the father beheld the pallid features of his long-absent son, he
raised his hands in the agony of his feelings, and fell fainting at
his feet. The mother burst into loud exclamations of grief, as she
clasped her son, guilty and wretched as he was, to her maternal
bosom. Oh, who can describe this scene! Who can conceive the anguish
which wrung the hearts of these afflicted parents! And it was their
own boy, whom they had loved and cherished, who had brought all this
wo upon them. I cannot describe to you the scene which ensued. Even
the very jailer could not bear it, and he wept aloud. At last he was
compelled to tear the parents away; and it was agonizing indeed to
leave their son in such a situation, soon to be led to an ignominious
death. They would gladly have staid and died with their guilty child.
But it was necessary that they should depart; and, the jailer having
closed the door and turned the massive bolt, they left the unhappy
criminal in his cell. Oh, what would he have given, again to be
innocent and free! The parents returned to their home, to weep by day
and by night, and to have the image of their guilty son disturbing
every moment of peace, and preventing the possibility of joy. The day
of execution soon arrived, and their son was led to the gallows, and
launched into eternity. And, crimsoned with guilt, he went to the
bar of God, there to answer for all the crimes of which he had been
guilty, and for all the woes he had caused.

You see, then, how great are your responsibilities as a child. You
have thought, perhaps, that you have no power over your parents, and
that you are not accountable for the sorrow which your conduct may
cause them. Think you that God will hold this child guiltless for all
the sorrow he caused his father and his mother? And think you God will
hold any child guiltless, who shall, by his misconduct, make his
parents unhappy? No. You must answer to God for every thing you do,