Chap. I.]

THE DOMESTIC RELATIONS.

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he restrained them not.” # St. Paul says, moreover, that “abishop must be one that ruleth well his own house, having hischildren in subjection with all gravity ; for,” he subjoins, “if aman know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take careof the church of God.”f At the same time, parents are togovern their children equitably, wisely, kindly, and affectionate-ly. “ Fathers provoke not your children to wrath, but bringthem up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” j:

As children approach the age of discretion, this parental rightof control and discipline is softened down into a right of advisingand counselling them. The wisest of men held this right of pa-rental counsel and advice in the highest estimation, as is manifestfrom the frequency with which he adverts to it.§ Indeed, nosmall part of the Proverbs of Solomon is in the form of parentaladvice and counsel, given to the young on the chief dangers, whichbeset their way, and against which they need to be guarded, byreason of the strength of their passions and their want of expe-rience. The author is not satisfied with commending wisdom inthe abstract to the young, in the most persuasive and movingterms, — he does much more ; the blandishments of “ the strange

cation admitted of much variety of sentiment; that it was a rich field for nov-elty and ingenuity of thought; and that, with these recommendations, the im-portance of the object would insure attention to whatever was plausibly andingeniously written in that department. New systems of education, controver-sial treatises in support and refutation of these systems, and books for the in-struction of children, framed on ail their opposite principles, now issued fromthe press in endless succession. The infant man seemed to be regarded as asubject of perpetual experiment, on which every daring empiric was at libertyto try the effect of his alterative processes, his stimulant or his sedative medi-cines, as his fancy prompted. In some of these systems, the primary enginewith the parent or preceptor is deceit. A child is to be cheated into everything; he is to be wheedled into learning under the mask of play ; into obedi-ence, under the appearance of following his own inclination ; and, by a varietyof artful contrivances and well-laid plots, he is to be slily trepanned into virtueand good morals. According to an opposite theory, nature is to be the soleguide, and the province of the parent or tutor is, not to give impressions, butto guard against them,” &c. (Memoirs of the Life and Writings of LordKames, by Alexander Fraser Tytler (Lord Woodhouselee), Vol. II. pp. 286-292.) I might quote several pages more from this writer, equally interesting,if my limits permitted.

* 1 Samuel iii. 13. t 1 Timothy iii. 4, 5. t Eph. vi. 4 ; Col. iii. 21.

§ See Proverbs, passim.

f