Page:Sermons on the Ten Commandments.djvu/92

 future welfare! and what constant and daily labors have they undergone to provide for your support—to supply you with food and clothing and education! And now, in their latter years, shall you not do all in your power, to make a return for their guardian care, by paying them every kind attention, by providing for their wants, if necessary, by supplying them with needful comforts, and smoothing their pathway down the vale of life. The child who is recklessly indifferent to, or thoughtlessly neglectful of, these plain duties to his parents, deserves to be branded with infamy, and cast out of society as an ingrate,—as one who is regardless of the first duties of a human being.

Observe the language used in the exposition of this Commandment, in the passage before adduced, namely, that "By honoring the father and mother, in the natural or literal sense, is meant to honor parents, to obey them, to be attentive to them, and to be grateful to them for the benefits they have bestowed." Let every child, then, take care that he thus keeps this Commandment,—first, by paying his parents due respect and obedience; secondly, by being attentive to them, that is, paying attention to their wishes, and seeing that their wants are supplied; and lastly, by striving to feel that gratitude to them, which reflection on what they have done for you will teach you to feel; and then evince your gratitude in every way in your power, by endeavoring to please them, to serve them, and to make them happy.

And here it is to be remarked, that parents them-