And the first thing I have to say is, that the solicitude they feel for their children may be excessive.  That it should be deep must be admitted, and it should continue as long as the danger lasts.  It should even increase as that danger increases up to a given point; but there is a point beyond which even parental solicitude should never be suffered to proceed.  It should not become excessive.  It should never be suffered to weaken our confidence in the divine goodness, nor in the wisdom of the divine dispensations.  It should never prompt the parent to desire that God should alter the established order of his providence, or change or modify the principles of his moral government.  It would not be right for me to wish my children saved at all adventures.  That anxiety which prompts to such a desire is both excessive and selfish.  It can never be justified, nor can God ever favorably regard it.

My second remark is, that a deep solicitude of the parent for the spiritual good of his children is most desirable.  I am aware that it is more or less painful, and in itself is neither pleasant nor desirable.  But may it not, notwithstanding, be beneficial in its results, and even of incalculable importance?  Where no danger is apprehended, no care will be exercised.  Who knows not that the unsolicitous mariner is far more likely to suffer shipwreck than he who, apprehensive of rocks and reefs, exercises a wise precaution?  The parent who never suffers himself to be disturbed—­whose sleep is never interrupted while his children are abroad, exposed to temptation—­may for that very reason neglect them at the critical juncture, and the head-waters may become too impulsive; the tendencies to vice and crime too powerful to be resisted.  Oh! had the parent been a little more anxious—­had he looked after his children with a higher sense of his obligations, how immeasurably different, probably, had been the result!  The truth is, that where one parent feels too much in relation to his children, hundreds of parents are criminally indifferent.  In regard to such parents, it is our duty to awaken their anxieties by every means in our power.  But what shall we say to those who may be thought already over-solicitous?  Such parents are seldom to be found.  If any such there be, let them moderate what may possibly be excessive; but be sure to bless God, who has given you a deep anxiety for the salvation of your loved ones.  Remember that it prompts you to greater watchfulness and care than you would otherwise exercise.  You pray more, you instruct them more, you guard them more.  And your children, therefore, are more likely to become the children of God.  And remember, further, that your Heavenly Father knows just what solicitudes you feel, their weight, their painfulness; and just so long as you feel them, and in consequence of them, act in the use of those legitimate means which God has instituted for the restraint and conversion of your children, you have reason to hope.  The very end and object of those Christian anxieties are just what you desire, and for which you are daily praying—­the conversion of your children; and if you pursue a proper course under them, you are probably more likely to see your hopes accomplished than if they did not exist.