The very relation in which you stand to them demands this. By love, we mean affection and surely this is due to a father and mother. LOVE is the only state of mind from which all the only other duties that you owe them, can arise. The following is a brief summary of filial duties. Weigh well the significance of the word PARENT think how much is employed in it towards its appropriate object, how many offices it contains in itself-guardian, ruler, teacher, guide, benefactor, provider-WHAT THEN MUST BE THE OBLIGATIONS OF A CHILD? Study then the relationship, look narrowly and seriously at the relationship existing between you.
You are literally parts of your parents, and cannot dwell for a moment upon your origin, without being struck, one would think, with the amazing and solemn weight of obligation that rests upon you towards a father and a mother.īut consider, there is not only a natural, but in reference to duty, an instituted relationship between you Jehovah himself has interposed, and uniting the language of revelation with the dictates of reason the force of authority, to the impulse of nature has called you to filial piety, not only as a matter of feeling, but of principle. The commonness, the universality of the tie, takes off the mind from contemplating its closeness, its tenderness, its sanctity. There is a natural relationship between you, inasmuch as they are the instruments of your very existence-a circumstance which of itself seems to invest them, as I have already said, with an almost absolute authority over you. If your parents owe to you all that I have enjoined upon them, how much do you owe to your parents? I have been your advocate with them, I now become theirs with you.Ĭonsider well the relationship you sustain to your parents. The obligations of family life are reciprocal. On the other hand, an eminently dutiful child is an object of delight, admiration and esteem, to all who have an opportunity of witnessing his conduct he goes through society surrounded by a glory purer than that of fame, and far more conducive to his own comfort he is a blessing to his parents, and is blessed himself.Ĭhildren, may all of you be such-and for that purpose, I ask your fixed attention to the statement of your duties, as set before you in this chapter. All nations, however sunk in barbarism or elevated by science, have admitted the strength and justice of parental claims and the unhappy youth who resists them, stands convicted, condemned and reprobated before the tribunal of the world. Perhaps there is no duty the obligations of which are more generally acknowledged than filial piety none which in the performance yields greater pleasure nor which, if neglected brings a more severe or righteous retribution. May your father and mother be glad may she who gave you birth rejoice!" Proverbs 23:24-25 "The father of a righteous man has great joy he who has a wise son delights in him. When you wake up in the morning, they will advise you." Proverbs 6:20-22 Wherever you walk, their counsel can lead you. "My son, obey your father's commands, and don't neglect your mother's teaching. "Honor your father and mother"-which is the first commandment with a promise-"that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
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