a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who when they have chastised him will not hearken unto them, then shall his father and his mother lay hold of him and bring him to the elders of the city, and unto the gate of his place.  And they shall say unto the elders of the city, This, our son, is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice.  And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones that he die; so shall thou put away evil from among you, that all Israel shall hear and fear.”

Still more fearful is the practical commentary upon this solemn command, given in Ezekiel 22:7, when Jehovah, in enumerating the crying sins which demanded his vengeance on the people, and brought upon them the terrible calamities of long captivity says, “In thee have they set light by father and mother.”

But some one will say, You profess to be speaking to parents, and this command is given to children.  True, friend, but the duty required of children implies a corresponding duty on the part of parents.  Who shall teach children to reverence that father and mother in whose character there is nothing to call forth such a sentiment?  “Though children are not absolved from the obligation of this commandment by the misconduct of their parents, yet in the nature of things, it is impossible that they should yield the same hearty respect and veneration to the unworthy as to the worthy, nor does God require a child to pay an irrational honor to his parents.  If his parents are atheists, he cannot honor them as Christians.  If they are prayerless and profane, he cannot honor them as religious.  If they are worldly, avaricious, over-reaching, unscrupulous as to veracity and honest dealing, he cannot honor them as exemplary, upright, conscientious and spiritually-minded.”

If parents only say, like Eli, in feeble accents, “Nay, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear.  Why do ye such things?” they will not only have disobedient and irreverent children, but often, if not always, they will be made to understand that their sin is grievous in the sight of God, and he will say of them also, “I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth, because his sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not.”  “And therefore have I sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering forever.”

Unto parents God has committed the child, in utter helplessness, and weakness, and ignorance, an unformed being.  The power and the knowledge are theirs, and on their side is He, the Almighty and infinitely wise, with his spirit and his laws, and his promises.  If they are faithful,—­if from the first they realize their responsibility, and the advantages of their position, can the result be doubtful?  But they will not be faithful; imperfection is stamped on all earthly character, and they will fail in this