ifestation of the divine favor, in the way of prophecy, and in some cases, of prophecy involving at once the future fortunes of his posterity, and the progress of the divine economy relating to the Messiah. Indeed all the prophecies respecting him, from Adam to Moses, are of a domestic character, and were either given to parents, with some reference to posterity, or, as in the remarkable case of Jacob, uttered by a parent at the close of life, with reference to each of his children.

After all, it would not be doing justice to the subject before us, and the ages before the time of Moses, were I not to go out of this line altogether, and call an independent witness, as well as the most ancient to whom we can refer. He and his friends will show, that though the corruption of idolatry might have infected the progenitors of Abraham, the Gentile world, if I may so call it, even then exhibited, not only ample knowledge of the true God, but such a sense of parental obligation, as may serve for a pattern to any age. I refer to Job, an Idumean, the faithful witness, in his day, not only to the creation of the world by one supreme being-the government of the world by the power of God-the corruption of human nature the necessity of sacrifices to propitiate-the hope of the Messiah, and the certainty of a future resurrection, -but to the peculiar obligations of a parent. Yes, the contents of the Book of Job, the most ancient piece of authentic writing upon record, are strongly corroborative of this subject, as well as of the evils descending on those who neglect such obligations.

The long controversy which took place between that illustrious man and his three friends, is remarkable on many accounts. Although not sustained in its masculine vein of thought by any assistance which might have been derived, from reference to such stupendous proofs of divine judgment as the destruction of Sodom or of Egypt,

which had not yet taken place; nor to such important subsequent events as the Exodus or the giving of the law; and although the friends of Job erred in judgment, and were reproved; yet the whole controversy is strikingly illustrative of their knowledge of God and his ways, both in kind and degree. On the particular subject also to which I now advert, however they might disagree respecting the case before them, both Job and his friends were here, as well as in their general views, in perfect harmony. "I have seen the foolish taking root," said Eliphaz; "but suddenly I cursed his habitation. His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate; neither is there any to deliver them.” "How oft is the candle of the wicked put out?" replies Job, "and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger. They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away. God layeth up his iniquity (that is, the punishment of his iniquity), for his children; he rewardeth him, and he shall know it. His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty; for what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?"

Confessedly mysterious as were the sufferings of Job, with principles such as these we shall find his practice in perfect harmony. He had seven sons and three daughters, all grown up; and of the manner in which they had been trained and instructed by him, any one may judge, by what is recorded of him, when they arrived at the years of maturity. Each of these sons had a house and table of his own, to which, at least on their birth-day, these three sisters were usually invited. Here there was nothing wrong, but, on the contrary, a fine exhibition of family harmony and love. Now, the previous care and watchfulness, the established authority and piety of Job may be conjectured,

from his constant practice, and the as constant compliance of his children, after such family festivity. His authority he had not even now laid aside, nor had he, even when his children were thus far advanced in life, altogether let go the reins. At the same time, like a judicious parent, no anxiety was expressed by him, but upon one point—the possibility of his children having, in some way, offended God at such seasons.

And his sons were wont to hold a banquet-house,

Every one on his birth-day;

When they sent and invited their three sisters

To eat and drink together with them.

And it came to pass, as the days of such banquets returned,

That Job sent for and sanctified them;

And made ready in the morning, and offered burnt-offerings,

According to the number of them all:

For, said Job, peradventure my sons

May have sinned, nor blessed God in their hearts.-
Thus did Job on every such day.*

The high-toned parental feeling of this passage is manifest. Here we see a father who thought not for himself alone; who, when he could go no further than a peradventure, waited not, like Eli, till God should send a message to threaten him for the sins of his children. Aware that he might be visited as a parent, in his own person, or in theirs, for the sin which he did not redress, and for which he sought not forgiveness and reconciliation, he sent and sanctified his children, and offered up sacrifices" according to the number of them all." The deep sense of his responsibility to God for the conduct of his children; their obedience to an authority not even yet resigned; his tenderness of conscience; his unremitting care; and the wisdom of his conjecture, it is

* See Good's Translation of Job i. 4, 5, and the Notes, also Tyndal's Translation

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impossible not to admire. Surely this parent will be allowed to have acted under the influence of the precise principle laid down in the commandment which we now consider; yet did this eminent man live long before Moses, and was confessedly altogether out of the usual line of scripture characters.*

Thus it appears, not only that parental and filial duty had been the common law of man before the decalogue was given on Sinai, or a single Mosaic statute was in ▾ existence; not only that the connection between parent and child had been well understood from the beginning, and in various recorded instances finely exemplified, but that the very sanction of the second commandment had been applied by the Almighty, and its spirit imbibed by those who feared his name.

To return, however, from a digression perhaps too long, and account for the light which the decalogue now reflected on the domestic constitution: the truth is, that though parental and filial duty had been incumbent from the beginning, the insertion of the second as well as the fifth among the ten commandments, by the finger of God himself, at such a juncture, and in such terms, became necessary for important reasons. For our present purpose, one only is quite sufficient.

The law of all preceding ages, when every father of a family had been its priest, as well as its teacher, now demanded notice. It was about to undergo some change, though this was not until that moment when the dispensation began, which was more clearly to prefigure, and ultimately to introduce the Messiah. Parental and filial duty were therefore only made the law of parents and children formally, when the priestly office was about to be transferred and confined to one particular tribe. The

* See the case of Job again referred to, under Section Fifth.

ceremonies of divine service might, it seems, be thus transferred and even confined; not so universal and unalienable obligations. Parental moral obligations, with regard to the character and worship of God, remained entire, and though employed as a safeguard against idolatry, they were placed neither upon new nor upon higher ground.* "Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments."

Such then, by the peculiar style of this law, is the shield held by an Almighty hand over the most helpless and dependent of all created beings, from the moment of

* Precisely the same remark will apply to the fourth commandment. A great multiplicity of new external rites were about to be imposed. The Sabbath, ancient as the first week of time, required now to be guarded and sanctioned, lest the laborious and daily occupations of the Mosaic economy should invade the sanctity of that merciful and blessed day. "Amidst the complicated variety of new appointments," as though it had been said, "forget not the old, the unalterable, the invariably incumbent-Remember the Sabba:h-day, to keep it holy; for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath-day and (then of course) hallowed it." Yes, the reason for this commandment is at once the proof of its antiquity and previous obligation; the Sabbath being originally "made for man," and made for him while yet in the garden of Eden. Hence the division of time into weeks, so repeatedly referred to in Genesis; the matrimonial feast and mourning for the dead, equally of seven days' duration; hence, too, probably, when Noah sent forth the raven, he tarried seven days; and when the dove, he tarried three times in succession other seven. A like period the Almighty waited, after smiting the Nile and turning it into blood. If, as has been supposed with good reason,