Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1907-07-04
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DY THE REV.. M%Ngs
1AMhtNDEHS0NWeF''r
Subject: The Claims of Authority.


irving Square Presbyterian Church,
Hamburg avenue and VERIFIED
street, on the above theme, the pas
tor, Rev. Ira Wemmell Henderson,
took as his text Elk. 20:12, Honor
Thy Father and Thy Mother He
laid:
The recognition by society and the
individual Of the authority OF par
entage is at the centre of all the
theory of social government. The
agreement of society that parents
may and should control the youth of
.heir offspring is the foundation upon
which our system of social authority
Is reared. The individual recogni-
lion of the ruling right of parents is
expressed in a larger sense in this
Republic in the submission OF the
minority to the decree of the MAORI
ty. The command speaks the truth
| when it enjoins honor to parents as
the sure means unto long life. Small
success would we enjoy did we not
pay some heed to the mandates OF
our elders. Little power would the
| law of city, State or Nation exert
| over our lives were the fundamental
! IDEAS of obedience eliminated from
| family life. The individual and that
| Nation which has a poor sense OF the
aeed for obedience is sure to meet an
early death. The man who won't
earn from the past will not live long
| to instruct his descendants. The
| State within whose boundaries the
| recognition of the rights of the law
has fallen into disrepute will soon
| totter, fall and be dashed to pieces.
The text calls to our minds three
things: First, that children should
honor those who are over them by
| birth. Secondly, that parents should
be worthy o. honor from their chill
| dren. Lastly, that, broadly speak
| ing, the principle of obedicnce-that
Is to say. respect for law--must be
manifested in all our civic life.
Honor thy father and thy moth
er," says the commandment. In
urging he need for honor it implies
| that obedience, respect and Difference
| be Yielded to those who are above us
| in birth.
The man who doesn't honor good
| father and mother is not much of a
nan. The frs law Of family life is
| shat We should give honor to those
| Uho have given us life and that need
J IF love which we enjoy at their
! hands. The man who works loving
| " and long for the welfare of his
! children, the woman who strives with
| motherly affection to make her home
| .he pleasant harbOr CT her children,
Doth are entitled to and should re-
,eiye the honor of their children.
Honor implies obedience. The
youth who obeys the wise mandates
| Of a good parent can never fail or
| fall. The parents who speak out of
the fund of true experience can
each any youth the way to the hap
piest life, and their words should be
! Jaw
Honor implies respect. 1t is not
| iignified to beittle the place and dig
nifty of good parent. The youth
who essays to speak with dogmatlc
assurance upon the full range OF
human problems pronounces him
| self a fool at the start. The disre-
Spectful youth who disdains wise
| counsel and claims to know 1t all
will ere long find out that his an
cestors can tell him at least one or
two things of which he is ignorant.
Honor implies Difference. A youth
I who is to be the true being that c
all should be must learn first to
| yield primacy in all departments in
| life to ripe years full of wisdom and
noble experience. The man who
pushes his way into places where re-
serve should, very properly, be
| shown will sooner or later find that
cheek doesn't nv checks, but rath-
| er rebuffs.
We must. in our youth. yield
honor, respect, obedience and defer
ence to those who lead us worthily
| In the home. He who would lead
gain honor must grant honor. The
man who wish the respect of other
men must first of all be respectful.
| A little yielding of the point or place
| to age does no man any harm. Def
ercnce is delightful either in young
or old.
1t isn't at all necessary for me to
point to our youth the wrecks upon
the shores of life who are monu-
ments to dishonorable actions in the
, home. The cutters and the jails are
all too full of men and women who
refused to honor, to obey, to respect
Or to listen.
On the other hand, the command
ment forces en- ethical duty on the
parent Many times men become
criminals because of parental mis-
management and lack of wise, sound
and pure leadership in the home.
Honor be to whom honor is due.
The man or the woman who demands
honor from a child must be honor
able-that is to say, worthy of honor.
Parents must be respectable before
they shall merit or gain their chill
dren's respect
Obedience is the due of that man who
doesn't contravene the moral law or
the laws of common sense-and the
due of him alone. Age deserves def
erence not on the basis of years so
much as on the basis of wisdom.
Parents are many times more re-
sponsible for the lack of honor that
children show them than are the
children themselves. Honor in many
minds begins and stops with ODE
dience. Many parents seem to think
that the subsection of the individual
ity of a child to their within and will
is the sum and total of obedience.
Obedience consists in becoming as
much like themselves as possible
some parents seem to think. Chill
dren cannot be held down in that
matter. Freedom must be allowed
for the exercise of individuality and
personal preference and bent. ODE
dience must be given and required
only when moral principle is at
stake or the best interests of child
make it necessary that parental au-
thority be enforced. But the unrea-
sonable exercise of undue authority
which many PEOPLE exhibit in their
home life is pitiful-and the more
so because the consequences are quite
sure. The whole of honor is not
bound up in obedience. Obedience