Practical discourses...

Preface

The following Discourses were preached to the Young under the pastoral care of the Author ; and he has been induced to publish them by the hope, that their practical counsels thus remaining, may be useful long after the admonitions of the pulpit shall have been forgotten. He is far from pretending, that this little volume exhibits all the duties incumbent on persons in early life. It is his object to direct their attention to those which are of the greatest importance ; and to those which are peculiarly required by the manners and circumstances of the present age. He wishes to excite the young to the acceptance and imitation of the Saviour, to give them just views of human life, to prepare them for encountering its temptations, and for enduring its sorrows ; and to suggest such counsels and admonitions as may assist them in the government of their passions, and in the formation of devout and virtuous habits.

Though these Discourses are directed to the young, persons in more advanced periods of life may, it is hoped, read them with some profit. The

VUl PREFACE.

principles, habits, and dispositions, which are the ornaments and the guardians of youth, will be found the best support of the integrity of the man of business, and the sweetest solace of declining age.

He feels the highest respect for the works of those masters in Israel, who have devoted their talents to the improvement of the rising generation, and who have instructed and admonished them with so much wisdom and eloquence ; and it was his wish to select subjects different from those which they have illustrated with so much judgment and feeling. In the few instances in which his plan led him to topics which any of them have discussed, he has endeavoured to give to his illustrations all the variety in his power ; and while he is conscious of the inferiority of this performance, he hopes that it will be considered as adapted to be useful, and that it will be accepted as the offering of a heart eager for the religious and moral prosperity of the young, and affectionately solicitous for their eternal salvation. The indulgent reception with which his Sacramental Addresses and Meditations have been favoured, for which he feels the deepest gratitude, and the manner in which the publication of these Sermons has been solicited by some of the parents and friends of the young, have led him to form this expectation. It is his earnest prayer to God, that he may be pleased to accompany with his blessing, this humble attempt to promote the cause of practi-

PREFACE. IX

eal goodness ; and that he may pour down upon those for whose benefit it is intended, the grace and consolations of his good Spirit ; and if it is instrumental in rendering any more holy and more happy ? it will be to him a most gratifying result of his labour of love.

Falkirk, 1 April 1. 181 7. J

Contents

Page,

Serm. I. On the Religious and Moral Education of the

II. Ditto 21

Part First

This passage exhibits a very solemn scene to our view. Moses reminds the people of Israel of the interpositions of Providence in their favour, and repeats the religious and moral injunctions which he had formerly delivered to them, with all the majesty that was suited to the authority with which he was invested, and with all that tender solicitude which the idea of his speedy removal could not fail to excite in a heart so affectionate and zealous as his. Though he had suffered much from their stubbornness and folly, he loved them with the affection of a father ; and to leave them a united, obedient, and happy people, was the earnest wish of his heart. He did not, like many legislators, limit his arrangements to the removal of present evils, or the obtaining of present advantages ; but pointed out to the Israelites such a course of do*

A

SEItM. I.

mestic discipline, as was calculated to form a succession of wise, intrepid, and virtuous characters in their tribes* He was not permitted to go before them into the promised land ; but his admonitions and counsels, carefully preserved r among them, guided the movements of their armies, the worship of their temple, and the lessons of their dwellings. Succeeding generations gloried in the religion of Moses ; children were taught to consider him as the first of the great men of their nation ; and his precepts were their earliest lessons.

It is the duty of Christian parents to make known to their children, not only the religious and moral injunctions of Moses, but all those which have been communicated to us in succeeding revelations, and to direct their attention especially to the words of eternal life which God hath spoken to us by his Son, and to the authority and grace with which he calls them to sit down and learn at his feet. In discoursing on this subject, I shall shew what children should be taught ; the manner in which this duty should be performed ; and recommend it by some motives.

I. Let us consider in what the young should be instructed.

1. It is the duty of parents to teach them to form just sentiments of the Deity. Just views of the perfections and character ©f God are necessary to all acceptable worship ; they elevate and improve the intellectual and moral faculties, and excite in the heart many pleasing emotions. The attention of the young is very early engaged by the magnificence and beauty of the universe ; and there are so many traces of the divine power, wisdom, and goodness, in the visible creation, that you can find, in the greatest variety,

SERM. I.

EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG.

the means of directing their thoughts to the Creator of all. It is easy to shew them, that there are certain limits beyond which human power and skill cannot go, and that agency, far superior to any which man can put forth, must have been employed in spreading out the ocean, in forming the planets, and in establishing the hills. Point out to them the wisdom that is apparent in the variety of the creatures, in the succession of day and night, and in the vicissitudes of the seasons. Speak to them of the goodness which supplies the wants of every thing that lives, and in such a variety of ways ministers delight to the senses of man, and which, while it blesses angels and archangels, calls forth the songs of the birds and the infant's smile, and inspires and maintains parental tenderness and care. When the tempest is raging, tell them of Him whose way is in the whirlwind, and who gives his voice in the thunder ; and when you walk with them by the mouldering remains of ancient buildings, and among the memorials of the dead, where many a stone sunk into the earth, and the total erasement of many an inscription which once celebrated the character of the departed, declare how transient is the being and the fame of man, raise their thoughts to Him whose years can have no end and whose glory shall endure for ever. In the Scriptures, you will find displays of the divine perfections far more glorious and affecting than these and I trust that it will be your peculiar delight to shew them how the glory of God shines in the face of Jesus, and how divine wisdom, power, and love, appear with the brightest effulgence at the cross.

Children should be taught the universal presence of God, and his perfect knowledge of all their thoughts, words, and actions. This will preserve them from secret sins, maintain their virtuous firmness and resolu-

RELIGIOUS AND TtfORAL tion in scenes far removed from a parent's eye,, and excite them to the careful performance of duties which no human being can witness. They should be instructed also in the holiness of God ; that sin is the object of his utter abhorrence; that he marks with displeasure the workings of pride, anger, and impurity in children ; but that he notices, with complacency, every ■virtuous principle even in its feeblest bud. Let them be taught, that all elements, all creatures, and all events, are subject to his controul ; that the daily hoanage of devotion which he claims is the noblest privilege of their nature ; and that it should be the simple •and genuine expression of gratitude, reverence, and love. Such views of the Supreme Being will, by the working of his Spirit, form them to a piety rational and cheering. Let not the idle tales of ghosts and witches be mentioned in your dwelling, unless it be to expose their absurdity. It is high time that enlightened piety should drive these phantoms from the path of children, and suffer them not to go to places where the sober impressions which you have formed, may be effaced by stories which now flow only from the imbecility of age, or the credulity of superstition.

2. The young should be instructed in the statements of Scripture respecting the fall and the ruin of man. The narrative of this event forcibly shews, that relations should beware of attempting to persuade each other to do what God forbids, and that, whatever fair appearances temptation may assume, yielding to it must involve us in guilt and misery. The minds of the young must be carefully guarded against light ideas of man's first sin. They should be taught, that Adam and Eve, io eating the forbidden fruit, were guilty of the blackest ingratitude, shewed an impious discontent with the liberal provision God had made for their enjoyment,

SERM. 1.

EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG.

gave more credit to the devil than to their Maker, and cruelly destroyed the happiness of their posterity. Inform them, that Adam, being the representative of his descendants in the covenant of works, involved them in the guilt and ruin of his fall, and that the tendencies to evil, so early apparent in childhood, are to be ascribed to that corruption of nature which they derive from him: The murder of Abel by Cain his brother, proves the rapid progress of human depravity, and what a feeble barrier natural affection is before malignant passions.

The diseases and death of little children strikingly teach the imputation of Adam's sin to them. They suggest an argument for this doctrine, which impresses the hearts of the young, and can never be refuted by the most subtle disputer. Look at that little child, whose face, a few days ago, was so fair and blooming, and whose sprightly movements in its mother's arms indicated its health and vivacity ; now, it is distorted by convulsions, and loathsome by putrefying sores ; and, after a struggle, which cannot be seen without horror, it gives up the ghost. No more shall these eyes glisten at a parent's return ; or these arms be clasped around the neck of its earliest and kindest friend. No maternal care can recal freshness and bloom to that cheek. The mother's bosom cannot give warmth to the cold clay ; it must be placed in its coffin, and borne away to the grave. Many are the spots in the church-yard where parents stop, and where the rising tear tells that there lies the dust to which their soul cleaves. And is the infant's moan pleasing to the ear of mercy ? Does the Father of goodness delight to show in the infant's dust, how early he can bring to nought the work of his hands I No ! " Death passes upon all, because all have sinned/'

SERM. I.

But these are not the most dreadful consequences of the fall. Error and folly, impiety and vice of all descriptions, have overspread the earth. The crimes of which children read or hear, and the trespasses which they commit, must be set before them in their aggravations, that the sanctifying grace of God may be sought and valued. There are some who condemn giving children such gloomy views of human nature ; but it will keep them from trusting to their own hearts, and in the fair shew of others, and guide benevolent feeling to its noblest object. Shall peevishness and folly prompt all the tears of childhood, and shall none of them be devoted to godly sorrow ? It is a most interesting sight to the pious on earth, and to the angels in heaven, when children weep over the evil of their ways, and implore from the Spirit of all grace, for themselves, and for their companions, that first of blessings " a new heart."

3. The young must be instructed in the mission and character of the Redeemer, and in the regards which they owe to him. When no efforts of men or angels could expiate our guilt, or redeem us from destruction, God appointed his own Son to accomplish this wondrous work of mercy, and, in the fulness of time, sent him into the world to save the lost. Show them, how Jesus, in this office, was typified by the characters and incidents that affect them so much in Old Testament history. Direct their attention to the Saviour passing through the stages of infancy and childhood, that he might in all things be like unto his brethren, and that he might set them an example of the graces which are the best ornaments of early life. Nothing is so likely to subdue the love of vain show in the young, as the view of the babe in the manger ; or to awaken the desire to excel, as the contemplation of the child Jesus

SERM. It EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG,

" increasing in wisdom and in stature, and in favour with God and man." 1 By stating to them the subjection in which Christ lived to Joseph and Mary, you will make them ashamed of that presumption which induces them to attempt to be their own masters, and of the disobedienee which refuses to do what you require,

In tracing before them the public ministry of Jesus> mark, with peculiar care, every incident that has a direct reference to children. When infants were brought to him by their mothers, " he took them up in his arms, and laid his hands on them, and blessed them." 2 What an interesting sight for the young ! The mothers are delighted with his kindness ; the children are charmed with his look of sweet benignity; and all around are struck with the affectionate fervour of his prayers. From this scene we might have been certain, though he had given us no positive assurance of it, that the piety that brings little children to him will never be repelled with coldness and disdain, and that the infant that is raised to him will never be harshly thrust away. Direct their attention to the honours that were paid to our Lord by little children, who, by shouting " Hosan* nah to the Son of David I** expressed their wish for the prosperity of his cause, and called the young in after ages to seek the enlargement of his kingdom, and to shew forth the honour of his name. On a certain occasion, our Lord called a little child, and set him in the midst of the disciples. Little children were not afraid to come to Jesus, for with him there was neither repulsive sternness, nor haughty scorn. The most attracting affability was displayed in his looks and manner. And this was the lesson which he taught from the appearance of this child, " Except ye be converted,,

1 Luke ii. 52, 2 Mark x. 16.

SERM. I.

and become as little children, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of God." 3 In humility, and in freedom from all malice, the disciples of Christ must resemble children*

In teaching children, you may expatiate on the virtues of our Lord's life ; his earnest devotion, unwearied beneficence, and entire submission to the will of God ; his meekness amidst the most irritating treatment, and his contentment under every privation. Explain to them, that Jesus groaned in the garden, and died on the cross, because he bore our griefs, and had our sins imputed to him ; and that this was an act of generosity on his part that never was equalled, and that shall never be forgotten. Shew them, that his care of his mother while he was suffering, was intended to enforce the claims of parents to the kindest attentions of their children.

After our Lord's resurrection, he testified that his affection to children had undergone no change ; for he charged Peter to feed his lambs, and the sacrament of baptism was appointed, that their interest in the death of Christ might be recognised, and that they might be led to the blood of sprinkling. When this ordinance is administered, children ought neither to turn away from it with indifference, nor to gaze on it with idle curiosity, but should be employed in asking for themselves and for the children baptised the sanctiflcation of the Holy Ghost.

Nothing interests children more than the elevation of those who have been depressed by calumny and misfortune. They are charmed when they are told, that such persons display the same amiable manners which they manifested in humbler scenes; and they will listen to you

3 Matth* xviiL 3.

SERM. I. EDUCATION OF THE YOUNtx. §•

with wonder and delight, when you speak to them of the Lamb in the midst of the throne ; of the generous use which he makes of his high authority ; of his sympathy with the pious in all their sorrows ; of the delight with which he presents the offerings of early goodness to the Father ; and of his preparing mansions, where his genuine disciples shall dwell with him for ever. Exhibit to them also the blessings which are obtained by those who are united to Jesus, even the remission of their sins, however numerous and aggravated; peace with God, and all the privileges of divine friendship, support, and consolation, under the afflictions of life ; a death in peace and hope; and eternal salvation in th« world to come. These views of the Saviour's mission and character are well adapted to win the heart ; and love to Christ will preserve them from every criminal attachment, animate them to the duties of obedience, yield them the most exquisite enjoyment, and may cheer the gloom of age by the Redeemer's testimony to the kindness of their early days.

4. There are certain qualities which you ought to cut* tivate in the young, by setting before them their necessity and their importance.

Teach them reverence for things sacred. The name of God demands their fear. It is not in your power to keep them from hearing the language of profanity, for in every school there are children of Belial who curse and swear, and the oaths of the blasphemer will sometimes meet their ear as they pass along the streets ; but give them such views of the impiety and the danger of this practice as will make them abhor it, and shun the society of those noted for this habit. Teach them to venerate the word of God. Shew them how " he hath magnified it above all his name," by the bright impressions of a divine origin which he hath impressed on it,

SERM. I.

by the important purposes which he accomplishes by it, and by appointing it to be the rule of judgment when the quick and the dead shall be summoned to meet the Lord in the clouds. Never permit them to read the Bible or to speak of it with levity, and discourage all questions respecting its contents that spring from a vain and presumptuous curiosity. Let your own characters and theirs be this, that you " tremble at God's word." Children should be taught to respect the worship of God. Suffer them not to be absent from your family devotions without a real necessity ; and beware of performing these in that hurried, careless, or languid manner, which will induce them to think lightly of domestic worship. If in your dwellings it is often neglected, or performed without solemnity and interest ; when they are placed in houses of their own, they will feel no inducement to maintain it. The Sabbath is a day holy to the Lord, and honourable, and you ought to inculcate the propriety of a sedate behaviour, both in the church and at home. It is easy to shew them how unreasonable it is to complain that one day in the week should be kept sacred to the Lord, since he allows us six for our worldly pursuits ; and that the exercises of piety yield a pleasure at the time, and on reflection > which no gay indulgence, and no secular employment, can give.

Children should also be taught to venerate the wise and the good, and to consider the Christian virtues as constituting the noblest respectability. The saints may be depressed by poverty, and scorned by those whose respect is attracted only by the titles and the wealth of this world, but they are the excellent of the earth.

Inculcate the reverence which is due to the divine government of the world, and which will maintain faith and patience till calamitous times are past, and preserve

SERM, I.

EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG.

from that wantonness and insolence in prosperity by which the goodness of God is so often abused.

Mercy is another quality which you should labour to cultivate in the hearts of the young. They must be taught how necessary compassion and beneficence are from the evils under which multitudes groan, from the high place which they occupy in the character of our Lord, and from the happiness which the increase of them never fails to insure. Pleasure hath no sounds so sweet to the heart, as the blessings of those that were ready to perish ; nor is there any employment in which we more resemble our Lord, than in going about doing good.

To impress the lessons of mercy on the heart, some have wisely recommended it to parents, to make children their instruments in dealing their alms to the poor, and in giving instruction to the neglected. In walking with the young, many scenes of sorrow will present themselves before you, which you ought not to pass by without exciting their compassion. In fixing their eye on the orphan in rags, on the wretched hovel of aged poverty, on the forlorn state of families that have known better days, and on the last farewell of a dying parent, you will rouse the sensibility of the youthful bosom ; the sobs which their compassion prompts will make their hearts better ; and their anxiety for their relief may be the opening of a liberal and active charity.

The books which you put into the hands of your children, should be such as are adapted to cherish be* nevolence. The leading characters in the books which are often read by them, are seldom of this cast. Let not their minds dwell on the applauses and triumphs with which a conqueror is honoured, whatever be his cause, lest they be inspired with the love of false glory. One look at garments rolled in blood, at the last

S£RM. t.

agony ©f the mangled soldier, at the wretchedness which his fate spreads through his dwelling, would make a heart, not corrupted by the prejudices of the world, turn away with disgust from the most splendid achievements winch history records, and fix its delights on the scene that is blessed by gentleness and peace.

It has been stated by writers on this topic, that cruelty to the lower animals ought to be checked, in whatever form it appears in the young. In this practice, we may see the openings of the inhumanity that grinds the face of the poor, the tyranny that fills families with gloom and terror, and the ferocity that delights in war. On the other hand, in the mercy which children shew to these creatures, and in the care which they take of their bird, their dog, or their lamb, we see the earnest of a beneficence which will hereafter give happiness to objects more dignified.

Parents feel a high degree of pleasure, when their children are applauded for excelling in the accomplishments of a liberal education ; but it is as nothing when compared to their ecstacy, when the Judge of all shall acknowledge them as the friends of the unhappy, and as the possessors of his spirit of kindness and charity.

Sobriety is another quality whieh you ought to cultivate in the young. I mean not to intimate, that you should labour to repress the sprightliness of childhood and the vivacity of youth, or to recommend a mean, sordid, and gloomy temper. There are gaieties in which they should be indulged, and to debar them from these, is to make them detest religion, and count a father's house, where all is morose and cheerless, no better than a prison. Who are the persons, who have rushed to the most hideous excesses of folly and dissipation ? They are the young, who have escaped from the injudicious restraints of weak and narrow-minded

SERM. I. EDUCATION OF THE YOUN&. !S

parents, and who, from the manner in which the servi» ces of religion were exacted of them, were led to hate them as the penances of superstition. But while you allow them to rejoice in their youth, check all merriment that is unseasonable, unbecoming their characters, or excessive in degree. They must be taught to keep their appetites and passions under the controul of reason, and to shun every pleasure that may be dangerous to innocence* Instructions of this kind must be given with peculiar prudence and delicacy ; for a coarse and open disclosure of the evils of sensuality, is more likely to corrupt than to sanctify the hearts of the young.

Let parents take heed, that their speech and their conduct before the young be sober and decorous. If the roar of intemperance, or the jests of wantonness, are heard in your dwelling, they will produce impressions which all your labours will not efface. Think, ye parents, as you mark the opening talents of a son, and anticipate in him the accomplishments of the scholar, or the success of the man of business, what you would feel at seeing his mind enervated, and his prospects blasted by dissipation. Think, while the graces of your daughters charm you, what you would feel at seeing these lost in the infamy of vice ; and conjure them never for one moment to relax in virtuous caution, and never in a single instance to yield to the enticements of sinners. Teachers are required in scripture to exhort the young that they be sober-minded, and that their food and apparel, their language and manners, exhibit that temperance, propriety, and modesty, which indicate good sense as well as virtuous feeling.

Justice is another quality which must be cultivated in the young. Children often discover an impatient desire to possess whatever strikes their fancy ; but in this they ought not to be gratified. If they are indulged in this as

B

SERM. i.

to what belongs to their parents, they will think themselves entitled to the same liberty as to what is the property of others, and pilfer what is denied to them. There have been parents who, while labouring under hardships, have employed children to steal for their relief. To a virtuous mind, there is nothing so horrible in the most oppressive labour, or the most abject beggary, as in such a mode of supply. Did they think, when they urge them to such deeds, that they are thrusting them into a path which will lead them to an infamous death, and that the reproaches of the world, the curses of thenlast hour, and their upbraidings through eternity, will accuse them as their instigators to this crime, they would find it impossible to swallow a morsel thus procured, and would welcome any miser}'' that want could bring rather than such relief. Let children be taught, that the coarsest fare of honest industry is far sweeter than all the luxuries that can be obtained by fraud and violence ; that the comforts of the wealthy should be viewed, not with envy, but with gratitude ; that a covetous heart is never satisfied ; and that uprightness in the meanest station is always respected, while the prosperous villain is detested and cursed. And let your chearful discharge of the duties of your station, your grateful enjoyment of the blessings of your lot, though inferior to the portion of some around you, and your benevolent prayers for the permanence of the happiness of your neighbours, enforce all your lessons of justice. Few can leave to their children great possessions, or a splendid name ; but he who has maintained through life the character of an honest man, and who can charge his children, when he is dying, not to degrade his memory by the least act of injustice, appears invested with a dignity, which the treasures of the world and its proudest triumphs cannot impart.

SERM. I. EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG. 15

Children must also be taught to maintain a strict regard for truth. They are very apt to tell lies to conceal faults, or to gain an object on which their hearts are set. The severe corrections which they receive from parents or masters, sometimes drive them to this expedient to avoid their wrath. Lying, in children, often arises from vanity and envy, from a wish to aggrandize themselves, and to ^ depreciate the merits of others.