that of loosing them from this world, and fixing their attention at least on that which is to come. But what has this to do with obedience?

Much; for you give them the highest object for obedience, so constraining where it is duly impressed, that the commands from you which they would be inclined to resist, are enforced upon their consciences by the scripture admonition of the Lord-" Children, obey your parents in the Lord;"—and that they are led to bend unto, and implicitly obey as right.

It appears to me, that you put the authority of the parent too much in the back ground.

I put it second to that of God; and whatever parent will desire to be the supreme authority to his child, will find, to his discomfort, that he will be beneath every rising passion of the child. If a parent makes self supreme, there is at once a rivalry between him and the child, each taking the same god, self; the contention is endless and hopeless; and then, when forced to try, as another method, and merely as secondary, the authority of God, the child looks upon it as a scheme, adopted for a present purpose, and as a sure indication that it has gained a point. Be, therefore, yourselves subject to the authority of God, refer your children constantly to the same, and you preserve an eternal, unchangeable principle and motive, established and settled in the Lord.

Here Mrs. Aston asked, How early would you begin this system with your children?

Before I reply to this inquiry, I would ask

one question

how early do you begin to train your children for the station you expect them to fill in the world?

I can scarcely say, because we do not always, perhaps, make up our minds what they shall be, at the same period.

A thought has often been presented to my mind, by the evident delight a parent takes in observing the different traits of character in his child. A father, for instance, has, perhaps, a predilection for some particular profession for his boy; he has interest in some way which he hopes to realize: then, if his son is designed for the sea, or the army, with what pleasure he notices his inclination to climb, calls him a sailor," a "jolly tar," &c.; how he promotes his inclinations by buying him toys suited to inspire correspondent feelings; he gives him guns and cannons, a red coat; commends a military air; talks of marching, sailing, fighting. If for sedentary professions, how he urges his plodding over his book. If for trade, how he inculcates the necessity of all the rules of calculation and money-getting. Then see a mother: if her daughter is designed to move in a genteel sphere, how carefully she supplies her with one or two nurses or attendants; how attentive to her dress; how watchful for lady-like manners, for polished accent of speech; she desires she should be a rich, a great lady, and studies to adorn her with every accomplishment, repressing all inclinations derogatory to her fancied dig

nity; and labors to inculcate ideas suited to the station she expects her to fill. This is true, is it not?

O yes, quite true, certainly, proceeded from every mouth.

can answer

me.

If I ask how early this begins, you, perhaps, I believe it will be generally acknowledged to be from the cradle, and, I would add, before they are cradled, before they breathe the air of the world into which they are about to enter. I think it, though a pleasing sight, yet an affecting one, when I see a mother making her preparations for her expected offspring. With what extreme interest she prepares all its little habiliments; how she delights to ornament them by every execution of the needle; how she contemplates them; how she imagines them filled with the little body; pictures its head in the little cap, and its arms in the little sleeves; till she almost realizes its presence, and in the fondest feelings anticipates its life.

All this, you know, said Mrs. Bennet, is quite natural, and as it ought to be.

Quite natural; and so much as it ought to be, that the animals will not yield the superiority to you in this respect, God himself having endowed them with the same instinctive fondness for their progeny, and the same careful desire to provide for them. The dens of the beasts,-the nests of the birds, their labor and self-denial for their provision, all display the wonderful wisdom of God, and are a lively specimen of, perhaps, the

purest natural affection: but, let it be remembered, these fulfil the whole of their duty, they are creatures with nothing but natural life: for man's transgressions they are become subject to death, and in consequence perish; they have no other duty than to protect and bring up their young, until they are able to care for themselves. That this is the whole of their duty, is shown by the wisdom of God having ordained that thenceforward they are loosed from any sense of natural ties; the parent's care ceaseth, and the dependance of their offspring also ceaseth, knowing each other no longer in this connexion of nature. What do you mean to convey to us by this reference to the animal creation?

That however you may please yourself with the notion of superior love to your children by this expression and display of care, you cannot boast of more than what the inferior creatures evince; and if we put you in comparison, you fall greatly short, for they perform their whole duty; but if you go no further than this, you leave the principal part of your's undone.

What is that principal part?

I wish parents would reflect upon the nature of their offspring,-that their component parts are body, soul, and spirit,-that the body is mortal for sin, and that the soul is immortal from the breath of God, that the body, therefore, should be subject to the interests of the soul, for, by the deeds of the body, shall it be judged. Therefore, the first and principal part of your duty is,

to promote the safety of the soul, and to endeavor to make provision for that as the grand object and end of all your solicitude. The final wellbeing of the body is dependent on the well-being of the soul; and let parents who boast their love, remember how fatally they will fail to prove it, if they neglect this pre-eminent evidence of having taught them whom to fear, even Him who hath power to cast both body and soul into hell.

Mrs. Evans, who seemed exceedingly uneasy at this turn in the conversation, rather abruptly broke the thread, by saying, I think we have wandered from the subject, which, if I mistake not, was the obedience of children, and not the duty of parents.

My dear madam, it is with the distinct view of the original subject that I have thus diverged a little into the duty of parents, in order to show how intimately they are connected, and what a prepartion may be made by the parent towards the great object of the fifth commandment of God-and I believe we may learn much from considering one peculiarity in the commandment, which is, that whilst there is one commandment especially directed to children, there is not one specifically named as belonging to parents. We should, therefore, remember, that to each it is binding. The age has nothing to do with it, it belongs to all, of whatever age or station, to honor their father and mother: and the preceding commandments, directing our individual duty to God, if attended to by the seniors, will