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withholding from them substantial advantages, in early intercourse with spiritual persons, places, and things, and substituting in the place thereof much that savours" of all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life," (1 John ii. 16,) what will come of all this parental sinfulness towards your children? Its necessary consequence will be to fan the flame of natural corruption and sin, and it will be always at variance with what Scripture bids you cultivate; "the hidden man of the heart is that which is not corruptible, a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." (1 Pet. iii. 4.) Surely "as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds" are "corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." (2 Cor. xi. 3.) Hitherto have you lived unmindful of the spiritual duties of a Christian parent, and a sad illustration of the divine truth, "Can a woman

forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea they may forget." (Isa. xlix. 15.) You have forgotten, and the heavy charge stands written against you, "Thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed. Is this a small matter that thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to pass through the fire?" (Ezek. xvi. 20, 21.) But before the condemning question shall be put to you at the bar of the last judgment, on the lost duties and privileges of a Christian mother, "With whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness ?" (1 Sam. xvii. 28.) to whose evil influence didst thou commit thy lambs in the wilderness of this sinful world? consider how short the time is for yourselves and for your children, to prepare for eternity. Learn to "redeem the time, because the days are evil." With your children go to

Christ, and with the unreserved offering of your hearts to him, present yourselves as objects of his compassionate love and mercy: Behold, Lord, we come, "I and the children whom thou hast given me."

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SERMON III.

THE WIFE.

EPH. v. 22-24.

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church; and he is the Saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

We have no relationship in human life so peculiarly honoured in the divine word, as that which subsists between husband and wife. It was the first in nature, and was designed to be the first in grace. In nature, as the oldest relationship, in grace as the most honourable, it receives

the strongest and tenderest illustration: for it typifies the mystical union and the mutual love which exist betwixt Christ and his church. What Christ avows of his church, and the church proclaims of Him, is the true and measured character of Christian conjugal love. "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine." (Sol. Song, vi. 3.) It is upon this exalted view of the duties and privileges of the marriage state, that the holy apostle grounds the precept in the text; and hence the Christian wife will form first, the principles of her character, and secondly, make manifest their daily influence.

Let us consider these two divisions of

our subject separately. The principle urged in Scripture for the submission and obedience of the wife is founded, not upon any arbitrary power vested in the husband, but in the appointment of God for the protection, the honour, and the happiness of the wife. It is true, indeed, that the woman's having been first in sin is noted in Scripture as the cause of her

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