A chip rest, are alternately at the root of our life. flies off every day and every night, and the stroke is continued till at length we are hewn down, and fall at the grave's mouth." In the performance of family worship, Philetus, you will experience a pleasure that will induce you to persevere in the midst of surrounding opposition: and it is this pleasure, Philetus, that will support and animate you under many of the trials which you must expect to meet in civil, in domestic, and religious life. It is this that will make the most pressing difficulties appear comparatively light; and if these difficulties be contrasted with the many spiritual blessings you experience, they will dwindle into nothing. In a word, the tranquillity of mind sometimes enjoyed in the practice of this relative and social duty cannot be explained; it would beggar the most elaborate description. The present world, remember, is but a passage to the next; and while travelling through it, be careful never to regard it as your home. "He that lives longest lives but a little while; every man, therefore, may be certain that he has no time to waste. The duties of life are commensurate to its duration, and every day brings its task, which if neglected is doubled on the morrow. But he that has already trifled away those months and years, in which he should have laboured, must remember that he has now only a part of that of which the whole is little; and that since the few moments remaining are to be considered as the last trust of heaven, not one is to be lost." Seeing, therefore, that the end of all things is at hand, let us not sleep, as do others, but endeavour henceforward to be more provident of time. The night is far spent, and the hour cometh when no man can work. Let us, therefore, use the world as not abusing it for every thing in it that can either grieve or delight us is passing away. Be anxious for nothing but the consolations which religion can certainly impart. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. The duties she enjoins, "if sincerely and regularly performed, will always be sufficient to exalt the meanest, and to exercise the highest understanding. That mind will never be vacant, which is frequently recalled by stated duties to meditations on eternal interests; nor can any hour be long, which is spent in augmenting desire for celestial happiness." Before I conclude, Philetus, I will transcribe for your perusal a few lines written on the present subject by a learned and judicious author. "Let me exhort you," says he, "to be careful and conscientious in family government and instruction. How inexcusable are those parents and masters, who suffer their children and servants to perish for lack of knowledge what unspeakable advantages do you enjoy, having all the force of natural affection, as well as natural authority, to give your instructions weight! How many have remembered, with pious gratitude, through a whole life, the benefit they have received from family instruction and example! I know I speak to many who are accountable to God for his mercy; how shall you answer it then, if you do not give the same advantage to your own families? And how shall they answer to God, think you, who have banished the worship of God from the families in which they found it? One would think the lifeless walls and furniture of your chambers might be awakening monitors. "There is the greatest mutual influence between family and personal religion. Personal religion is the foundation of all family and relative duties. It would be speaking to the deaf to persuade any to watch over the souls of others, who have no concern for their own. But wherever there is a deep impression of the importance of eternity for ourselves, this will naturally and necessarily set before us its importance with respect to all that are dear to us. On the other hand, for the same reason, family religion is one of the best and surest evidences of the reality and strength of personal religion. It is sometimes observed, that some very pious persons are extremely defective in this particular; and take little care of the instruction, and still less of the government of their children. If they are truly pious, it is a very great blemish upon their piety. However, for my own part I confess, I do very much suspect the sincerity of religion in those who are remarkably negligent in this particular, let them profess as much as they will. I know that pious persons, from the weakness of their own judgment, will be guilty of great imprudence in the manner of family instruction, and from an absolute incapacity, may not be able to preserve their authority; but I cannot easily reconcile with true piety, the absolute neglect of either the one or the other. "I must add, that I take family religion, and the careful discharge of relative duties, to be an excellent mean of the growth of religion in a man's own soul. How can any person bend his knees in prayer every 138 DOMESTIC HAPPINESS. day with his family, but it must be a powerful restraint upon him from the indulgence of any sin which is visible to them? Will such a person, think you, dare to indulge himself in anger, or choose to be seen by them, when he comes home staggering with drunkenness, unfit to perform any duty, or ready to sin still more by the manner of performance? When I figure to myself a master of a family, who had come home sotted like a beast, and half-supported to his house, rising in the morning, I am not able to conceive how he can bear the looks of those members of his family, who had been witnesses of his shame. But, besides being a restraint from gross crimes, I cannnot help saying that, speaking of the things of God with the concern of a parent, or the humanity of a master, must give a solemnity of spirit, and a sense of their moment, even greater than before. A man cannot speak to purpose without feeling what he says; and the new impression will certainly leave behind it a lasting effect. Let me, therefore, earnestly recommend to you the faithful discharge and careful management of family duties, as you regard the glory of God, the interest of the church, the advantage of your posterity, and your own final acceptance in the day of judgment. "I am, THE END. "Your, &c." LONDON; BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS. LIBRARY. ELIZABETH; or, the Exiles of Siberia. PAUL AND VIRGINIA. By Bernardin St. Pierre. RASSELAS, Prince of Abyssinia. By Dr. Johnson. GREGORY'S LEGACY TO HIS DAUGHTERS. CHAPONE'S LETTERS ON THE MIND. GOLDSMITH'S POEMS. WARWICK'S SPARE MINUTES. LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL. By Sir W. Scott. ROSAMUND GRAY, &c. By Charles Lamb. COLERIDGE'S ANCIENT MARINER. LEWIS'S TALES OF WONDER. MILTON'S PARADISE LOST, 2 vols. GUIDE TO DOMESTIC HAPPINESS. ***These elegant little volumes have each an engraved Frontispiece,-are beautifully printed in a clear and legible type, and elegantly bound in fancy embossed cloth, gilt edges, lettered on the side in gold. Price only 1s. 6d. each, or in rich watered silk, 28. Several popular Works, in continuation of the series, are in progress. UNIFORM WITH THE ABOVE, THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD. THOMSON'S SEASONS. 2s. each, cloth; 2s. 6d. silk. |