Page:Moral Pieces in Prose and Verse.pdf/67

 neglect this part of their example. Our holy Saviour, when he reasoned with the Jewish doctors, and astonished them by his wisdom, obeyed the commands of his mother and was subject to his parents. It seems almost unnecessary to make use of arguments to enforce a duty which the light of nature teaches, and which even among savage nations is often scrupulously performed. And yet experience is daily proving, that it is not enough to know the path we are to tread, we need constantly to be reminded that we are in danger of deviating from it. Let us listen to the voice of Him who cannot err, proclaiming to us who are children, "Honour thy father and mother." Yet because the human heart is hard, and the ear dull, unless softened and roused by some sentiment of self interest, the same voice adds, with unspeakable condescension, "that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." Let this encouragement, held out to us by infinite goodness, stimulate the exertions of those who have begun well, and reform the practice of those still in error. Whenever we are disposed to stifle the warning voice of duty, or turn a deaf ear to that of Him who speaketh from above, let it be remembered that at a future day, this folly will be found to "bite as the serpent, and sting as the adder."