wives, unkind and oppressive to our servants, cold and tyrannical to them—if they witness us inconstant in our attendance upon private, family, or public worship—what can they conclude but that our religion is mere sham? In such a case, of how little service is our attempt to impress upon their minds those claims which we ourselves practically deny? It were far better for some parents to say nothing to their children about religion, for until they alter their own conduct, their admonitions can produce no other effect than to excite intolerable disgust. It is enough to make every parent tremble, to think what a parent should be! And there should be consistency also, between our professions and our conduct, in reference to our families. We avow it to be our supreme and ultimate desire, that they should be truly pious; and we tell them so. Do we in all things act agreeably to this principle? Do we select schools and situations, books and companions, pursuits and occupations, in reference to this desire? Do we in our general conversation with them, and before them, support this declaration? Do not our children sometimes reason thus?—"My parents tell me that their chief concern is for my salvation, and the formation of my religious character; but how does this match with their selecting for me a school where religion is the last thing attended to? With their instructing me in some things, which, as religious people, I hear them condemn? How is it that all the concern of their conduct, whatever their words may say, appears to be to make me a fine lady, who can dance well, and exhibit an elegant form, and display polished manners? I am told that religion is the first thing, but I am educated for the world!" Ah, if we act thus, we are not training up our children in the way they should go. Without a godly example, everything else that we do, is most lamentably deficient. As has been often said, it is only pointing them the way to heaven, but leading them in the way to hell.
5. DILIGENT, CONSTANT, AND CAREFUL INSPECTION, is a most important parental duty.
There should be in every family, a system of family oversight. Parents should be watchful in all things. This is the way to preserve the good seed of instruction which is sown, and to prevent the enemy from sowing tares, which he is ever wakeful to do when the parent is asleep. This is a very difficult, but a very necessary duty. We must never allow any engagements whatever, to take off our eye from our children. As soon as their character begins to unfold, we should most carefully watch its development, that we may know what regimen to place it under. We should study their propensities, capacities, and tendencies. We should watch them in play, in their interaction with siblings, with adults, with their companions—and when they are not thinking that our attention is directed towards them; for character is decided by incidents, which a superficial mind would deem too minute to be noticed. We should see how they behave after punishment and reward—in short, their whole character should be studied and inspected by us, with the most minute and anxious care; just as the different plants in a nursery are investigated by a gardener, that he may know the peculiar nature which each possesses, and the appropriate treatment which each requires.
We should also inspect our family, so as to know what good or evil is going on among them—whether the good seed is growing, and what tares are springing up. Like the farmer going out to examine his fields, or the gardener his trees, to ascertain what prospect there is of a crop, and what weeds are to be eradicated, what pests to be destroyed, what gaps to be stopped to keep out destroyers, what blemishes to be removed, what assistance to be afforded—so must the parent be and act among his children.
One is growing up with a propensity to pride, he must be taught with great care, the beauty and excellence of humility; a second is vain of personal abilities and acquirements, she must have such folly exposed, and be saved from its injurious influence upon her character; a third is scheming, equivocating and deceitful—he must have the enormity of lying unfolded to him, and be encouraged to practice more frankness, sincerity, and regard to truth; one is remarkably curious, and needs to have this inquisitiveness checked; another dull, and needs to have it stimulated; one is skeptical, and is in danger of infidelity; another naive and is in peril of deception. Now there must be a constant scrutiny carried on by the parent, to ascertain these peculiarities, and to manage them accordingly.
Scrutiny must extend to everything and everyone. To the servants that are admitted into the house; for how much injury might be done to the youthful mind by an unprincipled and artful servant. The companions of our children should be most narrowly watched—one bad associate may ruin them forever. The very first workings of the social impulse, even in a boy or girl of five or six years of age, should be noticed, for even thus early may evil impressions be produced by companionship. At the risk of offending the nearest relative, or most endeared friend he has upon earth, a Christian parent ought not to allow his children to associate with those who are likely to do them harm. On this account, home education is decidedly to be preferred, where it can be obtained, to schools. A system of extensive and dreadful mutual corruption is oftentimes going on among young people before it is perceived.
Parents should most carefully inspect the reading of their children, and keep out of their way all corrupting books and indecent pictures. And how deeply is it to be deplored, that our newspapers are oftentimes so polluted with filthy details of disgusting occurrences and trials, as to be channels through which moral contamination flows into many a family, otherwise well guarded. It becomes a serious question, whether it is the duty of a Christian, who has sons and daughters growing up, to allow a newspaper to come into his house! The recreations of children should be watched, and no games be allowed that are immodest, nor such as are likely to foster a spirit of gambling. For lack of this diligent, careful, and universal inspection, the best instructions, the most earnest warnings, the most fervent prayers, and the most consistent example, have been in some cases, unavailing and the children left to themselves, and the corrupting influence of others, have grown up their parents’ misery—and their own disgrace!
6. PRAYER must crown all. This duty commences with the birth of a child, no, before that event; for in the very prospect of its birth, there should be earnest prayer offered to God by the parent, for divine grace to discharge all those obligations, which the expected babe will bring upon the conscience of the father and mother. And from that time forward, until the death of either parent or child—earnest, secret, believing prayer, should never cease to be daily presented for our offspring. Our prayers should principally respect the spiritual welfare of our children. Daily we should wrestle with God for their eternal salvation. How little can we do at most for their welfare, and how ineffectual without God’s blessing, is all we do, or can do. That parent has neglected a very important branch of his duty, who has allowed one single day to pass by without bearing his children upon his heart before God in private prayer. Who can subdue their tempers or change their hearts, but God? And though in a way of sovereignty, he confers his grace upon some who neither seek it themselves, nor have it sought for them by their friends, yet we are not authorized to expect it without prayer.
It is necessary, also, not only to pray for our children but with them. We should take them apart, each by himself, to commend them to God, and thus make them the witnesses of our deep concern, and our intense agony for their eternal welfare. If they have been disobedient and wicked, it may be well, when they are brought to a right mind, and when we ourselves have forgiven them, to conduct them to the throne of divine grace, to beg for them the divine forgiveness—but this never must be done as a punishment, for this is the way to make them dread a parent’s prayers, as a visitation of his displeasure. But besides this, there must be FAMILY PRAYER. The necessity and propriety of this, arise out of the constitution of the family; and were it not enjoined in the word of God, either by precept or example, would still be binding upon the conscience of every parent, by the relation in which he stands to his family, and the extent of their dependence upon God. Do we not need family mercies—and who can give them but God? So obviously obligatory is this duty, and so naturally does its performance arise out of all our joint feelings as parents and as Christians, that those who neglect it, cannot even pretend to feel the right influence of godliness. No duty, however, has been more abused than this. By some it is only occasionally performed; it is taken up, perhaps, in times of family distress or solicitude by others, it is attended to on a sabbath evening; and by many, very many others it is, though regularly observed, nothing but a lifeless form, and thus felt not only to be insipid, but a mere burden. The following directions may be of service to guide the heads of families in this most interesting branch of family duty.
1. It should be offered up morning and evening, thus beginning and closing every day.
2. It should be observed with the greatest regularity, and an uninterrupted constancy. What a disgrace to a parent is it for a child or a servant to say, "Are we to have prayer this evening?" And yet, are there not some families in which the practice is so irregular, as to leave the matter doubtful?
3. All the members of the family should be present, except very young children, who cannot be made to sit still, and whose inquietude and restlessness are a disturbance to all the rest, and utterly destroy the solemnity of the service.
4. It should be attended to so early in the morning as not to subject the service to the intrusion and interruption of visitors, and secular business; and so early in the evening, as not to be rendered the mere form of a drowsy circle, who ought at that time to be in bed. It is an offense to the Almighty to conduct a family into his awsome presence, merely to sleep there.
5. There should be a fixed hour, and the hour should be most sacredly kept, and not to be interfered with, except at the dictate of necessity. In order to this, the heads of families should not eat away from home, nor yield to the modern practice of late visiting. The fashionable hours of ten or eleven o’clock at night, are driving out evening prayer—and the eagerness of commercial pursuits putting a stop, in many families, to the morning sacrifice.
6. A portion of holy scripture should be read from the Old Testament one part of the day, and from the New Testament, the other. A book should be read through in regular course, and not a chapter picked out, or stumbled upon by accident. The scriptures should be audibly read, and in a reverential manner, and with a devotional spirit, for very great evils result from reading the scriptures in a careless, slovenly, and irreverent manner. It would be well for the parent to require the children to bring their bibles with them, that the eye may help the ear, in fixing the attention of the mind. The family prophet should also accompany what he reads with short explanatory and hortatory remarks of his own, or the expository comments of others.
7. Where there are people in the family who can sing, family praise should be a part of the service. The morning or evening hymn of a pious family is one of the most touching sounds in our world.
"Lord! how delightful ’tis to see
A pious household worship Thee.
At once they sing—at once they pray;
They hear of heaven, and learn the way."
8. Then follows the prayer, which should be not so long as to weary, nor so short as to seem like a mere form—it should be fervent; for a dull, cold, heartless repetition of almost the same thing, in almost the same words, is sure to destroy all the interest of this delightful service, and render it a mere form, which wearies and burdens, if it do not also disgust. How difficult is it to keep up the life and vigor of this arrangement! And why? Because we do not keep up the life and vigor of our own personal religion. It is worthwhile to remark, that the habit of reverential reading the scriptures tends to feed the flame of devotion, and to kindle the fire of the sacrifice of prayer. The prayer of the head of a family should be in a very peculiar degree FAMILY prayer. It should respect the children, and the circumstances of the household. All should feel that the service belongs to them, and not merely to the individual who prays, or to the church and the world. But fervor, and life, and earnestness, as opposed to what is dull and formal—are of immense consequence. A few petitions breathed forth with a fervor that kindles the fire of devotion in all around, are far better than half an hour’s talking about religion to God.
Oh! with what dignity, and grace, and sanctity, and authority, does a holy and fervent father rise from his knees, and take his seat in the midst of his family, while yet the rays of divine glory play upon his countenance. "Children," says Dr. Dwight, "naturally regard a parent with respect; but they cannot fail to respect him more or less, on account of his personal character. Wherever they have been accustomed to behold their parent daily sustaining the office of minister or servant of God, they necessarily associate with every idea they form of his person and character, this solemn and important apprehension. Every image of this venerable relation presented to their minds, will include in it that of a divinely appointed guardian of their spiritual concerns; a guide to their duty given them from above; a venerated and beloved intercessor for their salvation." And the same writer in speaking of family worship, says, "In the devotion of this little assembly, parents pray for their children, and children for their parents; the husband for the wife, and the wife for the husband; while brothers and sisters send up their requests to the throne of Infinite Mercy, to call down blessings on each other. Who that wears the name of man can be indifferent here? Must not the venerable character of the parents, the peculiar tenderness of the marital union, the affectionate intimacy of the filial and fraternal relations; must not the nearness of relations long existing, the interchange of kindness long continued, and the oneness of interests long cemented—all warm the heart, heighten the importance of every petition, and increase the fervor of every devotional effort."
It may be now proper to enquire, how it comes to pass that such a system as this is so often unsuccessful? For it may, with very great propriety, because with truth, be affirmed, that the families of professors are not always, as it might be expected they would be—the nurseries of the church. It is not enough to resolve the matter into the sovereignty of divine grace, until we have first enquired whether anything can be found in the conduct of parents, which can be said with truth, to account for the painful fact of irreligious children being found in religious families. Have parents really adopted and pursued a judicious system of religious education? Can it be said, that means, such as I have directed, or anything at all like them, have been regularly pursued? Has there been a deep, a constant solicitude for the eternal welfare of their children? In the introduction of my volume, entitled, "A Christian Father’s Present to his Children," I have stated the
1. Religious education is oftentimes very ignorantly, negligently, and capriciously maintained—where it is not altogether omitted. It is not a first object; it is attended to with no earnestness, no concern, no system, no regularity. It does not run through everything, and is opposed by many things at variance with it. The parent’s eye and heart are more intently fixed upon the worldly prosperity and respectability of the children—than on their religious character.
2. The relaxation of family ’discipline’ is a powerful impediment in the way of success. There is, in some households, no family government, no order, no subordination. The children are kept under no restraint, but are allowed to do what they like; their faults are intentionally unnoticed and unpunished, and their tempers allowed to grow wild and headstrong; until, in fact, the whole family becomes utterly lawless, rebellious against parental authority—and grievous to all around them. How many have had to curse the over-indulgence of fond and foolish parents! How many, as they have ruminated amid the desolations of poverty, or the walls of a prison, have exclaimed, "O, my cruelly fond parents, had you exercised that authority with which God entrusted you, over your children, and had you checked my childish corruptions, and punished my boyish disobedience; had you subjected me to the beneficial restraint of wholesome discipline, I would not have brought you with a broken heart to your grave, nor myself with a ruined character to the jail."
Overindulgence of children is awfully common, and continually making shocking ravages in human character. It is a system of great cruelty to the children, to the parents themselves, and to society. This practice proceeds from various causes; in some instances, from a perverted and intentional sentimentalism; in others, from absolute indolence, and a regard to present ease, which leads the silly mother to adopt any means of coaxing, and yielding, and bribing, to keep the "young rebels" quiet for the time! In others, from a mistake as to the time when restraint should begin, or a spirit of procrastination, which leads parents to say, "I shall take them in hand by and bye—there is no time lost; when their reason is a little more matured, I shall lay upon them more restraint." And in some it is "mere animal affection," without the guidance of a particle of judgment; a mere instinct, like that which in the irrational tribes leads to a blind and busy care.
It is not uncommon for parents to treat the first acts of infantile rebellion, rather as accidents to be smiled at, than as sins to be disciplined. "O," says the mother, "it is only play, he will know better soon. He does not mean any harm. I cannot discipline him." No! and if the father, wiser than herself; does, she cries, and perhaps, in the hearing of the child, reproves her husband for cruelty.
Lack of parental discipline, from whatever cause it proceeds, it is in the highest degree injurious to the character of the children; let those who are guilty of it read the fearful comment on this sin, which is furnished for their warning in the history of Eli and his family. "I am going to carry out all my threats against Eli and his family. I have warned him continually that judgment is coming for his family, because his sons are blaspheming God and he hasn’t disciplined them." 1 Samuel 3:12-13
3. Undue severity is, perhaps, more injurious than over-indulgence; and it is, perhaps, a conviction of this, and an observance of the mischievous consequences of extreme rigor, that has driven many into the opposite extreme. I have seen the dreadful effects of parental tyranny and the reign of household terror—in the broken spirits, the reckless desperation, the stubborn resistance to authority, or the deep and sullen melancholy of those who have been the subjects of these harsh measures. It is a truly revolting sight to see a father employing the iron rod of the oppressor to beat and bruise, and crush the minds of his own offspring into the most abject submission. He may succeed, but let him not wonder, if at the same time that he has suppressed rebellion, he has extinguished affection.
I have known parents, who, too late have seen their error, and who would give the world, did they possess it, if it were possible to do away the ill effects which their severity had produced in the character of their children; but the mischief was irreparable. No subsequent kindness could expand the heart, which they had closed forever against them, or will that confidence which they had repulsed from them. A close, sullen, melancholy disposition had been nurtured; susceptibility to the emotions of wretchedness had been planted in the bosom, which no future tenderness on the part of the parent could remove. He saw it, and repented it, but could not alter it. "You fathers, provoke not then your children to anger, lest they should be discouraged." This language is really very striking, and well deserves the serious attention of every parent.
4. The inconsistent conduct of parents who are professors of religion, is a great hindrance to the success of religious education. Many people have no need to wonder that their children are not pious; it would have been a wonder if they were godly—for they have seen nothing at home but what was calculated to disgust them with religion. They would have been far more likely to have thought well of the ways of godliness—if their parents had said nothing about them.
5. The bad conduct of an elder child of a family often counteracts all the efforts made for the benefit of the rest. Let parents see the importance of beginning upon a good system. Children are creatures of imitation, and the models they copy after, are their elder brother or sister. A mother should educate the character of her first child, with the recollection, that he will be a pattern, which the rest will, in all probability, more or less conform to. I do not think this has been sufficiently considered.
6. Partiality has a very corrupting and fatal influence. The history of the patriarch Jacob, first the victim, and afterwards the subject, of this sin, will remain forever a warning to all parents, against the dangers of family favoritism. The balances of government must be held, in every family, by even-handed justice, or misery is sure to ensue. Envy and jealousy are the natural consequences of partiality. Father and mother are sometimes embroiled, the children are set against each other, and all conspire against the favorite.
Behold these obstacles, and avoid them! And now, can
1. Are you zealous for the cause of Christ in the world—for the prosperity of Zion—for the interest of the Redeemer—for the glory of God? Be diligent, and anxious to train up your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Would you have them the enemies, or the friends of God and his cause? Dare you pretend to be the disciples of Christ, if this is a matter of indifference to you? If you are neglectful in this matter, you may expect to see your offspring united in marriage with the children of this world—if not with infidels, scoffers, or the profane. But if you are anxious and conscientious to train them up for God, that daughter over whom you watch with such parental care and tenderness, may be joined with the female worthies, who by their chaste lives, and the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, and their zeal for the cause of Christ, have done so much to diffuse religion in the world. That son whom you now train with such holy solicitude, for future usefulness, as a disciple of the Savior, may become eminent in the church, as a consistent and intelligent member, or an able and faithful minister. "Many a congregation," says Baxter, "that is happily fed with the bread of life, may thank God for the endeavors of some poor man or woman, who trained up a child in the ways of God, to become their holy and faithful teacher." The church of God looks to the families of the righteous, and expects and asks from thence, those supplies which are to recruit its numbers, and to repair the ravages of death.
2. I urge this duty by a due regard to the temporal and eternal welfare of your children. You love your children, and would deem it a most cruel and insulting insinuation to have your affection for a moment questioned. But do what you will for them; devote as you may the energies of body and mind; the sleep of your nights and the activities of your days to your children’s comfort—wear out your strength in ceaseless labor and solicitude, and yet at the same time neglect the religious education of your children, you are guilty of a species of most horrid cruelty towards them—the dreadful consequences of which may begin in this world in profligacy and vice—and extend to the eternal world in all the bitter pains of eternal death! Unrestrained by sentiments of piety, uncontrolled by a conscience which has never been enlightened, what is to prevent them from being plunged into infamy by their unbridled passions? Have not many young men, in the prisons, or at the gallows—and many unhappy women when closing in misery a course of infamy—cursed their parents for not giving them a religious education? But even though they live and die in worldly honor and respectability, what will this do for them amid—the sorrows of life, the agonies of death, the solemnities of judgment, and the torments of perdition. Hear them as they stand shuddering and affrighted on the brink of that gulf into which they are about to plunge. "Of what avail are the riches and honors, and pleasures of the world, which my parents were so anxious to obtain for me? Why did they not tell me that the salvation of my soul was of more importance to me as an immortal creature, than the possession of the universe? Cruel, cruel parents! Fool that I was to be blinded and rendered careless by you—but my self-reproaches are now unavailing, I deservedly perish; but my blood be upon the head of those who neglected me." Ah, cruel parents indeed, who neglect the religious education of their children—more cruel in some respects than Herod! He slew the bodies of children—these cruel parents murder souls! He murdered the children of others—these cruel parents murder their own children! He employed the agency of his servants—these cruel parents do the work of slaughter themselves!
3. Do you regard your OWN comfort? Do you love yourselves? Are you anxious to avoid painful and incessant solicitude, bitter reflection, family disquietude, dreadful foreboding? Then bring up your children with the most unvarying regard to their religious character. Should God crown your efforts with success, what a harvest of joys will you reap even in this world. When you see your children enter the paths of wisdom, "thank God!" you will exclaim, "my highest ambition has at length reached its object. My children are decided Christians. I am now no longer distressingly anxious for their future prospects in this life. In one way or other, God will provide for them. And as to eternity they are safe. Who can describe the pure, elevated felicity with which such parents mark the course of their children, in going from strength to strength in their progress to Zion. What a season of delight is that, when they publicly assume the profession of a Christian, and connect themselves with the church! What joy is felt on beholding them at their side at the table of the Lord, and holding communion with them in the joys of faith and the anticipations of eternity. And what satisfaction is experienced in seeing them enrolling their names as the friends of God and man, and giving their support to those institutions which are formed to promote the highest interests of the human race. As they grow in experience, in usefulness, in respectability in the church, the parents’ joy and gratitude are continually increasing, and they feel the honor of having sent such members into the fellowship of the faithful. Should God, in the mysteries of his providence, remove them by an early death, you will be cheered amid the agonies of separation, by their dying consolation; their piety will wipe away your tears, and be a balm to the wounds of your mind. And when they have departed, you will solace yourselves with the healing thought, that they are gone to that world of glory in which you will soon be reunited with them. Or should the order of nature be observed, and you precede them to the tomb, will not their presence and attentions in your dying chamber, be more soothing by the consideration, that they are so many saints, as well as children, ministering to your comfort? Will not their piety give a sanctity and a sweetness to all the offices of their affection? "I die," will be your expression, as like departing Jacob, you address yourselves to them, "but God will be with you, and we shall meet again where there will be no more death." But should you unhappily neglect their religious education, and they, through your inattention, should grow up without any due sense of the claims of God, is there not a danger of their becoming immoral, as well as irreligious? And how could you bear to witness, or to hear of their profligacy and vice, if at the same time you were conscious that it was in a measure through your neglect? Perhaps they may be unkind and disobedient to you; for God may justly render that child a scourge to his parent, whose parent did not train him up in the ways of religion. O what scenes of family misery, what heart-rending spectacles of confusion and wretchedness, have profligate children occasioned in the families to which they belong! How many have thus had their hearts suddenly broken, or their gray hairs brought down by the slow process of withering sorrow to the grave; and the sting of all this, in some cases, has been the consciousness of parental neglect. No sin more heavily punishes itself, than this, nor mingles for its subject a more bitter cup. But then, the eternal consequences, oh! the eternal consequences of this neglect. See the heart-stricken parent, wringing his hands over the dying youth who is departing without repentance. No, not a syllable escapes his lips that sounds like penitence—the father weeps, and prays, and entreats, but the son hearkens not, and dies, and makes no sign. Now in what a burst of agony does he give vent to his feelings over the corpse, from which the spirit has departed, but departed not to the mansions of the blessed—"Oh, my son, Absalom, my son, my son Absalom, would God I had died for you! O Absalom, my son, my son!"
Or, in the event of your own death, what thorns will it plant in your pillow, with what deeper shades will it invest the descent to the dark valley, to reflect that you had neglected the religious character of your children, and the eternal salvation of their immortal souls. Then, amid these fearful scenes, to awake to a sense of your duty, when it is too late, except by one parting admonition to perform it. Then to see those around your bed, with whom you had been entrusted, but whom you have neglected. But there are other scenes more dreadful still. The faithless parent must meet his ruined children at the day of judgment—before the bar of God. Fearful will be the interview; and to us, now, utterly inconceivable. No imagination can portray the scene, and I attempt it not. And then, eternity, oh! eternity!—who shall bring out from the secrets of that impenetrable state, the condition of children, lost in some measure through the neglect of their parents; and the condition of parents, hearing through everlasting ages the cursings and reproaches of their own offspring, and all these cursings and reproaches echoed back from their own conscience! But the picture is too appalling—and if the mere anticipation chills with horror, what must be its dreadful reality!
Look for a few moments at a brighter scene, and anticipate the meeting, at the judgment day, of pious parents and children, reclaimed, converted, saved by the blessing of God upon their affectionate solicitude, and judicious and persevering efforts for their eternal welfare—but this is as much too bright for the imagination, as the other is too dreadful. It is glory, honor, and felicity too great to be imagined. And beyond all this, everlasting ages remain for the child to be blessed with salvation, and the parent to be blessed with the consciousness of having been the happy instrument of eternal blessedness to his offspring!