4. Be thankful to your Teachers. They seek your welfare; you hear them pray for you, and they often do so when you are not with them. Their hearts' desire and prayer to God for you, is, that you may be saved; they would bring you to Jesus Christ, that you may be delivered from the wrath of God and endless misery, through his precious blood shed for you; that you may be saved from your sins, by repentance and faith in him; that you may be taught to pray to God through him; and that, by his grace, you may learn and obey his holy commandments, forsake all sin, do his will all the days of your life, and when you die, may inherit the kingdom of heaven. Whenever, therefore, they admonish, take heed to their words, fix your eyes upon them, and your thoughts on what they say; it is for your good that they take pains with you; they are seeking your salvation, and your endless happiness. How unkind will it be if you do not love them! How insensible must you be, if you do not profit by their instruction! How dreadful will your case be, if, in the day of judgment, they should be obliged to bear witness against you, that they taught you, and laboured to bring you to salvation, but you would not! On the contrary, how joyful will it be for both, if you are placed together at the right hand of our blessed Saviour, and hear him say, "Come, ye blessed children of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."
5. Honour and obey your parents. Remember, this is God's commandment. Consider this when you repeat the fifth commandment; grieve them not by impertinence and obstinacy; dare not to answer them with passion or disrespect; never speak evil of them, nor let others do so in your hearing; be always gentle, humble, and dutiful, in your manner; never frown, or be perverse, or idle, when they require you to work, but show that you are willing and industrious; be a comfort to them, attend on them in sickness, read your books to them, and tell them what your teachers say to you; and strive, as much as in you lies, to be the staff of their old age, like good Joseph in the Scripture. So God and they will bless you; and you will be like our blessed Saviour, who was subject to his parents in his childhood, and cared and provided for his aged mother even while he hung upon the cross.
6. Love your Brothers and Sisters. Be kind in your behaviour to each other, and show your love by actions as well as words. Do all in your power to make them happy; let brothers especially behave with gentleness to their sisters; they are by nature more weak and defenceless, and therefore brothers should treat them with peculiar tenderness. If your brothers or sisters displease you, do not speak angrily to them, but be patient, and forgive them, as you hope our blessed Saviour will forgive you. If they rail at you, rail not again; but pray for them; let them see that you love them still, and they will be ashamed of themselves, or, even if they are not, our Saviour will be pleased with you; for when he was reviled, he reviled not again. It is a sad thing when brothers and sisters quarrel, and dreadful when they strike each other; but a good and pleasant thing when brethren dwell together in unity and love.
"Birds in their little nests agree,
"And 'tis a shameful sight,
"When children of one family
"Fall out, and chide, and fight."
7. Reverence the Lord's day. It is appointed for the worship of God; and all its hours should be employed in his service. On this holy day you must give up your amusements, and have as little as possible to do with worldly things; on this day you are taught to read the word of God, and you go with your school-fellows to worship him in his house; there you are to join with the congregation in prayer and praise, and to hear the minister of God preach the gospel, which is to make men wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Let your behaviour be very serious when you are thus engaged; listen to every word which the minister speaks; he is the messenger of God Almighty, and speaks as if Christ Jesus besought you, by him, to be reconciled to God. Pray to God that his word may prove a blessing to you, and try to understand all you hear; good children will not only endeavour to recollect the text and part of the sermon, but will also repeat them to their parents and teachers. Those who are idle, careless, or sleepy, in the house of God, act as if there was no fear of God before their eyes.
8. Read daily in the Bible. It is the word of God himself; it points out the way of salvation by our Saviour Jesus Christ; if you love him, you will delight in reading about him in the Bible. God's word is given for a light unto your feet, and a lamp unto your path: you know the use of a lamp in a dark night; such is the Bible, a light to guide us in this dark world. Ignorance and wickedness are the darkness of the world: Jesus is the light, and the Bible is to instruct you in the knowledge and love of him. Obey its commands, avoid what it forbids, follow its directions; and when you read it, pray to God to give you understanding, and a heart to receive its truths, that by his grace and blessing you may profit by them.
9. Pray to God constantly. What a mercy it is that—