278 MOTIVES TO FILIAL PIETY. being pressed in company to take something which his absent parents had forbidden him to touch, and who, upon being reminded that they were not there to witness him, replied, "Very true, but God and my conscience are here." Submission to Family Discipline. 606. It requires that if at any time we have behaved so as to render parental chastisement necessary, we should take it patiently, and not be infuriated by passion, or excited to resistance. It should be remembered that parents are commanded by God to correct the faults of their children, and that they are actuated by love in performing this self-denying and painful duty. It is the duty of offending children, ingenuously to confess their faults, and submit to whatever punishment the authority and wisdom of the parent may appoint. It is proof both of strength of mind and of good disposition of heart to say, "I have done wrong, and it is proper I should bear chastisement." In the case of older children, when reproof is necessary, they should receive it with submission, and not with indifference or sullen contempt, nor make any insolent replies. The conduct of some children after reproof, is a deeper wound on the heart of a parent, than that which preceded and deserved the reproof. Motives to the Performance of Filial Duties. 607. Perhaps there are few branches of moral obligation more frequently alluded to, or more variously enjoined in sacred scripture than that of filial piety. (1.) The lives of the Hebrew patriarchs from the beginning of the world, are so drawn up as to exhibit and recommend this virtue. (2.) It is commanded, as we have seen, in one of the precepts of the moral law. By the national Mosaic law, stubborn disobedience to parental authority was punished with death. (3.) The Book of Proverbs contains almost innumerable apothegms on this subject. (4.) The prophets frequently allude to it; and Jeremiah, in the history of the Rechabites, has preserved a very extraordinary instance of hereditary filial obedience for three hundred years when the instance was recorded: an account is also given of its acceptableness to God. MOTIVES TO FILIAL PIETY. 279 (5.) In the New Testament filial obedience is embodied in the example of Christ, of whom it is said, "Jesus went down and was subject to his parents." That wonderful personage, God manifest in the flesh, was subject, we have reason to believe, till, at the age of thirty, he entered upon his public ministry; and those parents, it should be remembered, were a poor, but pious couple, who earned their daily bread by the sweat of their brow. Upon the cross, amid his dying agonies, filial piety shone forth in commending his weeping mother to the care of a disciple. (6.) The apostles enforced the duty by various commendations. "Children obey your parents, for this is right," a thing not obligatory merely because it is commanded, but commanded because it is right; a duty so obvious even to reason that all nations, ancient and modern, civilized and savage, admit its obligation. It is also said to be "well pleasing unto the Lord." (7.) The comfort of parents is another motive. The earthly happiness of a father and a mother depends far more upon the conduct of their children than upon anything else. And now, farewell! "Tis hard to give thee up, WILLIS. (8.) The obligations of gratitude require filial piety. Children are ever contracting obligations from the first moment of their existence, for parental care and labor in helpless infancy and childhood, for education, and competence, and perhaps also, for religious culture. (9.) Interest supports the duty of filial obedience. An undutiful child cannot be a happy one-while to the dutiful child is given in the law the promise of long life, and the same promise is repeated by an apostle in the New Testament, which implies that, to a certain extent, the promise is still in force. The late Dr. Dwight remarks: "In conversing with the plain people of this country, distinguished for their good sense and careful observation of facts, I have found them, to a great extent, firmly persuaded of the verification of this promise in our own times. Their opinion is mine, and with their observation my own 280 PARENTAL DUTIES. has coincided." To these may be added the remarks of Professor Bush: "Even at the present day, it can scarcely be doubted that, as a general fact, those who are exemplary in the discharge of filial duties become the objects of a specially rewarding providence, in the longer enjoyment of life, and of those temporal blessings which make it desirable. On the other hand, what close observer of the retributive dealings of God can question, that in multitudes of cases the untimely deaths of the young have been the judicial consequences of disobedience to their parents! In how many instances has the confession been extorted from convicted felons, that the first step in their downward career was despising the commands of parents, and the next the breach of the holy Sabbath." (10.) It may be added, that an eminently dutiful child is an object of delight, admiration, and esteem, to all who have an opportunity of witnessing his conduct; he goes through society, surrounded by a glory purer than that of fame, and far more conducive to his own comfort. 608. They owe to each other ardent, mutual love; beside this, the younger are bound to entertain a kind deference to the elder children as their superiors in age, and generally in various attainments; while it is the duty of the elder to treat the younger members of the family with a mild and indulgent care for their improvement and happiness, presenting before them at all times an example proper and safe to be imitated, since the example of elder persons in a family is generally imitated by the younger. III. Duties of Parents to their Children. The duties of children to their parents draw along with them the duties of parents to their children. There is required a reciprocity of good offices. General View of Parental Duties. 609. Parents are bound to take care of their children in early life; to provide food and clothing for them; to give them an education which will prepare them both for this world and for the next; to watch over their morals, encourage them in that which is good, and restrain them from evil; to exercise authority, reasonably and mildly, but firmly; to endeavor to settle them in life; to admin PARENTAL DUTIES. 281 ister to them the counsels of experience; and, in a word, to consider them as a trust from God, which they ought manage with incessant vigilance. to A parent who neglects his duty to his offspring, ought not to be surprised if they fail in their duty to him, and has no right to complain either to God or man. As another incentive to parental fidelity, it may be stated that many of the evils and miseries of society would vanish before a right performance of parental duties. 610. (1.) Parents must have a correct view of the nature and design of the domestic constitution, and must keep it ever before their mind, that its great design is to form well the character of the children; to assist the child, as a mortal, to go with honor and comfort through this life, and as an immortal, to reach life everlasting. (2.) Parents should realize the fact, that on them it depends, in a great measure, what their children are to be— miserable or happy in themselves—a comfort, or a curse, to their connections; an ornament or a deformity to society, a fiend, or a seraph in eternity. (3.) Parents should earnestly seek after the possession of all possible qualifications for their office. These qualifications are the following: personal religion; the entire government of temper; a habit of self-control; a meekness not to be disturbed by the greatest provocation; a patience not to be wearied by long continued opposition; a habit of discrimination with regard to conduct and its motives, and also with regard to the dispositions of children, and the mode of treatment they require; a kindness of manner, rendering them agreeable to their children; prudence and good sense; firmness, in denying improper requests, or administering suitable correction; varied information and extensive knowledge, qualifying them to direct the studies, to answer the inquiries, to correct the mistakes, to assist the pursuits, and, in short, to superintend_the general instruction of their families; unvarying and inflexible consistency of excellence. (4.) Parents should make religion the chief desire and the highest object of pursuit, as a possession for their children. 282 PARENTAL DUTIES. Various Branches of Parental Duty. 611. (a.) Some relate more directly to the present life, and the formation of the character generally. 612. (1.) MAINTENANCE is, of course, a claim which every child justly possesses upon his parents, till he is of a sufficient age to be able to provide for himself. The wants of children make it necessary that some person maintain them and as no one has a right to burden others by his act, it follows that the parents are bound to undertake this charge themselves. Hence we learn the guilt of those who run away from their families, or (what is much the same), in consequence of idleness or drunkenness, throw them upon public charity; or who leave them destitute at death, when, by diligence and frugality, they might have laid up a provision for their support. (2.) Scholastic Instruction. 613. This is another duty that parents owe their children. No man, with all the advantages of education universally provided by the state, and by private liberality, should suffer his family to be, in this respect, behind the enlightened age in which they live. To grudge the money spent in this way, is a cruel and detestable niggardliness. A good education is a portion, the only one which some are able to give their children, and which, in many cases, has led to every other kind of wealth. 614. The judicious selection of a school is a matter of indescribable importance. Parents should be guided in their choice, not by a mere regard to intellectual or ornamental accomplishments, but wherever real piety is inculcated, a thirst for knowledge excited, and habits of application, reflection, sobriety of judgment, and good sense are formed, that is the school to be selected by a wise and Christian parent. 615. Education, properly understood, is not so much the communication of knowledge, as the formation of character. A youth may have his head stuffed full of Latin and Greek, of mathematics, and natural philosophy; a girl may draw, and dance, and play, and speak French, exquisitely, and yet be miserably educated, after |