pronounced hideous and monstrous;-of all the objects from which the heart recoils with an instinctive shuddering and abhorrence, not one under heaven is more disgusting or more execrable than a son or a daughter ungrateful, unnatural and rebellious! It is an object on which heaven frowns; on which fiends only can look without horror !

Secondly, It is the duty of Children to render to their Parents due honour and respect, throughout the whole of their intercourse.

"Honour thy father and thy mother," is the express command of God. This honour is due in private and domestic intercourse. Never let it be forgotten by a child, even in the hours of most endearing familiarity, that his father and his mother occupy a rank, and sustain towards him a relation, of most decided and unrivalled superiority; so that every thought and feeling-even every thought and feeling of love; and every utterance - even every utterance of affection, should be tempered by filial reverence. Every parental opinion, on every subject of conversation, is entitled to respect, independently of its own merits; because it is the opinion of a father or of a mother; and every parental inclination, not opposed to the will of God, is entitled to respectful regard, because it is the inclination of a father or a mother.

This honour should be most affectionately and respectfully rendered, in the presence of others, as well as in domestic retirement. There are

many parents so high in the estimation of all around them, that the want of respect from their children, could only have the effect of disgracing the children themselves. But there are instances, in which the parents are not so highly favoured. Perhaps, by the allotments of divine providence, their children have the decided advantage in point of education, of property, and of station in society. This disparity becomes a test of obedience to the divine command-" Honour thy father and thy mother." Oh, how unseemly is it, as well as sinful, for a son to appear forgetful of the claims of his own parents, under circumstances which he should value most of all, for the opportunities they afford of doing justice to those claims! How differently acted Solomon, when invested with all his regal glory. His mother he beheld, on a public occasion, advancing towards the throne, with a view to present some request. "And the king rose up to

meet her, and bowed himself unto her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a seat to be set for the king's mother; and she sat on his right hand."

Thirdly, It is the duty of Children to render prompt and cheerful obedience to the commands of their Parents.

"Children, obey your parents in all things.” Such is the injunction of the inspired Apostle; and the only case of exception which he would have admitted, is that in which the command of a parent is opposed to the command of God. In early life, the obedience of a child should be implicit and immediate. He cannot be supposed to know, in every instance, the reason of a parent's requirement or prohibition: and, even as he advances in knowledge, he should not display hesitation or reluctance, on the ground of not discerning clearly the propriety of the command. If his compliance be dependent on his own views of expediency, or on the inclinations of his own mind, it amounts not to obedience which deserves the name. The act required may indeed be formed, but there is wanting the principle, without which it can neither be acceptable to parents nor acceptable in the sight of God. If obedience be slow, and sullen, and unwilling, it disgraces the child, no less than it distresses the parent. It is the cheerful promptitude of love, which renders obedience at once delightful to the parent, and delightful to the child.

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Fourthly, It is the duty of children to attach peculiar importance to parental advice and approbation.

"A wise son heareth his father's instruction" and counsel, on all that is important in the affairs

of life. A wise son, who has emerged from childhood into youth, or from youth into manhood, will be disposed to reason thus:- How much more I myself know now, than I did a few years ago. How many opinions I have seen reason to change; how many mistakes I have discovered in judgments I once formed; how many schemes of pleasure and amusement, in which I was eager to engage, begin to appear to me now in the same light in which they appeared, at the very time, to my father and my mother. Had I cheerfully and contentedly followed, in every instance, their advice, I should have displayed more wisdom, and afforded them more pleasure. Never will I again undervalue their opinion, or think it safe to take any important step in life, without the benefit of their counsel." Reason thus, and resolve thus, my dear young friends; and by the blessing of God, you will escape a thousand evils into which, by an opposite course, you may be in danger of falling, to your misery, if not to your ruin.

Fifthly, It is the duty of children to submit meekly and humbly to parental reproof.

The wisdom and the love which dictate instruction, cannot refrain, and ought not to refrain, from administering also reproof. In the estimation of the wise man, the latter is distinguishable from the former, only as a part from the whole.

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My son," said he, "keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother. Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life." Parental reproof, then, is intimately connected with parental advice; and that son forfeits all claim to the character of wisdom and of dutifulness, who is not disposed meekly to receive the admonition he requires. It is the characteristic of the scorner, that he "heareth not rebuke." To be reproved, even with gentleness, is in itself, indeed, unpleasing and unwelcome to the heart of pride. Reprehension offers violence to the spirit of lofty and aspiring independence and self-confidence, which in youth is too often indulged. But it is a salutary violence; and it ought to be offered, on the part of the parent, for the future advantage of the child. Resent it not, my young friends. Faithful admonition is one of the essential duties of friendship, even among equals in age and in station. "Let the righteous smite me," said the Psalmist; "it shall be a kindness; and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head." If this be the development of feelings