Or to be told, what fatal deed's If for my hapless master's crime, If for a debt of gratitude To one both generous and good, Of our most sweet immortal bard "* But with a mantle perely white, I'll promise faithfully to you, Thy sweet and ever cheerful face, But if you're deaf to my complaint Oh! let me, gracious lady fair! Or, as to deviate, is to err Dds Tower, July 11, 1813. SECTION: + The allusions here are somewhat obscure " Pommes d' or on a field azure" are the gilt buttons on the blue coat; and the sable fess" is no other than the black velvet collar. The fact was too a white mantle belonging to the lady, had been laid over the said blue coat. || Alluding to the practice in King's Bench, of allowing the Prisoners to go at large for a day at a time, on giving sufficient secuEity to the Marshal. Parentes carissimos habere debemus, quod ab iis nobis vita, matrimonium, libertas, civitas tradita est― When Cicero wrote thus, the system of parental authority and of filial submission was much more strict and severe than it is now. The doctrine of obedience in children to parents was carried to an immoderate pitch in the early ages of the world, when fathers possessed an almost unlimited power over the lives and fortunes of their progeny. The Israelitish Parents, under the legation of Moses, were impowered, in cases of contumacy and rebellion, to stone their children to death. The Almighty himself tacitly implied passiveness and implicit submission as a filial duty, when he required of Abraham the sacrifice of his Son. In every Roman family, there existed a tribunal appointed to judge the offences of the younger branches, which had over them power of life and death, freedom and slavery, and of giv ing in marriage, rights which were not abolished till the time of Constantine. We may find ample reason for defending the doctrine of filial obedience. In the first place, neither the Parent nor the Tutor can possibly teach or form, unless the subject of instruction be docile. All the impressions of morality, all the dogmas of learning, all the precepts of philosophy, all the force of correction, would avail noth ing, ing, unless founded on that indispensible basis, reverence and obedience in the pupil. Secondly, obedience in the child to the parent may be enforced, like the obligation of the Parent, by nature, by civil order, and by virtue. First, it is consistent with nature. Man and woman. were endowed by the Creator with powers necessary for the multiplication of their species. The doctrine, that they are absolutely obliged to use these powers, and that consequently children are not indebted to their parents, is a sophism, which needs not to be confuted. For to use, or to abstain from using the powers of procreation, is optional to all the human kind. They, who have chosen to use these powers, and to become parents, give existence to their offspring, even as their own proceeded from the intervention of others. But authors have power over their works. Parents therefore, on whom God has conferred the gift of procreation, will to use it or not, and reason to guide the use of it, must claim a natural power over their children. Secondly, filial obedience is consistent with civil order, on a principle before asserted, that whatever is agreable to nature is also convenient with civil order. Thirdly, virtue demands it on many grounds: first, because obedience is necessary to education, and education teaches all right and virtuous principles; secondly, because it is just to return good "for good, and payment for service; and thirdly, because it is a virtue of itself to be grateful and obedient to those, who take such pains to promote our corporal and mental welfare. Again, filial obedience is inseparable from the state of infancy. They, who are totally incapable of assisting themselves, must clearly be subject to the wili of others. + Vide. No. V. Page 138. The 堂 The word obedience signifies compliance with lawful command or prohibition: that is, with such commands and prohibitions, as are not at variance with divine and national laws. A child is generally instructed at an early age in the Divine laws, and these form a plain and perspicuous rule of his obedience. With national laws, the institutions of the society of which he is born a member, he becomes acquainted in the course of years, even should they be omitted in his course of education. If the Parent command nothing contrary to these, the child has no right to disobey. In other cases, which have no such absolute rules, the judgment of a child is properly accounted immature, and therefore can have no weight against his obedience. Lawful obedience, as it is consistent with nature and virtue, is inculcated by religion. The Christian scriptures strongly insist on its observance. "Children, obey your Parents in the Lord (that is, in all things against which the law of the Lord is not at variance) for this is right; so that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth." In another place, we are told "that it is good and acceptable before God to shew piety at home, and to requite one's Parents." It may be said, that if a child possess greater talents or greater virtues than its parents, the obligation to obey should cease; by no means, because the obligation is natural and therefore universal; the obligation is to a Parent, and not to a wise and virtuous Parent only. And besides superior talents and virtues is a benefit of which the Parent may be presumed in most cases to be the source. I have thus strongly enforced the duty of filial submission, because it is a duty so much neglected and so constantly violated. If life is given to us by our Parents, we |