my hopes and my joys? If a man has never known the bitterness of a really penitent heart, if he has never struggled to be delivered from his corruptions, to throw off all deadly sluggishness, and to mount up with wings, as eagles above the vanities and grossness of the world, to inhale a purer atmosphere, how can he expect to draw from heaven a new blessing, and hope for that purification of the heart and the life, which alas, he might already have attained had he not been disposed to slight the gifts of God, and grieve the Holy Spirit. is to be perfected, under God, by the diligent cultivation of purity of mind. It belongs to us to regulate our own habits of thought and association, and if these are permitted to run uncontrolled, they will inevitably catch a stain from those impurities of the world, which would sully the soul of the best Christian. It is observed by a celebrated divine that "perhaps every man living has a particular train of thoughts, into which his mind falls when at leisure from the impressions and ideas that occasionally excite it; perhaps also the train of thought here spoken of, more than any other, determines the character. It is of the utmost consequence therefore that this property of our constitution be well regulated." He then goes on to observe that “in a moral view, I shall not, I believe, be contradicted when I say, that if one train of thinking be more desira Among the subordinate means of grace by which our good purposes may be strengthened, and our hearts made better, the writer has been accustomed to set a high value on religious biography. The lives of men of distinguished piety-of men whose hearts were pure and whose lives exhibited a lovely picture of genuine goodness, shew what high attain-ble than another, it is that which rements we may make ourselves. They shew us the powerful, transforming influence of religion on the hearthow it will kindle a holy love to God and to man-how it will lift the soul above the vexations of life, and shed over it the serenity and purity of heaven-how it will nerve the arm of practical goodness, and convert the whole life into a series of beneficent actions. We read and admire, and if our hearts are so softened by religious influence as to be susceptible of such impressions, we can hardly fail to catch a portion of the spirit which breathes in the page before us, and to feel a warm tide of holy resolutions and of aspirations after higher attainments. There is withal, a soothing influence spread over the mind which is highly favorable to religious impressions. Our anxieties are hushed, and a train of calm emotions finds its way through the soul. We love the character which presents so mild and heavenly an aspect, and we seem willing to forfeit all that we possess, could we be moulded into the same frame of temper ourselves. Many Christians are little aware how much their christian character gards the phenomena of nature, with a constant reference to a Supreme intelligent Author." This must be admitted to be a happy thought. In our leisure moments we are frequently walking amid the works of God, and how easy it must be, it would seem, thus to form a habit of association, which would, as it were, connect the heavens and the earth. The agency of God appears in every surrounding object. It spreads the beauties of the landscape; it lifts the mountain and precipitates the torrent; it gathers the storm and darts the lightning; it unfolds the mild splendors of the evening firmament; it wakes the song of the feathered tribe; it clothes this enchanting season of the year in verdure, and makes the heavens and the earth rejoice together in the resuscitation of vegetable life; it sends forth the herd to enjoy their repast upon the hills; it calls forth man from his winter retreat to the cultivation of the earth, and spreads around bim the overflowing bounties of heaven. Every object which meets the eye thus leads to profitable contemplation. Here then is another purifying influence of which the Christian should avail himself, and one which is equally delightful and profitable. The pleasures of taste may mingle with the pleasures of religion, and while the taste itself is elevated and refined, the heart is softened and brought nearer to God. There is a sort of sympathy established between the mind and external nature. By accustoming ourselves to dwell on the cheerful scenes around us, a sort of kindred spirit attaches itself to the soul. We insensibly gather up the lineaments of surrounding objects, and impress them on our own minds. If the dark side of things is most likely to attract our notice, we contract a peevishness of temper, and a dissatisfaction with our allotments in life. The fairest flower is made to distil, not honey but poison; and the loveliest disposition may thus become vitiated. But reverse the object, and make us familiar with its brighter side, and we gather beauty and sweetness from its charms. A mildness and a cheerful serenity of temper steal upon us, and we imbibe a tone of character extremely friendly to moral and religious improvement. Thus the person who delights to wander amid the lovelier scenes of nature, and as the silence of the evening approaches, and the mild glories of the sky begin to display themselves, walks out to participate in the sweet serenity of the scene, as he dwells on the enchantments around him, is insensibly borne above to the holy habitation of that glorious intelligence which unfolds the scene and kindles all its beauties. A mind which is habituated to such contemplations, is in a much fitter state to receive moral and religious impressions, than the cold earth-born spirit of one who is touched by no exhibitions of beauty or sublimity, however striking; so that while we are accustoming ourselves to dwell on the beauties of nature, we are not only gathering a rich harvest of religious impressions, but are rendering our hearts more susceptible of all that is lovely and good. Q. X. This text is a part of the message, which God, by his own mouth, delivered to Israel from the midst of the thunderings and lightnings of Sinai. It comprises the reasons, which he was pleased to annex to the second commandment in the decalogue. As a God highly concerned for his own honour, he utters, in this commandent, his eternal prohibition of all idolatry. Every approach to this sin, he considers as an overt act of rebellion against him. And he declares it as his purpose, that his indignation shall follow, to future generations, those who by this or any other sin, shall commit iniquity; and that his mercy shall be extended in the same manner, to those who love him and delight in his statutes. The text plainly contains this proposition, that God deals with children in some sense, according to the character of their parents. By the expressions, "Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and showing mercy to thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments," we must understand, that children, are in some way, so connected with their parents that they are involved in the judgements which God dispenses to men. But by these expressions we are not to understand, that children shall, in all cases, sustain the same moral character with their parents. There is a sense, it is true, in which parents and their children sustain an identity of moral character. By nature, all, both parents and children are sinners. But this is rather the effect of the original apostasy, and the divine constitution with reference to the continued derivation of sin, than the result of the administration of the divine government with reference to a particular case. When God declares that he will visit the iniquity of wicked parents upon their children, and show mercy to the future generations of the godly, we are not to understand him as declaring that the wicked parent, in consequence of his iniquity, shall never see a pious child; and that the righteous parent shall never see an ungodly son or daughter among his offspring. This is not the plan of the divine 'procedure. In whatever way God may execute judgements upon the children of impious parents, or bestów mercy on those born of his own household, he certainly does not, in consequence of the sins of the one, decree, that their children shall in all cases be so visited in judgement, for the iniquities of their fathers, that they shall all live and die the enemies of God: nor does he in consequence of the righteousness of the other, decree that their children shall all of them be made heirs of glory. Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, king of Israel, was a great sinner. His iniquities provoked God to cut off with one exception, his whole house from the face of the earth. Yet wicked as he was, one child of his, belonged to the family of God and is now rejoicing before his throne. Of Abijah, the son of this king, it is written, "For he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because, in him there is found some GOOD THING towards the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam." Abijam was a wicked king of Judah. Of him it is written, "And he walked in all the sins of his father which he had done before him, and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father." Yet Asa, one of the best kings that ever swayed the sceptre of Judah, was his son. On the other hand, many parents, eminent for their piety, have seen the children of many prayers, forsaking God, contemning his authority, and against prayers and tears, and coun sels, and admonitions, hastening to final ruin. In the family of Abraham, the father of the faithful, was an Ishmael whose hand was against every man. In several instances, with which the scriptures furnish us, and in ma ny within the sphere of our own observation, have facts similar to these occurred. We see around us, the impious man, sometimes the father of a pious son or daughter; and the godly father sometimes weeping over the sins of some of his offspring. Now all these facts certainly show, that whatever may be the manner in which God deals with children as connected with their parents, it is not certain that they will in all cases sustain the same moral character with their parents. Again: by the proposition that God deals with children in some sense according to the character and conduct of parents, it is not meant that the children of wicked parents are punished in this, or in the future world, strictly for the sins of the parent; or that the children of the god. ly are received into favor with God in this world, or justified in that which is to come, strictly speaking, on account of the righteousness of the parent. Nothing is more certain than that God is perfectly just in the administration of his government. But if it be true that in visiting the iniquities of wicked parents upon their children, and in showing mercy to the children of those who love him, God inflicts the punishment due to the iniquitous parent upon the child or children who are perfectly free from guilt themselves; or shows complacency in the character of the child of a religious parent, (which child is by nature an offender against God, or which by open violation of the divine law, is also guilty of overt sinful actions,) purely on account of the holiness of the parent; if this be true, it is impossible to reconcile the administration of God, with any notions which we have, or can have of justice, and grace, or with the word of God. The truth is, justice requires that the transgressor should be punished, and that the innocent should not be condemned. And it is in accordance with all our ideas of things, that merit and demerit are always personal. No one can be blameable for an action committed by another, of which he was ignorant, and to which he was in no sense accessary, nor can any one be worthy of praise for the conduct of another, of which he was always ignorant, and in which he had no agency. The parent and the child are distinct persons: and to punish the one for the conduct of the other, in which he had no concern or agency, is to make the sins of one the sins of another, (even while the other is perfectly innocent,) and is as palpably unjust, as to punish the reader of this discourse for the sins of the writer; and to reward the one for the virtue of the other, amounts to the same palpable self-contradiction and injustice. From the nature of things then, it is plain, that God does not punish or reward children, strictly speaking, for the sin or holiness of the parent. The scriptures present this subject in the same point of light. During the captivity of the children of Israel in Babylon, they adopted it as a proverb, that they were suffering, not for their own, but for their father's sins; and that God in thus afflicting them was unjust. At this time, God sent unto them his prophet Ezekiel to vindicate his character against the aspersions which they were thus bringing upon it. "What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The father's have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? As I live saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. Behold all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth IT shall die." The character of a righteous man is then described, and it is declared of him, that "he shall surely live." He then proceeds to declare, that if this righteous man, shall have a son of a contrary character, that this son "shall surely die, and his blood shall be upon him." God next declares that if this wicked man shall have a son "that seeth all his father's sins which he hath done, and considereth and doeth not such like, he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live." The Israelites are then represented as introducing the text which stands at the head of this discourse to prove that the prophet did not understand the word of God as well as they did, and that after all, they were suffering, not for their own, but for their father's sins. "Yet ye say, Why? Doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father ?" God then, (in the 20 v. of this chapter) makes the following reply to this quotation and application of his own word. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." Still however there must be a sense in which God deals with children according to the character and conduct of parents, or the text must be destitute of meaning. It may therefore be observed. 1. That although there may be me ny exceptions, according to the sov reignty of God, yet it is a general rule in the providence of God, that children shall by way of natural consequences, ordinarily form their habits according to the model presented to them in the character and conduct of their parents, so that their character and conduct will, in most, not in all cases, resemble those of their parents. It is manifestly a fact, known by observation and experience, and that it is the ordinary mode of the divine procedure for God to give up the children of wicked parents, to imbibe the principles, and follow the example of their parents; and to use the influence of the example and feelings, and exertions of pious- parents, as the means of bringing their children to the knowledge and acknowledgment of the truth as it is in Jesus. Thus God visited the iniquity of Jeroboam as a father, upon all his children, with the exception of Abijah. They were left of God to follow their own choice, and to walk in the steps of their father. Like him, they rebelled against God; like him they became idolaters :-like him they sinned, and like him they died. And thus it is generally the fact, that impious and vicious parents, by their precept and example, form the character of their children on the model of their own feelings and conduct. The children of profane parents catch the language of blasphemy from the lips of a profane father. From his fearlessness of God, the son soon learns to trifle with, and abuse, and contemn the authority of Jehovah. The father curses; and the son responds in blasphemy. The father leads the way; and the son follows on to hell. Is the parent indolent? The children usually sustain the same character. The parent loves his ease, and the child soon learns to love it. The parent, declares it his maxim, that ease is better than industry; and the child readily responds, "Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep." Is the parent a drunkard? The child soon becomes familiar with that object of abhorrence to all good men,--a drunken man. He readily acquires a fondness for the cup,-looses the sense of shame once associated with the name of intemperance, throws up the reins to appetite, reels through the same course through which his father reeled, and plunges like him into woe. Thus it is, in every species of vice. Now these children, forming their character from the principles and examples of their parents, will probably, in the same manner, entail the same character upon their children, and they on theirs, and thus down to the third, and fourth generations, ini quity and inafmy may be communicated in a way of natural consequence, by the iniquity of the parent. How many generations, of swearers, liars, drunkards, have you seen issuing from one stock, and yet all following their own choice, and consequently making their crimes, their own sin? Now if an impious household is a judgement on wicked parents, it is plain, that in this way, God may, and frequently does visit the iniquity of fathers upon children, to succeeding generations. On the other hand the children of pious parents, following their example, are usually sober in their habits, and orthodox in their sentiments. The pious parent instructs, and prays for his children. By these means they are ordinarily confirmed in the belief of the great truths of the gospel. The pious parent leads his children to the house of God, and thus brings them within the influence accompanying a preached gospel. And in this manner, God may, and frequently does make the pious parent the means, by way of natural consequence, of bringing down mercy on his children. These children being the servants of God, will probably perpetuate the influence of godly example upon their children; and thus succeeding generations may receive mercy, at the hands of God. Now God is certainly no less sovereign in bestowing his mercy in this manner, on the children of pious parents, than he is, in bestowing it on those of profligate transgressors. 2. Another way in which God deals with children according to the character and conduct of parents, is, that the children share in the judgements inflicted, and the mercies bestowed, on their respective parents. The judgements which God sends upon wicked parents in this world are many; and numerous are the mercies, which he bestows on those parents who belong to his household. In these judgements the children of the wicked, and in these mercies the children of the |