5

Scho. That is, when, resting from worldly business, and from our own works and studies, and as it were having, a certain holy vacation, we yield ourselves wholly to God's governance, that he may do his works in us; and when (as the Scripture termeth it) we crucify our flesh, we bridle the froward desires and motions of our heart, restraining our own nature, that we may obey the will of God. For so shall we most aptly reduce and bring the figure and image of eternal rest to the very thing and truth itself.

Mast. May we then cast away this care on the other days?

And the number of
Scripture it signi-

Scho. No; for when we have once begun, we must go forward to the end, throughout the whole race of our life. seven, forasmuch as in the t fieth perfection, putting us in remembrance that we ought with all our force and endeavour continually to labour and travail toward perfection: and yet therewithal it is shewed us, that so long as we live in this world, we are far from the perfection and full attaining of this spiritual rest, and that here is given us by a certain taste of that rest which we shall enjoy perfectly, fully, and most blessedly in the kingdom of God.

Mast.

Hitherto thou hast well rehearsed me the Laws of the First Table, wherein the true worshipping of God, which is the fountain

Now, therefore, I would have thee tell me what be the duties of our charity and love towards men, which duties do spring and are drawn out of the same fountain, and which are contained in the Second Table.

CHAPTER VI.

Of the Fifth Commandment.

SECTION I.

As the duties enjoined in the Four Commandments of the First Table may be summed up in the term Piety, so those which are contained in the six pre-. cepts of the Second Table may be compendiously expressed by Morality. The former have respect to. our obligations, as the creatures of Almighty God, and the subjects of his dominion;-the latter, as fellowcreatures one of another, and as responsible members of society; the former division teaches us to love God above all things, and the latter, which is "like unto it," to love our neighbour as ourselves, and to do to all men as we would they should do unto us; the former inculcating the reverence and worship required by God, the latter regulating our dispositions, and desires, and prescribing certain relative duties, to be performed, together with certain general laws, af-, fording security to the life, the honour, the property, and the good name, of our neighbour and of ourselves. Both Tables, it is, ever to be remembered, derive their authority and sanction from the same source, and

are therefore equally obligatory: but it may be said, that the Second is to be obeyed for the sake of the First; -we are to love our brother because we love our God,-we are to prove the sincerity of our love to God by our conduct towards our neighbour; in this respect only is the second division of the Commandments subordinate to the first.

§ 2. The Fifth Commandment, "Honour thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee," which is placed at the head of the moral precepts of the Law, refers in general to the relative duties, which are to be performed between superiors and inferiors, whether natural, civil, or ecclesiastical; and, by analogy, to those between equals. The terms, indeed, more immediately respect the behaviour of inferiors towards their superiors; but they imply the reciprocal duties of the latter, and, according to the scope and reason of the Commandment, must be considered as enforcing them with similar promises of reward, and threats of punishment.

§3. By the word "honour," is to be understood an injunction to pay such respect, both of mind and demeanour, to all mankind, as each in his respective station is entitled to demand ;-particularly to yield to parents, elders, and superiors of every kind, such submission, reverence, and consideration, as are due to their age, dignity, or qualifications. In the terms "father and mother," are included all superiors, and not merely those parents, who, under God, were the authors of our existence; although the divine command primarily and emphatically confirms their right

to honour and obedience—a right acknowledged and enforced by natural religion.

In the early ages of the world the fathers of families combined in themselves all the principal branches of superiority; in the patriarchal times they exercised the functions of instructors, legislators, and priests; and they were held, in consequence, in the highest veneration. Parents are here, therefore, put for all to whom such honour is to be given,-who, like parents, are reciprocally bound by the very nature of the relationship to behave with tenderness and affection towards all that are connected with them in inferior stations.

§ 4. The obligations expressly imposed on inferiors by this Commandment are those chiefly of children towards their parents,-of servants towards their masters, of subjects towards their rulers, and of the laity towards their spiritual teachers. Under some of these relations, and subject to the same class of duties, may be enumerated generally all young persons, and all of the lower ranks of society, who are commanded to "honour" their elders, and those of higher rank.

The duty of children towards their parents consists in being subject to them with love and reverence, and obedient to their will, while under the paternal roof, in all things that oppose not the will of God;-in receiving their correction and advice without murmuring or resistance ;-in affectionately desiring and endeavouring to contribute to their honour and comfort, to consult their wishes and encrease their happiness, when removed from their controul ;—in obtaining their consent to marry ;-in praying for their