pastime who take pleasure in publishing their weaknesses and indiscretions that others also may laugh at them and despise them who when their Parents grow old and poor 〈◊〉 when themselves come to have more Wealth and Honour in the World than their Parents have do thenceforth turn their backs upon their poor Parents are ashamed to own them and will not any longer take notice of them How dreadful and terrible are the Curses and Judgments which God hath in store against such wretched Children Deut. 27.16 Cursed be he that setteth light by his Father or his Mother Prov. 30.17 The Eye that mocketh at his Father and despiseth to obey his Mother the Ravens of the vallies shall pick it out and the young Eagles shall eat it That is he who is a mocker and scorner of his Parents who despises and slights them shall die a shameful death and remain unburied and shall be exposed to the Birds and Beasts of prey to be eaten of them It does not follow from hence that all perverse wretched Children come to such a shameful and untimely end Only it shews what oft-times happeneth and is very usual to wit that such mockers and despisers of Parents are punished remarkably by the Justice of God in this World and are made Examples to all others who will open their Eyes to consider the hand of God against such ungodly Children As for Instances of the Divine Justice against Mockers of Parents all Ages and Countries are full of them C ham was made an Example of this Gen. 9.22,24,25 And C ham the Father of Canaan saw the nakedness of his Father and told his two brethren without And Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his younger son had done unto him And he said Cursed be Canaan a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren In which words the Canaan the Son of Cham is only mentioned yet Cham is not exempted from the Curse his punishment is hereby made so much the greater because he is not only pronounced accursed in his own person which is necessarily to be supposed he having committed the sin which caused the Curse but also in his Posterity which could not but increase mightily his grief and make his punishment lye more heavy upon him Ezekiel reckons this Sin of contemning and dishonouring Parents as one great cause of the dreadful Judgments which God inflicted upon the Jews Ch. 22.7 In ye have they set Light by Father and Mother 2. Duty to obey their Parents and to hearken to their Instructions Secondly Children are to obey their Parents to do what they bid them See this in the Example of Joseph when Jacob sent him to his Brethren Gen. 37.13,14 And Israel said unto Joseph Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem Come and I will send thee unto them And he said to him Here am I. And he said to him Go I pray thee see whether it be well with thy brethren and well with the flocks and bring me word again so he sent him out of the vale of Hebron and he came to Shechem See likewise the Example of David 1 Sam. 17.17 18,20 Jesse said unto David his Son take now for thy Brethren an Ephah of this parched Corn and these Ten Loaves and run to the Camp to thy Brethren And carry these Ten Cheeses unto the Captain of their Thousand and look how thy Brethren fare and take their pledge And David arose early in the Morning and left the Sheep with a Keeper and took and went as Jesse had Commanded him c. The Commands of Parents are either about the same things which God hath commanded or they are about things indifferent or about things unlawful First if they are about the same things which God hath commanded they are so much the more to be obeyed as being the will and pleasure both of their Father in Heaven and of their earthly Parents In this case the obligation to obedience is double Eph. 6.1 Children saith the Apostle Obey your Parents in the Lord for this is right that is it is agreeable to all Law to the Law of God of Nature and of Nations 'T is that which is due to the place of Parents 'T is their right to be obeyed by their Children Secondly If their Parents Commands are about things indifferent that is which are neither commanded nor forbidden by God Children are likewise to obey them God hath made it their Duty so to do Col. 3.20 Children obey your Parents in all things for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. * Agreeable to this was the Sense of wise Heathens See A. Gell. l. 2. c. 7. This Obedience is very acceptable to him he takes great pleasure and delight in it to see those obeyed and submitted to whom he hath appointed to be as it were in his own stead whom he hath cloathed with some beams of Divine Power whom with relation to their Children he hath made in some sense sacred persons whose Will ought to be a Law unto them tho' only in the Lord. For Thirdly if the thing commanded be plainly unlawful they are to refuse compliance therewith because they are bound to obey God rather than Man rather than Father or Mother rather than all the World In this case they ought to hearken to what our Saviour saith Luk. 14.26 If any Man come to me and hate not his Father and Mother c. he cannot be my Disciple In which Words Our Saviour is far from encouraging Children to hate or to disobey their Parents for we see how zealously he vindicates the Authority of Parents upon other occasions But his Design is to teach Children when the Will of God and the Will of their Parents stand in Competition that then they ought always to give the preference to the Divine Will and to chuse rather to incur the displeasure of their Earthly Parents than to offend and provoke their Heavenly Father They ought to consider their Obligations to God are much greater than to their Parents he is the Maker both of them and of their Parents They live by his Bounty the Earth they tread on is his the Air they breathe in the Heavens that cover them the Food they eat the Water they drink the Garments that Cloath them and all other things which they enjoy for their benefit and comfort in the World are the Lord's He is their great Master who appoints them their business in the World and assures them of a reward He also will reckon with them and either reward or punish them according to their Works and therefore his Commands are to be preferred to those of all others But even in this case Children are to express in their very denial and refusal of obedience all that Honour and Respect to their Parents that 's possible that they may see it is not stubbornness but the fear of God which makes them disobey By this means Parents may perhaps be convinced and made sensible of
Practices and with their rash and foolish Designs In a word they study a perfect Opposition to their Parents in all things they pull down whatever they built they root up whatever they planted they hate what they loved and love whatever they hated So unlike do they render themselves to their Parents in all their Manners and Customs that all who see them must needs call them a degenerate Seed Cursed Children unnatural Plants ready to be hewn down and cast into the Fire From what hath been said Children may see what their Duty is which they owe to their Parents which that they may perform there are several things which serve as powerful Motives and Arguments to excite them Motives to excite Children to do these things 1 Motive from the divine Commandment First It will tend mightily to move them to Honour their Father and Mother if they consider who requires this at their hands This Law proceedeth not from Men but from God It is a Law made by him who is their Maker and therefore by right of Creation may require their Obedience It is a Law made by their faithful preserver and rich provider and therefore by Virtue of his daily care over them and kindness to them may command them what he thinks good This is the will of their Father in Heaven of their Lord and King of him who will call them to an account and render to them according to their Works of him who is their greatest and best Friend if they do his Will and keep his Commandments but will be their most dreadful and terrible Enemy if they do not obey his Voice If therefore Children have any sense of God on their Souls If they consider his infinite greatness Power Wisdom Justice Truth Faithfulness Mercy and Kindness they cannot but endeavour to perform what he requires when once they know what is his holy will and pleasure Now as to what I speak of to wit the Duty of Children to Parents it is plain and clear not only from those Laws which are contained in Holy Scripture which were revealed from Heaven to Holy Men whom God made use of to be the publishers thereof to the World but likewise from the Laws of Nature those clear impressions which God hath made on the Minds of Men in all places and in all Ages whereby they are taught that Children ought to honour and obey their Parents to love them and to relieve them and provide for them if they stand in need of their help * See Simplicius upon Epictet Cap. 37. and Arrianus l. 2. c. 10. These have always been the calm and sober thoughts of all Men and when any were so wicked as to violate this sacred Law they were hated and abhorred by all others and in all well govern'd States were punished according to the demerits of their Crime and the degree of their disobedience and perverseness either immediately by the Parents or by publick Judges upon complaint made by Parents The Sense of all this ought to move Children to honour their Father and Mother that they may approve themselves to God who requires them to do so and that upon the severest Penalties if they shall dare to dishonour them and disobey them 2. Motive from the Divine Promise Secondly To encourage Children to perform their Duty to their Parents God hath been pleased to add a gracious promise That thy days may be long †Or that they i. e. Thy Parents may prolong thy days to wit by their Prayers and Blessing upon the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee He might only have commanded them to do this by Virtue of his absolute Power and Soveraign Authority which he has over all Men without proposing any Reward but such is his infinite Bounty and Goodness that he hath added a Promise to the Command thereby to make Childrens Duty the more easie As to the Promise it self it is not to be understood absolutely as if all good Children should live long promises of Temporal Blessings are made conditionally that is so far as God sees such things best and fittest for us So that as to this promise of long life God will bestow it if it be most for his own Glory and the good and Benefit of Children Oftentimes he does lengthen out the years of pious and dutiful Children whereas the years of wicked and undutiful Children are shortned by their prophane and wicked courses so that some of them are cut off immediately by the hand of God and others are put to death by the hand of Man As for those Children who live not to a great Age tho' they are very dutiful and obedient to their Parents God doth make up what is wanting in the number of their Years here with an everlasting Life and Glory in Heaven In which case there 's no cause to complain as if Cod did not fulfil his promise to them For as there is no reason for a Man to complain who is employed to work for so much a day if his Master see it fit to free him from his Work and pay him all his Wages before the third part of his time is out Even so if God think fit to set his Children at Liberty from the toil and labour of this life and to bestow upon them Glorious and Eternal Rewards while they are in the Morning or Noon as it were of their Age there is no ground of complaining upon his doing so but rather great matter of Praise and Thanksgiving unto him whose Mercy and Love is infinitely great But besides this Reward in the other World there are Temporal Blessings which God will bestow on those who keep this Commandment My Son saith Solomon Prov. 1.8,9 Hear the Instruction of thy Father and forsake not the Law of thy Mother For they shall be an Ornament of Grace unto thy Head and Chains about thy Neck That is if thou art obedient to the Commands of thy Parents this will make thee very amiable not only in the sight of God but even of Men who cannot but love and esteem such Children who carry themselves as they ought to do towards their Parents But further to encourage Children to honour their Parents there is a promise of Prosperity added to that of long life Deut. 5.16 That thy days may be prolonged and that it may go well with thee c. The same Promise is repeated Eph. 6.3 with this difference only that it is prefixed to the promise of long life that it may be well with thee and that thou mayest live long on the Earth When God does prolong the Years of his Children he often affords them more or less of Temporal Prosperity also as he sees it will turn to their good that so their long life may be the more sweet and comfortable to them How acceptable and pleasing to God was the Obedience of the Rechabites unto their Father tho' his Commands seemed very hard and severe to wit That they