Page:Power of affection.pdf/8

FILIAL AFFECTION.

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The piety of a child is ſweeter than the ⟨incenſe⟩ of Perſia offered to the ſun; yeā more delicious then odours wafted from a field of Arabian ſpices by the weſtern gales.

Be grateful then to thy father, for he gave thee life; and to thy mother, for ſhe ſuſtained thee.

They have watched for thy welfare, they have toiled for thy eaſe; do honour therefore to their age, and let not their grey hairs be treated with irreverence.

IT may truly be said, that if perſons are undutiful to their parents, they ſeldom prove good to any other relation.

The honour which children are required to give to their father and mother, includes in it love, reverence, obedience, and relief. It is uſual with Providence to retaliate men's diſobedience to their parents in kind: commonly our own children ſhall pay us home for it.

Where ſhall we find the perſon who hath received from any one benefits ſo great, or ſo many, as children from their parents? To them it is they owe their very exiſtence, and conſequently all the pleaſures and enjoyments of life.

No one will expect a return of kindneſs. however conſiderable, from him who can ſhow himſelf unmindful of what he oweth his parents.