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and thy father's house. So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord, and worship thou him a.' The reasonableness of all this every individual that composes the church of Christ readily admits; and affection sweetly inclines them to that submission which duty and interest demand of them.

Ought not then the wife, remembering that she holds the same relation to her husband which the church stands in to Christ, to conduct herself towards him in a similar manner? Since he is her friend, her guardian, her head, her self; since he loves her with a tender, prevailing and constant affection; and is willing to endure any hardships and sufferings for her sake; ought she not in return to love him, to repose an entire confidence in him, to pay a respectful deference to his judgment and will in all things, and to submit herself unto him as unto the Lord? She ought. And to this sentiment the heart, as well as the hand, of every virtuous and pious wife will cheerfully subscribe.

To close the whole. It may be presumed from what has been said, indeed it would be an unkind reflection to admit a doubt of it, that all who have drank into the generous and noble spirit of the gospel, whatever may be the temper and demeanour of others, will readily fall in with the duties we have been recommending. In obedience to the mild and gentle authority of Jesus Christ their Saviour and King, as well as to the dictates of their own reason, and the feelings of their own breasts, every such husband in particular will so love his wife even as himself, and every such wife will affectionately reverence her husband.'

a Psal. xlv. 10, 11.

DISCOURSE V.

DUTIES OF PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN.

PROV. XXII. 6.—Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

THE serious attention of parents to the education of their children, is a matter of the greatest importance. The present and future happiness of individuals, the welfare of society in general, and the progress of virtue and religion in the world, do all under God very much depend upon it. This has ever been the opinion of wise and considerate men, and is the plain dictate of the bible. Yet, through various causes too numerous to be mentioned here, this business is wholly neglected by some, and very ill managed by most. Nor can it be enough lamented, that too of whom nevertheless we would in charity hope that they fear God, are sadly defective in this point. What we propose therefore is, to explain this duty, and enforce it with suitable arguments. To which purpose we have chosen the words just read.

many,

Solomon was a wise man as well as a great king. He had enjoyed the benefit of a pious education, and the people over whom he reigned reaped no small advantage from the attention paid to him in his early years. To the instructions of his father, it is probable, he owed much of that wisdom with which this book abounds. And with the same assiduity and tenderness he had been himself taught, he teaches others, particularly his children and the youth of the rising generation. To them some of the first chapters are more immediately directed. And, thus deeply impressed with an affectionate concern for their best interests, he admonishes all succeeding parents in our text, to copy after his example. Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

The original words are very expressive. Train up, instruct, catechize, or initiate a child-in the way he should go, or, in the

beginning of his way, at the mouth of it, as soon as he is capable of instruction: or according to his way, that is, according to his capacity: or rather, as some interpret the words, Instruct him in that course or manner of life which thou wouldst have him pursue. And when he is old, he will not depart from it, that is, impressions received in his tender years will remain; having been put in the way he should go, he will not recede or turn aside from it. The meaning is, he will not ordinarily depart from it: for this, as well as all proverbial expressions, is to be understood as admitting of exceptions. Some, no doubt, break over the mounds of education, violently rend every pious and virtuous instruction from their breast, and impetuously precipitate themselves into vice and ruin. But it is not so usually : the advantage of a good education is generally felt all through life to the latest period of it.-In discoursing of this subject we shall,

FIRST, Make some previous general observations respecting education :

SECONDLY, Point out the duties themselves which parents owe to their children: and,

THIRDLY, Enforce these duties with suitable arguments.

FIRST, The previous observations I have to make respect— the Right of parents to educate their children—the Ends of education—and the several Stages through which it extends to the final term of it.

I. As to the right of parents to educate their children.

It has often been observed with great truth, that among all the creatures that inhabit our world, none come into it in so helpless a state, and none require the assistance and protection of others for so long a term, as the human species. This is a humiliating consideration. But we may be sure the all-wise and good Creator would not permit it so to be, without providing the necessary means for their conservation and support. This he hath done, and in a way truly admirable. A certain instinct he has implanted in the breasts of parents towards their offspring, which effectually operates to the purpose of securing them all the assistance necessary to their helpless state. Instinct I call it, because it is not the effect of reasoning, but connatural to us, and scarce capable of being eradicated out of our

nature. It is what the Greeks call gyn, and for which we want a word in our language. This instinct prevails in the breast of the mother in a soft and tender manner, suited to the kind of duty required of her towards her children, in the first and early stage of life. In the father it operates in a different, but like effectual manner. It impels him to the exertion of all his powers, in order to provide a subsistence for his family; and to the best use of that superior sense and judgment he possesses, in order to prepare and qualify them for the stations of life they are to fill.

Now such an instinct being implanted in the breasts of parents-a passion for the welfare of their children which renders them equal to all the anxieties, cares, and labours that attend the painful business of bringing them up into life; there can be no doubt that the right of education lies in them. This is the clear plain voice of nature. To this we have the consent of all mankind a. And it is abundantly confirmed by the sentence of Scripture. Any measures taken, therefore, to deprive pa rents of this right, is a cruel violation of the law of nature. Indeed there is in the general little or no temptation to this evil: for what should induce those who have no immediate interest in children, to bring upon themselves the expence and burden of their education? Things have been, however, so circumstanced in some countries, where superstition and despotism have obtained, that parents, whose religion hath differed from that of the state, have been deprived of the invaluable right of educating their children in their own principles. The time was when bold efforts were used to this end in our country, and when the object was very nearly compassed. But the accession of the present family to the throne of these kingdoms, through the favour of Providence, defeated the attempt. To enter particularly into the reasoning on this subject would carry us too far: it shall suffice, therefore, here to observe, that if God has endued parents with an unconquerable affection for their children,

a The Romans had such a sense of the right of parents over their children, and such a persuasion that natural affection would not suffer them to abuse it, that they even entrusted them with the power of life and death. This Justinian calls, proprium Civium Romanorum. The Japanese now allow the same authority to parents.

if this affection extends in the breasts of some of them to their best interests, and if the religion which such parents profess, however really erroneous, is in their opinion true, to forbid them to instruct their children in their own religious principles, is absurd, iniquitous, and cruel to the last degree.

The right of parents to educate their children being thus founded in their competence to this important business, it may be of use to enquire a moment whence it is so many fail in the discharge of this great duty. The true reason is their want either of natural Affection; or of Piety, or of Prudence.

If we could supposé persons destitute of all Passion for their offspring, they would no doubt be incapable of bringing them up into life, for they would want the grand motive to stimulate them to exertions indispensably necessary in this important business. But of such monsters, it is to be hoped, there are few in our world. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb a? We see, however, the great use of cherishing in our breasts that affection towards our children which nature has implanted there. This will aid us in our duty, and make us superior to difficulties which would otherwise be insuperable.

The want of Piety is another remora in the way of that duty which the text requires of parents. Whatever natural affection men may possess, if they are themselves strangers to religion, they will take little pains to impress a sense of it upon the minds of their children. And hence it is that this, the most important part of education, is so much neglected. Would you then, parents, train up your children in the way they should go? walk in that way yourselves. Let it be your concern to fear God, and keep his commandments, and you will quickly be disposed by your own experience of the sweetness and utility of religion, to use your utmost endeavours, in a dependance upon the grace of God, to bring up your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

But there is another obstruction to the right discharge of this duty, which should be particularly noticed; and that is the Imprudence and false tenderness of too many otherwise virtuous and good parents. These suffer their parental affection to trans

a Isa. xlix. 15.

VOL. II.

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