"And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thine house, and upon thy gates." Do we, Christians, enter into such words as these? Has the Word of G.o.d such a place in our hearts, in our homes, and in our habits? Do those who enter our houses, or come in contact with us in daily life, see that the Word of G.o.d is paramount with us? Do those with whom we do business see that we are governed by the precepts of holy Scripture? Do our servants and our children see that we live in the very atmosphere of Scripture, and that our whole character is formed and our conduct governed by it?
These are searching questions for our hearts, beloved Christian reader. Let us not put them away from us. We may rest a.s.sured there is no more correct indicator of our moral and spiritual condition than that afforded by our treatment of the Word of G.o.d. If we do not love it--love to study it--thirst after it--delight in it--long for the quiet hour in the which we can hang over its sacred page and drink in its most precious teaching--meditate upon it, in the closet, in the family, in the street; in short, if we do not breathe its holy atmosphere--if we could ever give utterance to such a sentiment as that given above, that "we cannot be always reading the Bible," then, verily, we have urgent need to look well to our spiritual state, for we are sadly out of health. The new nature loves the Word of G.o.d--earnestly desires it, as we read in 1 Peter ii.--"As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby."
This is the true idea. If the sincere milk of the Word be not sought after, diligently used and eagerly fed upon, we must be in a low, unhealthy, dangerous condition of soul. There may not be any thing outwardly wrong in our conduct, we may not be publicly dishonoring the Lord in our ways, but we are grieving His loving heart by our gross neglect of His Word, which is but another term for the neglect of Himself. It is the very height of folly to talk of loving Christ if we do not love and live upon His Word. It is a delusion to imagine that the new life can be in a healthy, prosperous condition where the Word of G.o.d is habitually neglected in the closet and the family.
We do not, of course, mean that no other book but the Bible should be read, or we should not pen these "Notes;" but nothing demands greater watchfulness than the matter of reading. All things are to be done in the name of Jesus, and to the glory of G.o.d, and this is amongst the "all things." We should read no book that we cannot read to the glory of G.o.d, and on which we cannot ask G.o.d"s blessing.
We feel that this entire subject demands the most serious consideration of all G.o.d"s people, and we trust that the Spirit of G.o.d may use our meditation on the chapter before us to stir up our hearts and consciences in reference to what is due to the Word of G.o.d, both in our hearts and in our houses.
No doubt, if it has its right place in the heart, it will have its right place also in the house; but if there be no acknowledgment of the Word of G.o.d in the bosom of the family, it is hard to believe that it has its right place in the heart. Heads of houses should ponder this matter seriously. We are most fully persuaded that there ought to be, in every Christian household, a daily acknowledgment of G.o.d and His Word. Some may perhaps look upon it as bondage, as legality, as religious routine, to have regular family worship. We would ask such objectors, Is it bondage for the family to a.s.semble at meals? Are the family reunions around the social board ever regarded as a wearisome duty--a piece of dull routine? Certainly not, if the family be a well-ordered and happy one. Why, then, should it be regarded as a burdensome thing for the head of a Christian household to gather his children and his servants around him and read a few verses of the precious Word of G.o.d, and breathe a few words of prayer before the throne of grace? We believe it to be a habit in perfect accordance with the teaching of both the Old and the New Testaments--a habit grateful to the heart of G.o.d--a holy, blessed, edifying habit.
What should we think of a professing Christian who never prayed, never read the Word of G.o.d, in private? Could we possibly regard him as a happy, healthy, true Christian? a.s.suredly not. Indeed we should seriously question the existence of divine life in such a soul. Prayer and the Word of G.o.d are absolutely essential to healthy, vigorous Christian life; so that a man who habitually neglects these must be in an utterly dead state.
Now, if it be thus in reference to an individual, how can a family be regarded as in a right state where there is no family reading, no family prayer, no family acknowledgment of G.o.d or His Word? Can we conceive a G.o.d-fearing household going on from Lord"s day morning to Sat.u.r.day night without any collective recognition of the One to whom they owe every thing? Day after day rolls on, domestic duties are attended to, the family a.s.semble regularly at meals, but there is no thought of summoning the household around the Word of G.o.d, or around the mercy-seat. We ask, Where is the difference between such a family and any poor heathen household? Is it not most sad--most deplorable to find those who make the very highest profession, and who take their places at the Lord"s table, yet living in the gross neglect of family reading--family worship?
Reader, are you the head of a household? If so, what are your thoughts on the subject? and what is your line of action? Have you family reading and family prayer, daily in your house? If not, (bear with us when we ask you,) why not? Search and see what is the real root of the matter. Has your heart declined from G.o.d, from His Word and His ways? Do you read and pray in private? Do you love the Word and prayer? do you find delight in them? If so, how is it you neglect them in your household? Perhaps you seek to excuse yourself on the ground of nervousness and timidity; if so, look to the Lord to enable you to overcome the weakness. Just cast yourself on His unfailing grace, and gather your household around you at a certain hour each day, read a few verses of Scripture and breathe half a dozen words of prayer; or, if you cannot do this at first, just let the family kneel for a few moments in silence before the throne.
Any thing, in short, like a family acknowledgment, a family testimony: any thing but a G.o.dless, careless, prayerless life in your household.
Do, dear friend, suffer the word of exhortation in this matter. Let us entreat you to begin at once, looking to G.o.d to help you, as He most a.s.suredly will, for He never fails a really trusting, dependent heart.
Do not any longer go on neglecting G.o.d and His Word in your family circle. It is really terrible. Let no arguments about bondage, legality, or formalism weigh with you for a moment. We almost feel disposed to exclaim, Blessed bondage! If indeed it be bondage to read the Word, we cordially welcome it, and fearlessly glory in it.
But, no; we cannot for a moment regard it in any such light. We believe it to be a most delightful privilege for every one whom G.o.d has set at the head of a household to gather all the members of that household around him and read a portion of the blessed book, and pour out his heart in prayer to G.o.d. We believe it is _specially_ the duty of the head so to do. It is by no means necessary to make it a long, wearisome service. As a rule, both in our houses and in our public a.s.semblies, short, fresh, fervent exercises are by far the most edifying.
But this, of course, is an open question, as to which we merely give our judgment, which must go for what it is worth. The length and character of the service must, in every case, be left to the person who conducts it. But we do most earnestly trust that if these lines should be scanned by any one who is the head of a household, and if he has. .h.i.therto neglected the holy privilege of family worship--family reading, he will, henceforth, do so no more. May he be enabled to say, with Joshua, "Let others do as they will, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
It is not, surely, that we would lead any to imagine that the mere act of family reading takes in all that is comprehended in that weighty sentence, "We will serve the Lord." Far from it. That blessed service takes in every thing belonging to our private and domestic history: it takes in the most minute details of practical daily life. All this is most true and invaluable. But we are most thoroughly persuaded that nothing can go right in any household in which family reading and family prayer are habitually neglected.
It may be said that there are many families who seem very particular about their morning and evening reading and prayer, and yet their whole domestic history, from morning till night, is a flagrant contradiction of their so-called religious service. It may be that the head of the house, instead of shedding sunlight upon the family circle, is morose in his temper, rude and coa.r.s.e in his manners, rough and contradictory to his wife, arbitrary and severe to his children, unreasonable and exacting to his servants, finding fault with what is laid on the table, after having asked G.o.d"s blessing upon it; and, in short, in every way giving the lie to his reading and his prayer in the family. So also as to the wife and the mother, and the children and the servants. The whole domestic economy is out of order. There is disorder and confusion; meals are unpunctual; there is a want of kindly consideration one of another; the children are rude, selfish, and willful; the servants are thoughtless, wasteful, and disobedient, if not much worse; the tone, atmosphere, and style of the entire establishment are unchristian, unG.o.dly, utterly unbecoming.
And then, when you travel outside the domestic circle, and mark the conduct of the heads and members of the family toward those outside--mark their business, if they be in business, hear the testimony of those who deal with them, as to the quality of their goods, the style and character of their work; the spirit and temper in which they carry on their business; such grasping and griping, such covetousness, such commercial trickery; nothing of G.o.d, nothing of Christ, nothing to distinguish them from the most thorough worldlings around; yea, the conduct of those very worldlings, of those who would never think of such a thing as family worship, would put them to shame.
Under such painful and humiliating circ.u.mstances, what of the family worship--the family reading--the family altar? Alas! it is an empty formality--a powerless, worthless, unseemly proceeding; in place of being a morning and evening sacrifice, it is a morning and evening lie--a solemn mockery--an insult to G.o.d.
All this is sadly true. There is a terrible lack of household testimony--of common, practical righteousness in our families and in the entire economy of our houses. There is but little of the white raiment--the fine linen, which is the righteousness of saints. We seem to forget those weighty words of the inspired apostle in Romans xiv.--"The kingdom of G.o.d is not meat and drink; but _righteousness_, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." Some of us seem to think that whenever we meet with the word "righteousness," it must needs mean the righteousness of G.o.d in which we stand, or righteousness imputed to us. This is a very great mistake indeed. We must remember there is a practical and human side of this question; there is the subjective as well as the objective--the walk as well as the standing--the condition as well as the position.
These things must never be separated. It is of little use to set up or seek to maintain a family altar amid the ruins of family testimony. It is nothing short of a hideous caricature to begin and end with so-called family worship a day characterized throughout by unG.o.dliness and unrighteousness, levity, folly, and vanity. Can aught be more unsightly or more miserably inconsistent than an evening spent in song-singing, charades, and other light games, closed up with a contemptible bit of religion in the shape of reading and prayer?
All this line of things is most deplorable. It ought not to be found in connection with the holy name of Christ, with His a.s.sembly, or the holy exercises of His table. We must measure every thing in our private life, in our domestic economy, in our daily history, in all our intercourse, and in all our business transactions, with that one standard, namely, the glory of Christ. Our one grand question, in reference to every thing that comes before us or solicits our attention, must be, Is this worthy of the holy name which is called upon me? If not, let us not touch it; yea, let us turn our back upon it with stern decision, and flee from it with holy energy. Let us not listen for a moment to the contemptible question, "What harm is there in it?" Nothing but harm if Christ be not in it. No truly devoted heart would ever entertain, much less put, such a question. Whenever you hear any one speaking thus, you may at once conclude that Christ is not the governing object of the heart.
We trust the reader is not weary of all this homely, practical truth.
We believe it is loudly called for in this day of high profession. We have all of us much need to consider our ways, to look well to the real state of our hearts as to Christ; for here lies the true secret of the whole matter. If the heart be not true to Him, nothing can be right--nothing in the private life, nothing in the family, nothing in the business, nothing in the a.s.sembly, nothing any where; but if the heart be true to Him, _all_ will be--must be right.
No marvel, therefore, if the blessed apostle, when he reaches the close of that wonderful epistle to the Corinthians, sums all up with this solemn declaration: "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-atha." In the course of his letter, he deals with various forms of doctrinal error and moral pravity; but when he comes to the close, instead of p.r.o.nouncing his solemn sentence upon any particular error or evil, he hurls it with holy indignation against any one, no matter who or what, who does not love the Lord Jesus Christ. Love to Christ is the grand safeguard against every form of error and evil. A heart filled with Christ has no room for aught beside; but if there be no love to Him, there is no security against the wildest error or the worst form of moral evil.
We must now return to our chapter.
The attention of the people is specially called to the solemn scenes at Mount h.o.r.eb--scenes which should surely have deeply and abidingly impressed their hearts. "Specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy G.o.d in h.o.r.eb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather Me the people together, and _I will make them hear My words_." The grand and all-important point for Israel of old, for the Church now, for each, for all, at all times and in all places, is, to be brought into direct, living contact with the eternal Word of the living G.o.d, to the end "that they may learn to fear Me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and _that they may teach their children_."
It is very beautiful to note the intimate connection between hearing G.o.d"s Word and fearing His name. It is one of those great root-principles which never change, never lose their power or their intrinsic value. The Word and the name go together; and the heart that loves the one will reverence the other, and bow down to its holy authority in all things. "He that loveth Me not keepeth not My sayings." "He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth His word, in him verily is the love of G.o.d perfected." (John xiv; 1 John ii.) Every true lover of G.o.d will treasure up His Word in the heart, and where the Word is thus lovingly treasured in the heart, its hallowed influence will be seen in the whole life, character, and conduct. G.o.d"s object in giving His Word is that it may govern our conduct, form our character, and shape our ways; and if His Word has not this practical effect upon us, it is utterly vain for us to speak of loving Him--yea, it is nothing short of positive mockery, which He must sooner or later resent.
And let us note particularly the solemn responsibility of Israel as to their children. They were not only to "hear" and "learn" for themselves, but they were also to teach their children. This is a universal and abiding duty, which cannot be neglected with impunity.
G.o.d attaches very great importance to this matter. We hear Him saying as to Abraham, "I know him, that he will _command his children and his household_ after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him." (Gen. xviii.)
These words are most important, as setting before us the divine estimate of domestic training and family piety. In all ages, and under all dispensations, G.o.d has been pleased to give expression to His approbation of the proper education of the children of His people--their faithful training according to His holy Word. We find no such thing sanctioned in Scripture as children being allowed to grow up in ignorance and carelessness and willfulness. Some professing Christians, under the baneful influence of a certain school of theology, seem to think that it is, in some way, an interference with the sovereignty of G.o.d, with His purposes and counsels, to instruct their children in the truth of the gospel and the letter of holy Scripture. They consider that the children ought to be left to the action of the Holy Ghost, which they are sure to experience in G.o.d"s own time if indeed they are of G.o.d"s elect, and if not, all human effort is perfectly useless.
Now, we must, in all faithfulness to the truth of G.o.d and to the souls of our readers, bear the clearest and strongest testimony against this one-sided view of the great practical subject before us. There is nothing more mischievous, nothing more pernicious in its effect upon the conscience, the heart, the life, the whole practical career and moral character, than one-sided theology. It does not matter what side you take, so long as you only take one. It is sure to produce what we must term a spiritual malformation. We feel we cannot too strongly and earnestly warn the reader against this sore evil. It can only lead to the most disastrous results; and as to its effect in reference to the training of our children and the management of our households--the subject now before us--it is mischievous in the extreme. Indeed we have seen the most deplorable consequences follow the carrying out of this line of thought. We have known the children of Christian parents to grow up in utter ignorance of divine things, in carelessness, recklessness, and open infidelity; and if a word of admonition were offered, it has been met by arguments based upon the dogmas of a one-sided divinity--and the one side turned the wrong way. It has been said, "We cannot make Christians of our children, and we must not make them formalists or hypocrites. It must be a divine work or nothing.
When G.o.d"s time comes, He will effectually call them, if indeed they are among the number of His elect; if not, all our efforts are perfectly useless."
To all this we reply, that this line of argument, if carried to its fullest extent, would prevent the farmer from plowing his ground or sowing his seed. It is very plain that he cannot make the seed to germinate or fructify. He could no more cause a solitary grain of wheat to grow than he could create the universe. Does this prevent his plowing and sowing? does it cause him to fold his arms and say, I can do nothing. I cannot, by any effort of mine, make corn grow. It is a divine operation, and therefore I must wait G.o.d"s time. Does any farmer reason and act like this? Surely not, unless he be a lunatic.
Every sound-minded person knows that plowing and sowing must go before the reaping; and if the former be neglected, it is the height of extravagant folly to look for the latter.
Nor is it otherwise in the matter of training our children. We know G.o.d is sovereign; we believe in His eternal counsels and purposes; we fully recognize the grand doctrines of election and predestination--yea, we are as thoroughly persuaded of them as of the truth that G.o.d is, or that Christ died and rose again. Moreover, we believe that the new birth must take place in every instance--in the case of our children as of all beside; we are convinced that this new birth is entirely a divine operation, effected by the Holy Ghost, through the Word, as we are distinctly taught in our Lord"s discourse with Nicodemus in John iii, and also in James i. 18 and 1 Peter i. 23.
But does all this touch, in the most remote way, the solemn responsibility of Christian parents to teach and train their children, diligently and faithfully, from their earliest moments? Most certainly not. Woe be to the parents who, on any plea or on any ground whatsoever, be it one-sided theology, misapplied Scripture, or aught else, deny their responsibility, or neglect their plain, bounden duty, in this holy business. True, we cannot make our children Christians, and we ought not to make them formalists or hypocrites; but we are not called to _make_ them any thing. We are simply called to do our duty by them, and leave results to G.o.d. We are instructed and commanded to bring up our children "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."
When is this "bringing up" to commence? when are we to begin the sacred work of training our little ones? Surely, at the beginning. The very moment we enter upon a relationship, we enter also upon the responsibility which that relationship entails. We cannot deny this; we cannot shake it off. We may neglect it, and have to reap the sad consequences of our neglect, in various ways. It is a very serious thing to stand in the sacred relationship of a parent--very interesting and very delightful, no doubt; but most serious, because of the responsibility involved. True it is, blessed be G.o.d, His grace is sufficient for us in this as in all beside, and "if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of G.o.d, who giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." "We are not sufficient of ourselves," in this weighty matter, to think or to do any thing as ourselves, but our sufficiency is of G.o.d, and He will meet our every need. We have simply to draw upon Him, for exigence of every hour.
But we must do our duty. Some do not like the homely word "duty." They think it has a legal ring about it. We trust the reader does not think so, for it is a very great mistake indeed. We look upon the word as a very sound and morally wholesome one, and we believe that every true Christian loves it. One thing is certain, it is only in the path of duty we can count on G.o.d. To talk of trusting G.o.d, when out of the path of duty, is a miserable conceit, and a delusion; and in the matter of our relationship as parents, to neglect our duty is to bring down upon us the most disastrous consequences.
We believe the whole business of Christian education is summed up in two brief sentences, namely, Count on G.o.d for your children, and, Train your children for G.o.d. To take the first without the second is antinomianism; to take the second without the first is legality; to take both together is sound, practical Christianity--true religion in the sight of G.o.d and man.
It is the sweet privilege of every Christian parent to count, with all possible confidence, upon G.o.d for his children. But then we must remember that there is, in the government of G.o.d, an inseparable link connecting this privilege with the most solemn responsibility as to training. For a Christian parent to speak of counting on G.o.d for the salvation of his children, and for the moral integrity of their future career in this world, while the duty of training is neglected, is simply a miserable delusion.
We press this most solemnly upon all Christian parents, but especially upon those who have just entered upon the relationship. There is great danger of shirking our duty to our children, of shifting it over upon others, or neglecting it altogether. We do not like the trouble of it; we shrink from the constant worry as it seems to us. But we shall find that the trouble and the worry and the sorrow and the heart-scalding arising from the neglect of our duty will be a thousand times worse than all that can be involved in the discharge of it. To every true lover of G.o.d there is deep delight in treading the path of duty. Every step taken in that path strengthens our confidence to go on. And then we can always count upon the infinite resources that we have in G.o.d when we are keeping His commandments. We have simply to betake ourselves, morning by morning, yea, hour by hour, to our Father"s exhaustless treasury, and there get all we want, in the way of grace and wisdom and moral power, to enable us to discharge aright the holy functions of our relationship. "He giveth more grace." This always holds good. But if we, instead of seeking grace to discharge our duty, seek ease in neglecting it, we are simply laying up a store of sorrow which will acc.u.mulate rapidly and fall upon us heavily at a future day. "Be not deceived; G.o.d is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." (Gal. vi.)
This is the condensed statement of a great principle of G.o.d"s moral government--a principle of universal application, and one which applies, with singular force, to the subject before us. _As_ we sow, in the matter of the education of our children, _so_ we shall, most a.s.suredly, reap. There is no getting out of this.
But let not any dear Christian parent, whose eye may scan these lines, be at all discouraged or faint-hearted. There is no reason whatever for this, but, on the contrary, every reason for the most joyful confidence in G.o.d. "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is safe." Let us tread, with firm step, the path of duty; and then we can count, with unwavering confidence, upon our ever-faithful and gracious G.o.d for the need of each day as it rolls along. And in due time we shall reap the precious fruit of our labor, according to the appointment of G.o.d, and in pursuance of the enactments of His moral government.
We do not attempt to lay down any rules or regulations for the training. We do not believe in such. Children cannot be trained by dry rules. Who could attempt to embody in rules all that is wrapped up in that one sentence, "Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord"?
Here we have, indeed, a golden rule which takes in every thing from the cradle to matured manhood. Yes, we repeat, "from the cradle;" for we are most fully persuaded that all true Christian training begins at the very beginning. Some of us have little idea of how soon and how sharply children begin to observe, and how much they take in as they gaze at us through their dear expressive eyes.
And then how marvelously susceptible they are of the moral atmosphere which surrounds them! Yes; and it is this very moral atmosphere that const.i.tutes the grand secret of training our families. Our children should be permitted to breathe, from day to day, the atmosphere of love and peace, purity, holiness, and true practical righteousness.
This has an amazing effect in forming the character. It is a great thing for our children to see their parents walking in love, in harmony, in tender care one for the other, in kind consideration for the servants, in love and sympathy for the poor. Who can measure the moral effect upon a child of the very first angry look, or unkind word, between father and mother? And in cases where the daily history is one of unsightly strife and contention--the father contradicting the mother, and the mother disparaging the father--how are children to grow in such an atmosphere as this?
The fact is, it is not within the compa.s.s of human language to set forth all that is involved in the moral tone of the entire family circle--the spirit, style, and atmosphere of the whole household, the drawing-room, the dining-room, the nursery, the kitchen; where circ.u.mstances admit of such distinctions, or where the family have to confine themselves to two rooms. It is not a question of rank, position, or wealth, but of the beauteous grace of G.o.d shining out in all. There may be the stalled ox or the dinner of herbs--these are not, at present, in question. But what we press on all fathers and mothers--all heads of households, high and low, rich and poor, learned and ignorant, is the necessity of training their children in an atmosphere of love and peace, truth and holiness, purity and kindness.
Thus will our households be the practical exhibition of the character of G.o.d; and all who come in contact with them will, at least, have before their eyes a practical witness to the truth of Christianity.
But, ere we turn from the subject of domestic government, there is one special point to which we desire to call the attention of Christian parents--a point of the utmost possible moment, yet too much neglected amongst us, and that is, the need of inculcating upon our children the duty of implicit obedience. This cannot be too strongly insisted upon, inasmuch as it not only affects the order and comfort of our households, but, what is infinitely more important, it concerns the glory of G.o.d and the practical carrying out of His truth. "Children, obey your parents in the Lord; for this is right." And again, "Children, obey your parents _in all things_; for this is well pleasing unto the Lord." (Eph. vi.; Col. iii.)
This is absolutely essential, and must be firmly insisted upon from the very outset. The child must be taught to obey from his earliest moments. He must be trained to submit himself to divinely appointed authority, and that, as the apostle puts it, "in all things." If this be not attended to from the very first, it will be found almost impossible to attend to it afterwards. If the will be allowed to act, it grows, with terrible rapidity, and each day"s growth increases the difficulty of bringing it under control. Hence, the parent should begin at once to establish his authority on a basis of moral strength and firmness; and when this is done, he may be as gentle and tender as the most loving heart could desire. We do not believe in sternness, harshness, or severity. They are by no means necessary, and are generally the accompaniments of bad training and the proofs of bad temper. G.o.d has put into the parent"s hand the reins of government and the rod of authority, but it is not needful--if we may so express it--to be continually chucking the reins and brandishing the rod, which are the sure proofs of moral weakness. Whenever you hear a man continually talking about his authority, you may be sure his authority is not properly established. There is a quiet dignity about true moral power which is perfectly unmistakable.
Furthermore, we judge it to be a mistake for a parent to be perpetually crossing a child"s will in matters of no moment. Such a line of action tends to break the child"s spirit, whereas the object of all sound training is to break the will. The child should ever be impressed with the idea that the parent seeks _only_ his real good, and that if he has to refuse or prohibit any thing, it is not for the purpose of curtailing the child"s enjoyment, but simply for the promotion of his true interests.
One grand object of domestic government is to protect each member of the household in the enjoyment of his privileges, and in the proper discharge of his relative duties. Now, inasmuch as it is the divinely appointed duty of a child to obey, the parent is responsible to see this duty discharged, for if it be neglected, some other members of the domestic circle must suffer.
There can be no greater nuisance in a house than a naughty, willful child; and, as a general rule, wherever you find such, it is to be traced to bad training. We are aware, of course, that children differ in temper and disposition--that some children have peculiarly strong wills and st.u.r.dy tempers, and are therefore specially hard to manage.
All this we quite understand; but it leaves wholly untouched the question of the parent"s responsibility to insist upon implicit obedience. He can always count on G.o.d for the needed grace and power to carry out this point. Even in the case of a widowed mother, we believe, most a.s.suredly, she can look to G.o.d to enable her to command her children and her household. In no case, therefore, should parental authority be surrendered for a moment.