Reverence to age, and especially where it is found in the person of those
who by the will of God were the authors of their being, is insisted upon in
the Jewish covenant--not indeed less required now; but as the Jews were
called from among the heathen nations of the earth to be the peculiar
people of God, they were to show such evidences of this law in their
hearts, by their conduct, that other nations might look on and say, "Ye are
the children of the Lord your God."

It was after an act of a child dishonoring an aged father, that the
prophecy entailing slavery as a curse on a portion of the human race was
uttered. Nor could it have been from any feeling of resentment or revenge
that the curse was made known by the lips of a servant of God; for this
servant of God was a parent, and with what sorrow would any parent, yea,
the worst of parents, utter a malediction which insured such punishment and
misery on a portion of his posterity! Even the blessing which was promised
to his other children could not have consoled him for the sad necessity. He
might not resist the Spirit of God: though with perfect submission he
obeyed its dictates, yet with what regret! The heart of any Christian
parent will answer this appeal!

We may well imagine some of the reasons for the will of God in thus
punishing Ham and his descendants. Prior to the unfilial act which is
recorded, it is not to be supposed he had been a righteous man. Had he been
one after God's own heart, he would not have been guilty of such a sin.
What must that child be, who would openly dishonor and expose an erring
parent, borne down with the weight of years, and honored by God as Noah had
been! The very act of disrespect to Noah, the chosen of God, implies wilful
contempt of God himself. Ham was not a young man either: he had not the
excuse of the impetuosity of youth, nor its thoughtlessness--he was himself
an old man; and there is every reason to believe he had led a life at