consequence of disobedience to him will be punishment to yourselves. * " Hearken," says Solomon, " unto thy Father that begat thee, and despise not thy Mother when she is old." And in another place he says, to show that evil would in some way or other overtake the unnatural child, † "The eye that mocketh at his Father, and despiseth to obey his Mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it." To honour Father and Mother $" is the first commandment with promise." If, therefore, you wish, not only to escape punishment, but to obtain reward, you must pay them that respect and veneration, which the Law of Nature requires of you, and which the command of God positively enjoins. This respect and veneration are shown by your observing towards them all those external marks of deference and attention, which their age, their experience, and their evident affection for you, so forcibly demand. : * Prov. xxiii. 22. + Prov. xxx. 17. ‡ Eph. vi. 2. In the first place, then, you are to honour your Parents, because commanded to do so by Almighty God. In the next place, you are to love them, because of the benefits which they have conferred upon you. Consider how many anxious hours they have passed on your account; with what unremitted care and attention they watched over your tender years; what fearful solicitude they felt, when disease threatened to cut short the thread of your existence; what pains and diligence they bestowed in informing your minds, and training you up in the way you should go; what labour they have undergone, and what sacrifices they have made, for your sakes and welfare; and how often, in the full emotion of the parental feeling, they have implored of Heaven to bless and protect you. Consider all this, and surely you will allow, that you can never sufficiently pay the vast debt you owe them. If they have done their duty by you, not merely fitting you for shining in this world, but also and principally for becoming through Christ inheritors of glory in the next, what sacrifices on your parts can be deemed a requital adequate to the blessings which they have bestowed upon you ? Believe me, the utmost returns of gratitude, that a child can make to good parents, leave him still considerably their debtor. Be anxious, therefore, to show that you honour and love your Parents, by cheerfully obeying all their lawful commands, by fearing to offend, and endeavouring to please them, by sacrificing your inclinations to their pleasure, by paying them those affectionate attentions so truly gratifying to the parental feeling, by making allowances for that little fretfulness and impatience of temper, which increasing years and infirmities are so apt to occasion, and by tending them with dutiful solicitude when they lie sick upon their bed, and especially when they are about to close their eyes for ever upon you and the world. Filial piety is always amiable. Every heart acknowledges its worth, and the respect and esteem of all upright men attend it. A good son will, in all probabi lity, make a good husband and father. The principle, which caused him to do his duty by his parents, will operate the like conduct towards his wife and children. Whether or not a good son will continue to the end of his days to fulfil the duties which his situation may impose upon him, is, no doubt, a matter of uncertainty; because he may yield to the temptations of sin, and so suffer evil to enter into his heart, and banish thence the right principles which he had imbibed. But we are fully justified, both by reason and experience, in presuming, that, as he has given us so fair a promise of future excellence, he will not disappoint the hopes we have formed of him, by departing from the course which he has so well begun. If you perform this incumbent duty, your pleasure and enjoyment will be great and lasting. Your Consciences will applaud you for having obeyed the command of God. Your own hearts will beat with a secret satisfaction in the hope that you have, to the utmost of your power, paid the debt of gratitude that was due. And when your parents are gone to their rest you will be comforted by the reflection, not only that you did not bring down their grey hairs with sorrow to the grave, but that you did every thing you could to gild the evening of their days, and render their last moments happy. Your next duty towards your neighbour is that, which enjoins you to honour and obey the King, and all that are put in authority under him. Obedience to Kings and lawful Authorities has been prescribed by all nations that have existed in the world. It is founded in the very nature of things, and in that necessity, which can never cease to be, while self-interest and selfpreservation operate in the human breast. To suppose that society can exist without rulers and laws of some kind or other, is to suppose an impossibility. Before this can take place, we must banish wickedness entirely out of the world, must be able to live totally independent of each other, must have no mutual interest to serve, no mutual wants to gratify, no mutual inclinations to indulge, and must restore the happy reign of Paradise, and |