Page:Prayer book, for families and private persons.pdf/23

Rh the fear of the Lord by their own example, and to let their light so shine before them, that they may be led to glorify God also, in whose hands is their breath, and whose are all their ways.

Dispose, O Lord, the hearts of all parents to receive and obey thy commands addressed in a peculiar manner to them. Teach them always to regard their children as immortal souls intrusted to their care, and for whose nurture and admonition in the fear of the Lord they are strictly answerable; and may they esteem it their greatest pleasure, and their highest honour, to be teaching their children thy sacred truths, when they sit with them in the house, and when they walk by the way, when they lie down, and when they rise up. Give them to observe, with hearts sensibly affected, the natural depravity too apparent in every one of their offspring, and to be solicitous to bring them by early discipline and instruction to him who alone can deliver from it. Make them vigilant to check the first sallies of their vile affections, to furnish them with the means of knowing God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent, and to habituate them from their childhood to some profitable employment of their time, and their understanding, as they are able to bear it. Keep all parents from setting a bad example before the eyes of their children, and to teaching them an evil lesson against themselves. And may they dread nothing more than the insupportable doom of being condemned as accessaries to the damnation of their own children by their worldliness, sensuality, and neglect of their souls. And as thou knowest that no parents are of themselves sufficient to educate their children according to thy will, O! do thou fill them with wisdom and discretion. Guide them continually with thine Guide them continually with thine , between the extremes of shewing a false