The Holy Spirit has deemed this so important, that He has given
the express injunction to parents: "Fathers, provoke not your children;"
and it is an injunction which parents need constantly to remember. The
natural and necessary subjection of the children to parental authority,
unless the hearts of the parents be guided by religious principle, will
often induce an arbitrary and enforced obedience, which, unless guided
and controlled by affection, will have only the appearance of harshness,
and will only produce unpleasant feeling. Parents should never forget
that it is always as unpleasant to a child to have his will and plans
crossed as it is to themselves, and that, therefore, it is their own
obedience to the injunction, Be kindly affectioned, which alone can make
their authority both strong and pleasant. There are again so many cares
and anxieties connected with the details of family arrangements, and
there are so much thoughtlessness and perversity in the depraved hearts
of the most amiable and properly disposed children, that the patience of
even the all-enduring mother will often be tried in a manner which
nothing but divine grace can sustain. Ill health and natural
irritability, so constantly exposed to attack, will often increase the
difficulty, and thus make the injunction, Be kindly affectioned, one of
the most arduous duties of life. But the triumph of principle will
always be accompanied with corresponding valuable results in the
happiness and comforts of the whole family circle.
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