SERMON X.

BY REV. JOSEPH ALLEN, NORTHBOROUGH, MASS.

FAMILY RELIGION.

PROVERBS III. 33. THE CURSE OF THE LORD IS IN THE HOUSE OF THE WICKED; BUT HE BLESSETH THE HABITATION OF THE JUST.

These words appear to have reference to the domestic, rather than the individual condition; to those little communities which exist beneath the same roof, and meet around the same table, rather than to man in his individual capacity, or as he stands related to the larger communities of which he is a member. In other words, it is wicked families on which the curse of the Lord is inflicted, and the families of the just on which his blessing is pronounced. It is worthy of remark, that different terms are employed to express the dwelling place of the wicked, and that of the just. It is the house of the wicked, and the habitation of the just; and there is a foundation for this distinction in the original language of the Old Testament. By the former term we may understand any large and commodious dwelling, the abode of riches and plenty; while the latter is used to denote any temporary habitation, however mean and inconvenient.

The contrast between the former and the latter part of the sentence is thus rendering very striking. The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked, however spacious, commodious and adorned; but he blesseth the habitation of the just, though it be the lowliest cottage -the humblest dwelling of poverty.

The general idea conveyed by the text is this, that agreeably to the laws of the Supreme Moral Governor of the Universe, a family, however exalted in rank, whatever its external condition, is made wretched by the wickedness of its members; while in conformity to the same laws, a virtuous family, however low its rank, or humble its condition, must be a happy family.

Who will venture to controvert this position? Has not the experience of all ages evinced that such is the fact? Enquire into the causes of domestic unhappiness, and see if they may not, ordinarily at least, be resolved into the single one of moral delinquency or sin. Whence come domestic broils and contentions? Come they not hence, even from the indulgence of bad passions and wicked lusts; from angry words or unkind treatment? Let any one dispassionately consider what it is that destroys mutual confidence and affection between those who are sheltered beneath the same roof, and who are fed from the same table of the divine bounty; let any one consider what it is that plants thorns on the pillow of the husband or the wife, the parent or the child; what it is that converts the abode of industry and order, of peace and of domestic happiness into a scene of disorder and strife, of discontent, and of wretchedness;-and he cannot hesitate to refer it all or chiefly to sin, as its procuring

cause. There has been some misconduct in one or more of the members of that family, to which its unhappiness is ordinarily to be referred. Some neglect of duty, some impropriety of behavior, some want of mutual condescension, in a word, some defect of moral and religious principle, is the prolific source of the unhappiness that is felt. In vain will you attempt to account for it in any other way. You cannot refer it to poverty, or pain, to sickness or bereavement, to the pressure of cares, or to any of the common accidents of life. These are evils which enter alike the habitation of the just and the abode of the wicked. But these do not constitute domestic unhappiness; nor do they necessarily lead to it; nor are they inconsistent with a contented, thankful, cheerful mind, at peace with itself, and with its God. A religious family may be exercised with peculiar trials-may be called to pass through a succession of sorrowful scenes; but so far as the members of that family possess a true faith, joined with the peculiar virtues of the gospel, so far as they display the purity, the meekness, the gentleness of Christ, in the same degree will they enjoy domestic felicity.

We

No-it is not outward calamity that converts so many of the mansions of the rich and so many of the cottages of the poor into the abodes of discontent and misery. It is sin. This, this is its procuring cause. see it we feel it ;-the word of God asures us that it is so. The way of transgressors is hard. The wicked are like a troubled sea, which cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.' How much domestic unhappiness arises from faults of temper-from a complaining, diso

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bliging, peevish, passionate, and morose disposition! How much of it arises from studied neglect, from averted looks, from harsh tones of the voice, from a sullen manner, from passionate and unfeeling rebukes, from the want of mutual forbearance, and of a spirit of condescension and mutual forgiveness! How much painful anxiety, how much inconsolable grief, arise from the known or suspected dishonor of a once-loved companion; or from the undutiful conduct, the habits of extravagance, of idleness, of gross profligacy and dissoluteness, of a darling child! How much domestic unhappiness may be traced to the single vice of intemperance! How dreadful are the ravages of this hideous monster! How does it murder time! What havoc does it make of the paternal inheritance, or of the daily earnings! How does it expel order and neatness, comfort and peace, cheerfulness and contentment, from the domestic circle, and introduce idleness and waste, discontent and gloom, poverty and wretchedness in a thousand forms! How does it destroy all tenderness of heart, and quench the spirit of prayer, and repress every good desire, and cause the soul with all its high powers to grovel in the dust! What will it avail one that he is the possessor of an ample fortune, and lives in the most splendid mansion, and can cause his table to be spread with the luxuries of every clime, while he is bound down by the adamantine chains of this tyrant habit, without strength or inclination to assert his moral freedom? The same remarks will apply to other descriptions of vice. Nor is the evil confined to the offending member. Many suffer through the fault of one. The virtuous parent is made unhappy by