ing but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the of fools."

song

And let not the children of the irreligious be deterred from coming to Jesus; neither let them say no parent careth for my soul; they never taught me to fear the Lord, and in my behalf they never bent the knee before him. Jesus gathers the outcasts of Israel to himself, he hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, and on you the blessing of Abraham shall come. Your conversion may be blessed for turning your parents to the Lord, if they yet live; and, at any rate, it will keep that part of misery from falling on them, if they are gone, which must arise from your dying in your iniquity, and from your blood being required at their hand.

Finally, let aged believers cherish every recollection favourable to piety, and let them act so that their sons and daughters will feel a delight in bringing their children to their side; that they will take pleasure in seeing them standing by your chair, or in approaching to your couch. The wise and serious will value the pious advice which you give to your grandchildren far more than any present of money or goods which you can make them. Suspect them not of bringing their children before you from mercenary motives, and guard against the extremes of credulity and jealousy; for the one is the result of a weak mind, the other of a proud heart.

There may be aged persons before me whose con

* Eccl. vii. 4, 5.

sciences are saying,-The fear of the Lord is neither in me nor mine; I must soon part from my children, and I dread that it will be with no other prospect than of meeting again in hell to torment each other in punishment as we have hardened each other in sin.' But for you God still waits to be gracious, and says, -Though your head has become grey in sin, yet return unto me. Obey this call, and who can tell but that the earnest efforts, which the grace that plucks the brand from the burning prompts you to make for your children's conversion, may be successful? He who can make the wilderness to blossom, and the night to shine as the day, can make you new creatures in Christ Jesus. He can change the heart of stone into flesh, and form the lip of blasphemy to prayer." On the head of the angel of the covenant may the blessings of your perishing souls come, and may you be receivers of his best blessing, which he himself thus describes:-"Unto you first, God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities."*

* Acts iii. 26.

DISCOURSE IX.

THE EFFECTS OF CHEERFULNESS AND OF DESPONDENCY.

PROVERBS XVII. 22. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine, but a broken spirit drieth up the bones.

ONE of the most common artifices of the enemies of religion to bring it into discredit, has been to associate gloominess and terror with its spirit and exercise. In support of their statements they have adduced detached portions of its laws, and painted, in the most hideous colours, the rites of superstition. They have exhibited the monk as the prey of despondency and terror, sustaining a mere existence by the bread and the water of affliction, and imposing on himself stripes more severe than those which tyrants have inflicted on their victims. By his side they have represented the fanatic, who, amidst his strong abhorrence of the dogmas of Popery, is actuated by the bitterness and austerity of its spirit, frowning on every innocent enjoyment, cherishing the gloomiest impressions of the character of the Deity, and of the present state and future destiny of the most part of human beings, afraid to entertain any cheering hope as to himself, and howling in dust and ashes.

Nothing can be more unjust than to hold up such misguided creatures as evidences of the requirements or of the tendency of religion. Let me lead you from the cell of the monk and the austerities of the

sciences are saying,-The fear of the Lord is neither in me nor mine; I must soon part from my children, and I dread that it will be with no other prospect than of meeting again in hell to torment each other in punishment as we have hardened each other in sin. But for you God still waits to be gracious, and says, -Though your head has become grey in sin, yet return unto me. Obey this call, and who can tell but that the earnest efforts, which the grace that plucks the brand from the burning prompts you to make for your children's conversion, may be successful? He who can make the wilderness to blossom, and the night to shine as the day, can make you new creatures in Christ Jesus. He can change the heart of stone into flesh, and form the lip of blasphemy to prayer." On the head of the angel of the covenant may the blessings of your perishing souls come, and may you be receivers of his best blessing, which he himself thus describes:-"Unto you first, God, having raised" up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities."*

Acts iii. 26.

DISCOURSE IX.

THE EFFECTS OF CHEERFULNESS AND OF DESPONDENCY.

PROVERBS XVii. 22. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine, but a broken spirit drieth up the bones.

*

ONE of the most common artifices of the enemies of religion to bring it into discredit, has been to associate gloominess and terror with its spirit and exercise. In support of their statements they have adduced detached portions of its laws, and painted, in the most hideous colours, the rites of superstition. They have exhibited the monk as the prey of despondency and terror, sustaining a mere existence by the bread and the water of affliction, and imposing on himself stripes more severe than those which tyrants have inflicted on their victims. By his side they have represented the fanatic, who, amidst his strong abhorrence of the dogmas of Popery, is actuated by the bitterness and austerity of its spirit, frowning on every innocent enjoyment, cherishing the gloomiest impressions of the character of the Deity, and of the present state and future destiny of the most part of human beings, afraid to entertain any cheering hope as to himself, and howling in dust and ashes.

Nothing can be more unjust than to hold up such misguided creatures as evidences of the requirements or of the tendency of religion. Let me lead you from the cell of the monk and the austerities of the