therefore only made the law of parents and children formally, when the priestly office was about to be transferred and confined to one particular tribe. The ceremonies of divine service might, it seems, be thus transferred and even confined; not so universal and unalienable obligations. Parental moral obligations, with regard to the character and worship of God, remained entire, and though employed as a safeguard against idolatry, they were placed neither upon new nor upon higher ground." "Thou shalt have no

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ment.

Precisely the same remark will apply to the fourth commandA great multiplicity of new external rites were about to be imposed. The Sabbath, ancient as the first week of time, required now to be guarded and sanctioned, lest the laborious and daily occupations of the Mosaic economy should invade the sanctity of that merciful and blessed day. "Amidst the complicated variety of new appointments," as though it had been said, "forget not the old, the unalterable, the invariably incumbent-Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy; for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath-day and (then of course) hallowed it." Yes, the reason for this commandment is at once the proof of its antiquity and previous obligation; the Sabbath being originally "made for man," and made for him while yet in the garden of Eden. Hence the division of time into weeks, so repeatedly referred to in Genesis; the matrimonial feast and mourning for the dead, equally of seven days duration; hence, too, probably, when Noah sent forth the raven, he tarried seven days; and when the dove, he tarried three times in succession other seven. A like period the Almighty waited, after smiting the Nile and turning it into blood. If, as has been supposed with good reason, the Egyptians prevented the children of Israel from observing the Sabbath; had Pharaoh no reference to this sacred rest when he said, "Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their work? Behold the people of the land are many, and you make them rest from their burdens." But whether he, in these words, referred to the Sabbath and the interference of Moses in its favour, or not, what could Jehovah himself intend, when, before the giving of the law on Sinai, he said to Moses, "How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath, (not the law, but the

other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my command

ments."

Such then, by the peculiar style of this law, is the shield held by an Almighty hand over the most helpless and dependent of all created beings, from the moment of birth, and such the law by which He prepares the Parents for the fulfilment of duties devolving necessarily on them alone. Nor is Nature silent on such an occasion as this. What though man is born the most helpless and dependent of all living? In the first hours of his existence, "when a few indistinct or unmeaning cries are his only language, he exercises an authority irresistible over hearts, of the very existence of which he is ignorant and unconscious;" nor will the infant wait long before he advances in his claims and in his influence. A few weeks only will pass away, when

opportunity to observe it, and ye can no longer plead excuse as you might in Egypt,) therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; so the people rested on the seventh day." Had the institution not been observed by their progenitors, how could the nation have possibly understood this remonstrance? And, finally, when the decalogue itself was put into the hand of Moses, how came phraseology so peculiar to be employed with regard to this sacred day, if it was not ancient as the first week of time, obligatory from the period of the creation, and commemorative of that mighty work? Hence it was said, "Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy, for in six days," &c.

the smile, and the shedding of tears, emotions peculiar to his species, will bind the two parties together, by ties which seem to say, that duties of no common order are involved in this connexion.

Let but this voice of Nature unite with that of Revelation, and then the connexion between parent and child will be at once understood and felt: a connexion, however, which will derive further illustration from the fourth and fifth Sections, in which the descending penalty and blessing are more fully considered.

BROTHERS AND SISTERS.-While society at large has been divided with sufficient propriety into three classes, superiors, inferiors, and equals, it must ever be remembered, by almost every human being, that he never will be able to fulfil the duties imposed upon him by God, except he regard himself as standing between the two extremes; for as any man with ease can fix his eye upon an inferior, so at all times there are many whom he must regard as superior to himself. Now, it is not unworthy of notice, that, as though it were, and most probably is, with a view to all the adventures of future life, this is the precise ground on which every child is placed, by the providence of God, in every family where there are servants as well as parents; and as the children of such families are destined to act a more important part in civil society, so are they, even from infancy, placed in a correspondingly advantageous situation.

When, however, we speak of inferiors and superiors in society at large, a twofold distinction must be kept in view one consists in what has been styled rank in society, the other consists in moral worth.

The former, though far inferior in importance, though of a transitory nature, and soon must pass away, as it is a distinction of God's own creation which he is determined to maintain, it ought to be treated with becoming respect. At the same time, this is not only compatible with a regard to the second distinction, but regard to character as well as rank becomes absolutely necessary to every man, if he would avoid dishonest servility on the one hand, or tyrannical disdain on the other. Here again, therefore, we see the advantageous ground on which the children of such a family are placed, for initiating them into the duties which must one day devolve upon them. And, oh, what an argument do the children furnish, to both parents and servants, their superiors and inferiors in rank, for enforcing the necessity of moral worth!

The main object, however, of these few remarks, is to induce consideration, not only of the peculiar ground on which children stand, but of the connexion which subsists between brothers and sisters, or between the children though of one sex. If the connexion of children with parents is intended to produce submission and respect for their superiors; their connexion with a servant, courtesy and good-will; so their connexion with each other is manifestly intended to initiate them into the sacred and equal duties of friendship. Now, if friendship in general be indeed the cement of the soul, the sweetener of life, the solder of society; "and if it be delightful to enjoy the continued friendship of those who are endeared to us by the intimacy of many years, who can discourse with us of the adventures and studies of youth, or of the years when we first ranked ourselves with men in

the free society of the world; how delightful must be the friendship of those who, accompanying us through all this long period, with a closer union than any casual friend, can go still farther back, from the school to the very nursery, which witnessed our common pastimes; who have had an interest in every event that has related to us, and in every person to whom we have been attached; who have honoured with us those to whom we have paid every filial honour in life, and wept with us over those whose death has been to us the most lasting sorrow of our heart! Such, in its wide unbroken sympathy, is the friendship of brothers, or of brothers and sisters-considered even as friendship only. But how many circumstances of additional interest does this union receive, from the common relationship to those who have original claims to our still higher regard, and to whom we offer such an acceptable service, in extending our affections to those whom they love?"

"In treating of the circumstances that tend peculiarly to strengthen this tie, an ancient classical writer extends his view even to the common sepulchre which is at last to enclose the entire family! It is indeed a powerful image-a symbol and almost a lesson of unanimity. Every dissension of man with man excites in us a feeling of painful incongruity; but we feel a peculiar incongruity in the discord of those whom one roof has continued to shelter during life, and whose dust is afterwards to be mingled under one common stone!"

The connexion, therefore, which we now consider, involves in it "the duties of a cordial intimacy, rendered more sacred by relationship to the parents from