other ranks; it is not merely that honor and obedience which you owe to your king, as the principal rank of men ; but it is to love, to honor, and to succor them. You are to love all men, but you are to have double love for your parents; they are entitled to love as neighbors or fellowcreatures, but they are also entitled to further love as your parents. They stand in the manifold capacities of master, teacher, governor, and of parents also; therefore, the honor due unto them in reverence and submission is double. You are appointed to do good unto all men; but you are especially to succor your parents, in whatever way they require it, and according to the means within your power,

Have you any Gospel rules which confirm and establish this fifth commandment of the law?

Yes, Matt. xv. 4, and Mark vii. 10; in which

passages our Lord Jesus says, "God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and thy mother;" and in Matt. xix. 19, and Luke xviii. 20, "Honor thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."

Have you any more?

Yes, the apostle Paul, in Eph. vi. 2, writes, "Honor thy father and thy mother, which is the first commandment with promise ;" and Col. iii. 20, "Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord." Heb. xii. 9, "We had fathers of the flesh, which corrected us, and we gave them reverence." Turn also to Lev. xix. 3; " Ye shall fear every

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man his mother and his father;" and Prov. i. 8, My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother."

This fifth commandment is then fully confirmed to you throughout the Scriptures; and much more might now be said in further proof of it, but this is enough for the present.

Let me put a question to your consciences, which I desire you to attend to, and answer in your heart to God. Have you endeavored to fulfil this command in your duty to your parents? or have you been heedless of it, and behaved like those who will have nothing to do with the Lord? By bad conduct, living like children who trouble, despise, and hate their father and mother?

I paused some time, and then said, If your heart condemn you, God is greater than your heart, and knoweth all things! If your heart is moved with desire to honor them, seek the love of God, and then will you love, honor, and succour your father and mother! Look unto Jesus, who in the days of his flesh was subject unto his parents. See how He loved, honored, and succoured His mother, even when He hung on the cross, and secured her earthly comforts beyond that period, by consigning her to the care of His beloved apostle John, forming them into the bonds of son and mother! Can you repeat the passage?

John xix. 26, 27. "When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold

thy son ! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! and from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home."

I have now only this more to say at present. Remember it is the first commandment with promise, and that obedience to parents is well pleasing to the Lord. Therefore, children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is RIGHT; saying which, I looked at Mary, who smiled to have the lecture closed with her rule.

The morning was now spent, and we withdrew, leaving my two truants to such reflection as might be suggested by the occasion, setting them all at liberty to return home and be put to the proof whether they did love, honor, and succour their father and mother; and inviting my friend and his daughter to join us in the evening to converse with the gardener's old father, we severally went on our way.

CHAPTER IX.

ON my return home, I found my neighbors Mrs. Aston and Mrs. Bennet, both waiting my arrival, and with them their two daughters, Anna and Maria; they were in the midst of conversation with my sister, who had received them in my absence, and were much pleased at my appearance. Mrs. Aston immediately addressed

me without any of the usual introductory formalities, saying,

We are deep in the subject, my dear friend, which you have presented to us in so serious and interesting a manner, and I hope I have gained much instruction from what your sister also has said, that it is a first principle of education to direct our children to God.

May I take the liberty of correcting the form of your observation by changing the little indefinite article into the definite, and instead of saying a first principle, that you should say, the first principle. There is but one first principle, and on that our minds ought to be simply fixed. If we uprightly acknowledge but one, we shall then be guarded against the vain intrusion of any other in its place. When the mind of the parent wavers in the leading motive, or first principle, her counsels will be uncertain, and her child will not be established.

Thank you; I wish you would always take this liberty; for by this friendly promptness to seize the occasion, you may strengthen and instruct me exceedingly this remark will not be lost.

The young people requested permission to go together into the garden whilst our visitors remained, which being granted, we had the opportunity of canvassing the state of Anna and Maria.

Mrs. Aston, whose heart was full, said, now I will tell you how I have proceeded with Anna; for I have found there was no time to lose; her habits of selfishness and indolence were increas

ing to such an alarming height, that if not, by timely remedy, corrected, she will be a misery to herself and all connected with her. On our way from your house, we were both silent. My heart was filled with conviction and anxiety, and I think if ever I prayed to God for help for the future and pardon for the past, I did so during that time. How Anna was affected I do not know; it was natural she should be silent, seeing my mind occupied, and feeling, herself, perhaps, under a sense of something wrong. She complained of fatigue, and wished to retire to bed. I accompanied her to her room, and opened my mind fully to her on the subject, and as near as I can reccollect, I will relate our conversation.

My dear Anna, it will not be many days before you will, if it please God, be thirteen years of age, and my mind is filled with distress when I reflect on the number of years which have elapsed since the Lord's mercy gave you into my arms, without my having peformed my duty to God in attending to my duty to you, and teaching you your duty in the Lord. I begin, my dear, with condemning myself, that you may see I desire to be humbled before God, and that I take all the blame of your misconduct, which so constantly distresses me, on myself. It is a fit punishment, if, through mistake or ignorance, I have neglected to give you the right principle of obedience.

I don't know, mamma; but I think it is very hard if I am always to be thought wrong, when