posterity of Adam soon forgot God.  Gross wickedness soon covered the earth.  Vile and depraved, the descendants of Adam went forth, perpetrating every act of wickedness, every abomination that the heart of man could devise.  The world was soon filled with brutality, lust, and violence.  “And God looked down upon the earth and behold it was corrupt.”  “And God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh is come before me.”  “And behold I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh.”  Righteous Noah and his wife, and his son’s and his son’s wives were preserved in the ark; “and the winds blew, and the rains descended and the floods came;” “and all flesh died that moved upon earth;” and God said unto Noah, “go forth of the ark, thou and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy son’s wives with thee.”  And God said unto Noah, “be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.”

The sons of Noah were Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and Ham was the father of Canaan.  And Noah drank wine and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent; and Ham saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brethren, Shem and Japheth; and they took a garment and covered their father, without beholding his nakedness; “And Noah awoke from his wine,” and after being correctly informed as to the conduct of his sons while he was intoxicated, “He said, cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.”

We learn from the Sacred Record, that the curse of slavery fell on the posterity of Ham in consequence of his dishonoring his aged father.  Every Bible reader must have noted the severe punishment of children, under the Mosaic dispensation, for disobedience and disrespect to parents.  It appears to have been classed amongst the worst of crimes, and death was the penalty.  “Cursed be he,” (said Moses on Mount Ebal,) “that setteth light by his father or his mother.”  “Every one that curseth father or mother, shall die the death.”  The children of Israel were commanded to “stone a stubborn or rebellious son to death.”  “Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days maybe long in the land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee,” is one of the commands which was delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai.  Here is a command with a promise of long life annexed to it on condition of obedience, and it is but a fair inference, that those who disobey the command, will be cut off in the prime of life.  It appears that the punishment for disobedience to parents, is the same under the gospel dispensation; for St. Paul says; “Honor thy father and thy mother, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest live long upon the earth.”  The language of Moses and St. Paul suggests some solemn reflections, and I entreat my juvenile readers to observe well the language; it is the voice of God that speaks.  Beware, lest you are brought to an untimely end, and the curse of a sin-avenging God falls upon you.  I cannot dwell on this subject, but I entreat you, my young friends, to pause for a moment, and reflect on the awful, the calamitous consequences of disobeying, or otherwise dishonoring your parents.  I must pass on.