your children's children. Listen then to the character described in the book of God, and the promise annexed to it; say, ye parents, what the life is to which it so powerfully calls you. "Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. His seed shall be mighty upon the earth. The generation of the upright shall be blessed;" and if this will not rouse you to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, look at the declaration that follows our text-" The wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just"-a declaration which you may verify by your own observation every day that you live. And this brings me to observe in the Fifth, and last place, that the inheritance a good man leaves to his children's children consists farther in the favour with which God has promised to regard the descendants of his servants. Perhaps it was to this chiefly that the author of our text referred; and you do not require to be told that on this point the Scriptures are very full and explicit. Look into the history of God's chosen people, and you will find, times without number, that the blessings received by them are expressly said to be conferred, not for their own sake, but for the sake of their fathers who had kept the covenant of God. For instance, when the king of Assyria was besieging Jerusalem, the Lord sent this message to Hezekiah, "I will defend this city for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake." And thus it is written-" The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee." We have no desire to push this doctrine to an unsafe extreme. We cannot penetrate into the counsels of God, or tell how he will accomplish the good purposes of his will, in this or that instance. But the fact of God's covenant promise to the children of his servants is beyond question, and the appeal thus made to parents has a double force. Ye are entreated to devote yourselves to God, and to live in his service, not only because of the glorious reward secured to you; but also because the promise is not only to you but to your children. Now, with one and all of us the day is at hand when we must leave this world, and all that are dear to us therein. And if, when the day of death was evidently approaching, any parent among you had a friend of vast power and boundless kindness, to whom he could then commit his children, with the assurance that he would take them up and provide for them; would not this afford you unspeakable comfort and consolation? And yet, alas! there are many wants that no earthly friends can supply. There are thousands of dangers that he cannot avert, and evils that he cannot cure. There is an eternity to provide for, and this his power cannot reach. And thus the deepest and most pressing source of anxiety in the parent's heart is left, even by this powerful and kind friend, absolutely untouched. The Lord Jehovah, however, has promised to be this friend to the children of his servants; for, when both father and mother forsake them, he will take them up; and there is no want that he cannot supply-no danger that he cannot avert-no evil that he cannot cure for time and for eternity he can equally provide; for in Christ all ful ness dwells, and out of this fulness they shall receive. O, my friends, what a glorious prospect is here! What unbounded consolation for the hour when consolation is most needed! What a powerful motive to walk before the Lord in newness of life! But if such be the prospects of the children of God's servants, and such his covenant promises to them, what shall we say of the prospects of the children of ungodly parents? How melancholy is their condition! What an awful inheritance is left to them, when the Lord says, I am a jealous God, visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me! They inherit no religious instruction-no pious example-no believing prayers-no sanctified substance-no covenant blessing. They have learned much, but it is only evil. They have had example, but it is one that would lead them down to the chambers of death. Instead of being taught by example and precept to pray, they have been taught to curse and to swear-to neglect, or it may be, to despise, the ordinances of God, and to profane his holy Sabbath. Instead of being led in the way everlasting, they have been led in the broad path that goes down to destruction, and that too by the father or the mother that gave them being-to whom God committed them, saying, as it were, take this child and nurse it up for me. My friends, I tremble at the thought of the very picture I am drawing; and yet it is one that stares us in the face at every corner. It is one that must meet your eye every day that you live. It is one which many of you must have mourned over with in describable bitterness; for, in the judgment, these children will rise up against their parents and upbraid them for the misery to which they have brought them, and thus enhance even the anguish and dismay of the pit of destruction. O think seriously of your condition and prospects, and the condition and prospects of the children that are so dear to you, all ungodly as you are; and then you will soon see that your duty is obvious, and that your path is clear. O seek, while the day of grace lasts that grace of God that bringeth salvation. Seek, by supplication and prayer, the appointed means that repentance that needeth not to be repented of. Forsake every false and wicked way, though the doing so may be like the plucking out a right eye, or cutting off a right hand. Cry earnestly and perseveringly, through him whom the Father heareth always, for pardoning mercy and sanctifying grace; and the God of mercy, who is still waiting to be gracious, will create you again in Christ Jesus to newness of life. The Spirit will descend to dwell richly in your heart; the slave of Satan will become the servant of God; the child of perdition will become an heir of glory; and, beyond all, your own interests in time and throughout eternity, those of your children will be promoted; and even on this side the grave ye will have the satisfaction of knowing that you leave an inheritance to your children's children. Thus I. Character.-II. Inheritance.-i. e., Instruction— Example-Prayers-Substance-Covenant Blessing. We now proceed, as we purposed in the third and last place, to offer a very brief admonition to parents and to children, founded on the subject we have been discussing. And first, our attention is directed to parents. We have not, you see, been at present discussing the whole of your parental duties. Our text has led us to take up only one branch of this extensive and important subject; and yet you have seen that your responsibility is great, and that your encouragement is unspeakable. But while God in his word says, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy;" yet for wise reasons his promises are limited to the children of those who are his servants. To secure the blessing that you and they need then, it is not enough that you go as God's people go, and sit as they sit. It is not enough, for yourselves, that you occasionally attend the house of prayer-that you, at stated times, seat yourselves at the table of communion-and that in the world you bear the Christian name. All this may, all this does in many instances, consist with the professor being in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity; and then, all this is worse than a solemn mockery; for God, with whom you have to do, cannot be mocked. Your own soul is in the utmost peril; and, through you, your children can inherit no covenant blessing; nay, quite the reverse will be found to be the case. We have reason to fear that the notion too generally prevails, that any parent, who is a mere professor of Christianity, who at times attends its ordinances, and is not grossly immoral, has a right to present his child to God in baptism, for instance, and to expect the covenant blessing. We speak advisedly-we would wish |