8. Is the Sunday profaned only by servile wo and staying away from Divine Service?

No; it is likewise profaned by debauchery, inte perance, and extravagant games, sports, and amu ments, which make of the Lord's day a day of reve and public scandal.

9, What should we particularly consider in or to be deterred from profaning the Sunday? We should consider:

1. The temporal and eternal punishment with whi God threatens such as break the Sabbath.

"They grievously violated my Sabbaths; I said, theref that I would pour out my indignation upon them in the des and would consume them' (Ezech. xx. 13). Keep you my S bath; for it is holy unto you: he that shall profane it shall put to death' (Exod. xxxi. 14).

2. That it is an unjustifiable heedlessness not devote even so much as one day to the care of our mortal soul, after the body has been taken care during six days.

3. That the observance of the Sunday is a pub profession of our Christian Faith, and, consequent that by its profanation we bring disgrace on our 1 ligion, and give great scandal to our fellow-Christia

Zeal of the Jews in keeping holy the Sabbath day (2 Mac.

11).

Application. Always observe the Lord's day co scientiously, and never be induced to violate it, eith by thoughtlessness and excessive fondness for amu ments, or by the example of wicked or infidel peop 'God be merciful unto us; it is not profitable to us forsake the law' (1 Mac. ii. 21).

The Fourth Commandment of God.

'Honor thy Father and thy Mother.'

1. What is commanded by the Fourth Comman ment?

By the Fourth Commandment children are co

manded to show reverence, love, and obedience to their parents, and inferiors to their superiors.

2. Why must children reverence, love, and obey their parents ?

Because, next to God, their parents are their greatest benefactors, and supply His place in their regard.

3. How should children reverence their parents? They should venerate their parents as the representatives of God, and should therefore always show them respect in word and deed.

'Honor thy father in work and word, and all patience' (Ecclus. iii. 9).

4. How should children love their parents?

They should, 1. Be grateful to them, and wish them well from their heart; 2. They should make them happy by their good conduct; 3. They should assist them in their necessities, and take care of them in their old age; and 4. They should bear with their faults and weaknesses.

'With thy whole heart honor thy father, and forget not the groanings of thy mother. Remember that thou hadst not been born but through them, and make a return to them as they have done for thee' (Ecclus. vii. 28-30). Example of Jesus, who, when dying on the cross, still provided for His Mother.

5. How should children obey their parents?

1. They should do what their parents command, and not do what they forbid, provided they order nothing bad or unjust; and 2. They should willingly receive, and readily follow, their advice and admonitions.

'Children, obey your parents in all things; for this is well pleasing to the Lord' (Col. iii. 20). Example of Jesus, who, though God blessed for ever,' yet was subject to Mary and Joseph.

6. What have children to expect who faithfully ob serve the Fourth Commandment?

In this life, they may be sure of God's protec and blessing; and in the other, of eternal happin

'Honor thy father and thy mother, which is the first mandment with a promise; that it may be well with thee. thou mayest be long-lived upon earth' (Eph. vi. 2, 3). or thy father, that a blessing may come upon thee from and his blessing may remain in the latter end. The fat blessing establisheth the houses of the children, but the mot curse rooteth up the foundation' (Ecclus. iii. 9–11).—Exam Sem, Isaac, Ruth, Samuel, young Tobias.

7. When do children sin against the reverence owe to their parents?

They sin against the reverence they owe to t parents, 1. When in their heart they despise or di gard them; 2. When they speak ill of them; 3. W they are ashamed of them; and 4. When they t them harshly and insolently.

'The eye that mocketh at his father, and that despiseth labor of his mother in bearing him, let the ravens of the br pick it out, and the young eagles eat it' (Prov. xxx. 17).

8. When do children sin against the love they to their parents?

They sin against the love they owe to their pare 1. When they wish or do them evil; 2. When, their bad behavior, they give them trouble, and bi disgrace upon them, or otherwise grieve them, put them in a passion; 3. When they do not as them in their need or old age; 4. When they do bear with their failings; and 5. When they do pray for their parents, whether living or dead.

'He that striketh his father or mother shall be put to d He that curseth his father or mother shall die the death' (F xxi. 15, 17). 'Son, support the old age of thy father, grieve him not in his life; and if his understanding fail, patience with him, and despise him not when thou art in strength; for the relieving of the father shall not be forgo (Ecclus. iii. 14, 15).

9. When do children sin against the obedience to their parents?

They sin against the obedience due to their parents, 1. When they obey them badly, or not at all; 2. When they do not willingly listen to their admonitions; and 3. When they offer resistance to their corrections.

'If a man have a stubborn and unruly son, who will not hear the commandments of his father or mother, and being corrected, slighteth obedience, they shall take him, and bring him to the ancients of the city, and shall say to them: This our son is rebellious and stubborn, he slighteth hearing our admonitions, he giveth himself to revelling, and to debauchery and banquetings: the people of the city shall stone him, and he shall die; that you may take away the evil out of the midst of you, and all Israel hearing it may be afraid' (Deut. xxi. 18-21).

10. What have those children to expect who do not fulfil their duties towards their parents?

In this life they have to expect the curse of God, disgrace, and ignominy; and in the life to come, eternal damnation.

'Cursed be he that honoreth not his father and mother, and all the people shall say: Amen' (Deut. xxvii. 16). Remember thy father and thy mother, lest God forget thee, and thou wish that thou hadst not been born, and curse the day of thy nativity' (Ecclus. xxiii. 18, 19).-Examples: Cham, Absalom, the Sons of Heli the High-Priest.

11. What superiors, besides our parents, must we honor, love, and obey?

Our guardians, tutors, teachers, employers, masters and mistresses, and all our Spiritual and Temporal Superiors.

12. What are our duties towards our guardians, tutors, teachers, and employers?

We must consider them as the representatives and assistants of our parents; and, therefore, our duties towards them are in proportion to those which children owe to their parents.

13. What are the particular obligations of servants to their masters and mistresses?

They should, for the Lord's sake, show them respect, fidelity, love, and ready obedience (Tit. ii. 9, 10).

'Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not serving to the eye, as pleasing men, but in simplicity of heart, fearing God. Whatsoever you do, do it from the heart, as to the Lord, and not to men; knowing that you shall receive of the Lord the reward of inheritance' (Col. iii. 22-24). Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward' (1 Pet. ii. 18).

14. How do servants sin against their masters and mistresses?

1. By disobedience, obstinacy, moroseness, and illwill; 2. By laziness, by pilfering dainties, and by wasting and embezzling their goods; 3. By calumny, detraction, and tale-bearing; and, most of all, 4. By teaching evil to their children, by seducing them, by assisting them to do evil, or by conniving at it.

15. What are our duties towards our Spiritual Superiors?

We are bound, 1. To honor and love them as the representatives of God, and our Spiritual Fathers; 2. To submit to their ordinances; 3. To pray for them; and 4. To provide for their support in the manner established by law and custom.

6

'With all thy soul fear the Lord, and reverence his priests' (Ecclus. vii. 31). Obey your prelates, and be subject to them; for they watch as being to render an account of your souls, that they may do this with joy, and not with grief; for this is not expedient for you' (Hebr. xiii. 17). The Lord ordained that they who preach the Gospel should live by the Gospel' (1 Cor. ix. 14; comp. Luke x. 7, and 1 Tim. v. 17, 18).-Example of the Christians. when Peter was in prison (Acts xii.; comp. Gal. iv. 14, 15).

16. When do we sin against our Spiritual Superiors? 1. When, by word or deed, we violate the reverence due to them, or when, by speaking ill of them, we lower their character; 2. When we oppose them, and thereby may be the cause of schism and scandal; and 3. When, contrary to our duty, we refuse to contribute