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ed: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father's sakes. For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief; even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy." We are much indebted to the Jews, who prepared the way for the coming, incarnation, and atoning death of Christ, and for spreading the gospel far and wide by the apostles, who were descendants of the Hebrews, the seed of Abraham. We have received unspeakable benefits from their being, for a while, cast away, and are promised still greater benefits from their predicted restoration. We ought sincerely to desire this great and glorious event; and to unite in our exertions with those, who are forming societies and using means to bring it to pass. The christian nations at the present day, seem to have a greater tenderness for the Turks than for the Jews, and are unwilling to disturb them, for the sake of delivering the Jews from their despotic and cruel hands. But this is probably a work, which they ought to do, and are destined to do. There is no ground to expect the restoration of the Jews, without the aid and assistance of the christian world. And if the Jews are to be restored before the commencement of the millenium, it is time for christians to be awake and alive to the great and arduous work they have to do, and to prepare themselves for it. And they

will not prepare themselves for it, until they attend to and believe the divine predictions concerning God's peculiar, chosen, and beloved people, who are groaning for deliverance from the cruelty and oppression of an ungrateful and unbelieving world.

Finally, this subject teaches us the indispensable obligation, we are under to believe, and love, and obey the sacred oracles, which the Jews so long preserved, and at length conveyed to us gentiles, who were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. The apostle asks, "What advantage hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?" He replies, "Much every way: chiefly because that unto them, were committed the oracles of God." These we have more fully and completely in our hands, than the Jews ever had. By these we are highly favored above the Jews, who have only the Old Testament in their hands; and above all the pagan world, who are totally destitute of divine revelation, and perishing for the lack of knowledge. Our obligations to embrace the gospel, are as great as the blessings which are promised to all who do embrace it. Those who disbelieve and reject the gospel, not only forfeit all the blessings it offers to their choice, but expose themselves to an aggravated condemnation for resisting the light and force of divine truth, which renders them far more guilty than the unenlightened heathens. So our Saviour said to them, who heard and rejected the gospel he preached, "Wo unto thee, Chorazin; wo unto thee, Bethsaida; for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in

Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you."

SERMON IV.

THE PARENTAL GOVERNMENT OF A FAMILY.

GENESIS XVIII. 19-I know him, that he will command his children, and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

Abraham was one of the excellent of the earth.--He believed in the being and perfections of the true God, and placed an unshaken confidence in him, while his father and friends and the world in general fell inte gross idolatry. His faith produced cordial obedience and submission to the will of God. For by faith, when he was called to go out into a place, which he should afterwards receive for an inheritance, he obeyed; and went out, not knowing whither he went. In return, God exercised corresponding love to him and confidence in him. He condescended to make a new and everlasting covenant with him, and engaged to be his God, and the God of his seed, from generation to generation. After he had formed this intimate and important connection with him, he considered and treated him, as his peculiar friend. For when he was about to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, he said, "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do ; seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will com

mand his children, and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him." God here expresses full confidence in Abraham, that he would exercise parental authority over his family with propriety and fidelity. This representation of Abraham, naturally leads us,

I. To consider who they are, that compose a family; II. To consider what is implied in exercising parental authority over a family; And,

III. To consider the importance of exercising parental authority over a family.

I. We are to consider who they are, that compose a family. Some families are smaller and some are larger than others. Families are usually composed of parents and their children, which are sometimes less and sometimes more numerous. But parents may have other children and youths committed to their care and instruction, and those equally belong to their family.--Besides their own and other children, they may have those, whom they employ in their service and who reside in their house; and these all belong to their family. They may also have some persons, whom they invite to reside with them gratuitously. These likewise belong to the family. In a word, all whom they permit to enter under their roof for pleasure, entertainment, protection, or relief, belong to their family, for the time being. Parents are heads of their families, whether larger or smaller, and whether they are composed of persons of difTheir ferent ages, characters, and conditions, or not. parental authority extends to every individual of their family. Abraham had a very numerous family, com

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