take their character from those with whom they speak, and eat, and sleep. To fall in, therefore, with the all-wise arrangement of the God of nature and revelation is our only wisdom. Such a course will secure his blessing and sanction, and with these, in the most desperate case, the utmost success awaits us, of which the case will admit.

Without hesitation, it will be granted by all, that, in proceeding to apply a remedy to a disease, to restore what is corrupted or decaying, or to rectify any disorder, ultimate success depends almost entirely on the commencement. If we begin wrong, sooner or later, we must begin again, wherever it is possible so to do. In such a case as the present, therefore, let it be our wisdom to begin with Men where God begins with them; and, in humble dependence on Him, if we have his word, and speak it faithfully, let no man's heart fail him: the same cause will produce the same effect. He will turn the heart of the Fathers to the Children, and the heart of the Children to their Fathers, and employ us, too, blessed be his name, in doing so.

Nor is there in this case any thing unusual, or any thing which is not done in every other case analogous to it, whether for the rectification of evil, or the production of good. Hence, when nations are sunk in depravity, their Rulers are addressed; when churches are corrupt, their Pastors: the leader of an army is held responsible for his men; the guide and supercargo of a vessel, for the vessel itself, and all on board.

For the prevention of evil the same method is pursued. Hence, while God himself wrote the ten commandments, thus strongly marking their permanency

and universal obligation, he ordered Moses to write down all the judicial and ceremonial precepts peculiar to the economy of which he was to have the charge. Hence, the degeneracy of Israel as a nation was removed or retarded by Judges who judged, or Kings who ruled over them. Hence, to the kings in general over the Jews, it was said," And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the Priests and the Levites ; and it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life; that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law, and these statutes to do them; that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren; and that he turn not aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left; to the end, that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel."* Hence Paul, unable to reach the Church itself, sent for its Elders, and said, "Take heed to yourselves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Spirit hath made you overseers." Hence, when the seven churches in Asia were addressed by the Saviour, he desired his address to be sent to the angel of each; and when Paul would provide for the future purity and prosperity of the Church of Christ, he sits down and solemnly addresses himself to Timothy and Titus.

If this, however, is the mode of procedure to which the Author of Nature and the constitution of things alike direct us, we shall not be left without reasons,

* This law was probably but very seldom observed by the Kings of Judah, and never by the Kings of Israel. Observe the consequences.

both powerful and striking, for our pursuing it; and especially with regard to a family. As a specimen, let the two following considerations be duly weighed:

1. Observe the difference between what is requisite and generally adopted, for the ascertaining of guilt, and for the conviction of sin, once ascertained or confessed.

The manner in which the Lord himself proceeded, upon the very entrance of sin into our world, affords an illustration of this difference, at once safe and satisfactory. Proceeding to ascertain the painful and awful case, and in a way of condescension to human nature, now, alas! fallen, His voice first strikes upon the ear of Adam, who at once admits that he was afraid and ashamed, but refers to the woman, who endeavours to shift the blame, by a reference to him who was most guilty. But the respective guilt of each party once ascertained, this order is reversed; and in pronouncing sentence of condemnation, with a view to our first Parents reading their sin in their punishment, Jehovah begins with Satan; then pronounces sentence on the woman; and finally on Adam.

Now, were it not already ascertained, beyond a doubt, that Parents have been first in fault; that they have been not only most negligent and most guilty, but the cause of their Children's ignorance and bad habits; then would it seem, not only proper, but even necessary, to begin with the party who has been led astray, and less guilty, as Jehovah did. But between the process necessary for the ascertaining with whom the chief guilt rests, and that which is incumbent on us for the radical conviction of sin in the

group itself, there is such a material difference, that it is generally found necessary to proceed in two ways, directly opposite.

2. Observe also the difference between what I may style ascending and descending love.

Descending love ought to exist to a much greater degree, since it is capable of being carried to a much greater extent, than ascending. As the love of God descending is infinitely greater than that which does or which can ascend to him in return; so the love of man, which descends to the young and to posterity, or the love of care over them, is, or may be, much greater than that which does or which can return or ascend; and, as in the former case, the first is not only first in the order of time, but produces and promotes the second, so it ought to be in all cases which bear any analogy, and much more in a case like the present, which bears such analogy.

The truth, therefore, seems to be, that, in whatever way this subject is viewed, in the case of a debased or disordered family, the main offence, the chief amount of guilt, lies with the Parents. The evils and the inconvenience suffered by a country, in consequence of the ingratitude and disobedience of its Children towards their Parents may be great, but they are, literally, after all, but few and light indeed, in comparison with the evils and distress which it suffers from the remissness or neglect of which Parents are guilty towards their offspring. The influence which is peculiar to them, in depressing or elevating a nation, is not only prodigious-it is incalculable.

Now, were there no instrument expressly appointed, or peculiarly adapted, for bearing down directly

upon a body so potent as this, we should feel helpless indeed in all our attempts after a better day. But a remedy assuredly there is, of peculiar adaptation to the character and position of a Parent. Hence, even in the two considerations just stated, we have in one the argument of greatest sin, and in the other the argument of strongest obligation. Hence the warnings, the threatenings, the arguments for conscience, furnished to us in Scripture for the parental ear, are so peculiarly adapted to the responsible, and, if guilty, the perilous situation of a Father or Mother.

Here, however, we are evidently again thrown back on the ministry of the word; on the commission of our Saviour, still sounding in the ear; and on obedience to it, whether publicly, or from house to house; as well as the necessity for implicit faith on our part, in God's own instituted and determined way of proceeding with his apostate family.

It is indeed very possible, as I have already hinted, that the extreme impotency of preaching in our day, may have induced benevolent men to look about, and see whether any other, or, at least, additional means could be devised for keeping down immorality, and suppressing vice, and exterminating juvenile delinquency. Had senior delinquency been especially regarded, and inquiries been instituted on the part of individuals whom it most concerns, into the cause of the impotency referred to, I am firmly persuaded, that greater progress would have been made in what many profess to desire, and all agree to be necessary. At the same time, as I have already remarked, the impotency of any given ministry, in any country, is one thing, the institution and appointment of God another; and when I hear such a man as John Howe lamenting