3. To honour Parents is [Greek or Hebrew], well-pleasing to the Lord, Col. 3.20. As it is joyful to the Parents, so it is pleasing to the Lord. Children, is it not your Desire to please God? In honouring and obeying your Parents, you please God as well as when you Repent and Believe. And that you may see how well it pleaseth God, he bestows a Reward upon it, That thy Days may be long in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Jacob would not let the Angel go till he had blessed him; nor God would not part with this Commandment till he had blessed it. Here is the Blessing, That thy Days may be long in the Land, &c. St. Paul calls this the First Commandment with Promise, Eph. 6.2. The Second Commandment hath a General Promise of Mercy. But this is the First Commandment that hath a Particular Promise made to it, That thy Days may be long in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Long Life is mentioned as a Blessing, Psal. 128.6. Thou shalt see thy Children's Children. It was a great Favour of God to Moses, that tho' he was an Hundred and Twenty Years old he needed no Spectacles, his Eye was not dim, nor his Natural Strength abated, Deut. 34.7. God threatened it as a Curse to Eli, That there should not be an Old Man in his Family, 1 Sam. 2.31. Since the Flood Life is much abbreviated and cut short: Some the Womb is their Tomb; others exchange their Cradle for their Grave; others die in the Flower of their Age; Death serves it's Warrant every Day upon one or other. Now when Death lies in Ambush continually for us, if God satisfy us with Long Life: Psal. 91.16. With long Life will I satisfy him: This is to be esteemed a Blessing. It is a Blessing that God gives a long time to repent, and a long time to do Service, and a long time to enjoy the Comfort of Relations; and who is this Blessing of Long Life entailed upon, but Obedient Children? Honour thy Father, that thy Days may be long. Nothing sooner shortens Life than Disobedience to Parents. Absalom was a disobedient Son, who sought to deprive his Father of his Life and Crown, and he did not live out half his Days. The Mule he rode upon, as being weary of such a Burden, ⟨p. 356⟩left him hanging in the Oak betwixt Heaven and Earth, as not fit to tread upon the one, or enter into the other. Obedience to Parents spins out thy Life, —That thy Days may be long.
3. To honour Parents is 〈non-Latin alphabet〉, well-pleasing to the Lord, Col. 3.20. As it is joyful to the Parents, so it is pleasing to the Lord. Children, is it not your Desire to please God? In honouring and obeying your Parents, you please God as well as when you Repent and Believe. And that you may see how well it pleaseth God, he bestows a Reward upon it, That thy Days may be long in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Iacob would not let the Angel go till he had blessed him; nor God would not part with this Commandment till he had blessed it. Here is the Blessing, That thy Days may be long in the Land, &c. St. Paul calls this the First Commandment with Promise, Eph. 6.2. The Second Commandment hath a General Promise of Mercy. But this is the First Commandment that hath a Particular Promise made to it, That thy Days may be long in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Long Life is mentioned as a Blessing, Psal. 128.6. Thou shalt see thy Childrens Children. It was a great Favour of God to Moses, that tho' he was an Hundred and Twenty Years old he needed no Spectacles, his Eye was not dim, nor his Natural Strength abated, Deut. 34.7. God threatned it as a Curse to Eli, That there should not be an Old Man in his Family, 1 Sam. 2.31. Since the Flood Life is much abbreviated and cut short: Some the Womb is their Tomb; others exchange their Cradle for their Grave; others die in the Flower of their Age; Death serves it's Warrant every Day upon one or other. Now when Death lies in Ambush continually for us, if God satisfie us with Long Life: Psal. 91.16. With long Life will I satisfie him: This is to be esteemed a Blessing. It is a Blessing that God gives a long time to repent, and a long time to do Service, and a long time to enjoy the Comfort of Relations; and who is this Blessing of Long Life entail'd upon, but Obedient Children? Honour thy Father, that thy Days may be long. Nothing sooner shortens Life than Disobedience to Parents. Absalom was a disobedient Son, who sought to deprive his Father of his Life and Crown, and he did not live out half his Days. The Mule he rode upon, as being weary of such a Burden, ⟨p. 356⟩left him hanging in the Oak betwixt Heaven and Earth, as not fit to tread upon the one, or enter into the other. Obedience to Parents spins out thy Life, —That thy Days may be long.
