otect society, an avenging God protests that He
would never leave unpunished whomsoever should render himself guilty of
the monstrous crime of perjury.

LXIX. From the moment when the work of creation was completed, the
Divine wisdom ordained that an intimate relation should subsist between
man and his Creator, and called that day holy and blessed on which so
merciful an institution was inaugurated and began to come into
operation. This relation, which, as we have already stated, forms the
basis of revealed religion, tended to emancipate man from the sphere of
materiality, and to render him conscious of his higher destination, and
capable of accomplishing it. It was, therefore, natural that the people
called upon to give the religious principle a durable consistency on
earth, should keep a perpetual commemoration of that day which
represented the bond subsisting between the Divinity and humanity; it
was proper that the day should not only and simply be remembered, but
that it should, also, have some feature exercising a predominating
influence over material life, by making this subordinate to the
spiritual requirements. The fourth word of the Decalogue prescribes,
then, that the Israelite should for ever remember the holy day of
sabbath, as a representative of religion, and should, during that day,
abstain, and cause all his dependants to abstain, from all manual labour
and earthly occupation, that might distract him from the contemplation
of heavenly subjects, which should exclusively occupy his mind on that
day.

LXX. Among all man's duties towards his fellow-men, those of children
towards their parents are assuredly the highest in degree, because
without them the bonds which hold society together would be destroyed.
These duties form the subject of the fifth commandment. To define their
character in a single trait, a profound wisdom has selected the word
_honour_, thereby pointing to a respect which arises, not from fear and
terror, but from gratitude, love and submission. Additional importance
is given to this precept by the consideration, that the revealed
religion could not have been preserved and made known to the latest
posterity but by the instrumentality of an uninterrupted tradition from
generation to generation; and the faith to be placed in such a tradition
depended, to a great extent, on the respect in which parents would be
held. The reward promised to him who observes this commandment, is in
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