ung Samuel, for the service of His Temple;
Nor He refused the boon, but poured on him
The anointing of all gifts and graces meet
For his high office."

But alas! how many parents refuse thus to yield their sons unto God! They
will formally and outwardly dedicate their children to Him in holy baptism;
but afterwards obstruct their way to the ministry, yea, even discourage it
for reasons the most worldly and infidel. They will remind them of its
arduous duties and self-denials; they will remind them that it affords no
money speculations, that the salary of ministers is so small, no wealth can
be amassed by preaching, and besides, they will have to remove so far from
home. And thus by urging such frivolous objections, they beget in their
sons a prejudice against the ministry,--yea, a contempt for it. Ah, if
preaching were a money-making business; if it opened the door to luxury and
affluence and worldly ease, then I am sure every parent would show the
outward piety of dedicating his sons (and daughters too) to the ministry.
Here we see how natural affection, misdirected by the love of worldly gain,
neutralizes the promptings of faith. Had Abraham lived under the same
influence, he would not have obeyed the edict of God. It is because of the
dominant spirit of worldliness in the Christian home, that the laborers
upon the walls of Zion are inadequate to the great work to be done, that
they are insufficient for the great harvest of souls. And this will ever
continue so long as Christian parents refuse to make an offering of their
sons to God, and turn their homes into a den of thieves.

Such parental reservation of children for filthy lucre and the pleasures
of sin for a season, involves a guilt which no redeeming attribute can
mitigate. If God gave his only Son to suffer and die upon the accursed
tree, shall we, his professed followers, not give in turn our sons to Him,
to proclaim the glad news of a purchased and offered redemption? Think of
this, oh ye who profess to be the parents of a Christian home, and have
with the lip had your children dedicated to God in baptism! Think that the
gift of God has bought them with a price, and that as they belong to Him,
you rob God when you withhold them, and deal with them as your own
property, leaving out of view the great law of stewardship. Mistaken
parents! methinks you would give your children to all save to God; you
would devote them to any thing but religion. You fit them