shame ;" and in ver. 17, " Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul." Now, why is it that children are so often found bringing their parents to shame ? why are they so often the sources of their greatest sorrow? Why is it that they have to mourn over their disobedience, their unkindness? Why is it that in their old age they are not their solace and their stay? Is it not because they have been left to themselves, left to grow up in the natural evil that is in them? I do not mean to say that you do not often correct them in your own way; you often enough perhaps give them a box in the ear, and push and drive them about, and speak in a loud, threatening, angry tone. Probably they don't obey you after all. But all this is only a proof that you have not trained them in the way they should go; and, as I have said before, you cannot do it unless you walk in that way yourself. You are angry at your children's evil ways, while truly they are only a fruit of your own evil ways. All that violence would be quite unnecessary with your children, if they were trained for the Lord in holy obedience; they would learn to obey you for a word; and oh! what trouble and anger would you be spared! It is said, "Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying." But this is not to be done in a passion, you are not to

chasten him because you are angry; that will probably only make him worse, more undutiful and more disobedient. But you are to chasten him because it is your duty, because you have to train him for the Lord. You must not let him be disobedient one day, because you dont choose to take the trouble of correcting him, and the next day fly into a passion with him, because he is disobedient again, and happens to do something that vexes you. A child must be taught always to obey, or he will never obey. But remember that violence and passionate anger will never make an obedient child, they may make a deceitful one, for he will try to hide what he has done to escape your anger. Your correction must be given in quietness of spirit, in obedience to the Lord, and in love to your child.

And is not this a blessed promise," Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; he shall give delight unto thy soul. God means your children to be a blessing to you. Holy, obedient children are such a blessing as you have no idea of; thay would soothe your daily troubles and sorrows, instead of being themselves a trouble to you; and as your strength declines, and theirs increases, you would find them supplying your wants, cherishing you in your weakness; and in your old age, rejoicing to repay to you the tender care that had trained them from infancy

to manhood. Those who have been taught from childhood, as every child ought to be," to rise up before the hoary head, and to honour the face of the old man," will, above all, honour the hoary head of their parents, and will show respect as well as love to their old age. Will not such dutifulness be a rich reward for all your pains and labours with your children now? And yet your Lord allows you to look to a far higher one, when, in the day of His blessed return to this earth, He sits upon the throne of His glory, and those Christian parents who have faithfully trained their children for Him, shall be permitted to present them to Him, saying, “Behold me and the children whom thou hast given me."

Lev. xix. 32.

SECOND SERIES.

III.

"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God."

DEUTERONOMY Vi. 4-9.-" Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates."

THESE words were spoken by Moses to the children of Israel, God's ancient people. He calls upon them to love the Lord their God with all their heart, and with all their soul, and with all their might. Now, the Israelites had much cause to love God; He had just delivered them out of