FIFTH
COMMANDMENT
M.—Let us pass to the second table.
S.—It begins, “Honor thy father and thy mother.”
M.—What meaning do you give to the word “honor?”
S.—That children be, with modesty and humility, respectful and obedient to parents, serving them reverentially, helping them in necessity, and exerting their labor for them. For in these three branches is included the honor which is due to parents.
M.— Proceed.
S.—To the commandment the promise is added, “That thy days may be prolonged on the land which the Lord thy God will give thee.”
M.—What is the meaning?
S.—That, by the blessing of God, long life will be given to those who pay due honor to parents.
M.—Seeing this life is so full of troubles, why does God promise the long continuance of it as a blessing?
S.—How great soever the miseries to which it is liable, yet there is a blessing from God upon believers, when he nourishes and preserves them here, were it only for this one reason, that it is a proof of his paternal favor.
M.—Does it follow conversely, that he who is snatched away from the world quickly, and before mature age, is cursed of God?
S.—By no means. Nay, rather it sometimes happens that the more a man is loved by God the more quickly is he removed out of this life.
M.— But in so acting, how does he fulfil his promise?
S.—Whatever earthly good God promises we must receive under this condition, viz., in so far as is expedient for the good and salvation of our soul. For the arrangement would be very absurd if the care of the soul did not always take precedence.
M.—What of those who are contumacious to parents?
S.—They shall not only be punished at the last judgment, but here also God will take vengeance on their bodies, either by taking them hence in the middle of their days, or bringing them to an ignominious end, or in other manners.
M.—But does not the promise speak expressly of the land of Canaan?
S.—It does so in as far as regards the Israelites, but the term ought to have a wider and more extensive meaning to us. For seeing that the whole earth is the Lord’s, whatever be the region we inhabit he assigns it to us for a possession. (Ps, xxiv. 1; lxxxv. 5; cxv. 16.)
M.—Is there nothing more of the commandment remaining?
S.—Though father and mother only are expressed, we must understand all who are over us, as the reason is the same.
M.—What is the reason?
S.—That the Lord has raised them to a high degree of honor; for there is no authority whether of parents, or princes, or rulers of any description, no power, no honor, but by the decree of God, because it so pleases him to order the world.