The Pulpit Commentary — Ephesians — Section 287

to fall into those habits of depravity which will render their life e. misery, and cut short their days on the earth, II. 'l'HE DUTY OF PARENTS, The duty of parents is here set forth in two forms, negatively and positively. 1. Negatively. "Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath." The temper of a child is of transcendent moment; it is that which determines his character and destiny, To act upon that temper in its opening years so as to fret and sour it is to do an incalculable mischief. Against this evil it is the duty of parents strenuously to guard. Petty interferences, trivial prohibitions, incessant chidings, and an irritable spirit, are the things in parental conduct which "provoke children to wrath." 2. Positively. "But bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." 'rrain their faculties, bring out their latent powers, teach them to think with accuracy, to love with purity, to act with adroitness ~nd pro~ptitude. D? this by aclmonishing them "in the Lord." Let the lessons of rnstruchon and warmng be drawn from the existence, the life, the character, and the teachings of the Lord, 'rhe child's faculties cannot be developed apart from God. Secular education is a contradiction in terms; it is as great a solecism as a sunless vegetation. Let parents look well to the minds of their children. 'l'he farmer who neglects the culture of bis fields will soon have his acres overrun with thorns and briars and noxious weeds; and the parent who neglects the culture of his child will soon discover evils far more hideous and disastrous. The following from the quaint pen of smart old Fuller will be read with interest aucl profit on the subject:-" The good parent. He sboweth them, in his own practice, what to follow and imitate; and, in others, what to shnn and avoid. For though 'the words of the wise be as nails fastened by the masters of the assemblies' (Eccles. xii. 11), yet, sure their examples are the hammer to drive them in, to take the deeper hold. A father that whipped his son for swearing, and swore himself whilst he whipped him, did more harm by his example than good by his correction. He doth not welcome and embrace the first essays of sin in his children. Weeds are counted herbs in th·e begin- ning of spring : nettles are put in pottage, and salads are made of eldern buds. 'l'hus fond fathers like the 01,ths and wanton talk of their little children, and please them- selves to hear them displease God. But our wise parent both instructs his children in piety and with correction blasts the first buds of profaneness in them, He that will not use the rod on his child, his child shall be used as o. rod on him. He allows his children mainteuance according to their quality. Otherwise it will make them base, :i.cquaint them with bad company and shocking tricks; and it makes them surfeit the sooner when they come to their estates, It is observed of camels, that having travelled long without water through sandy deserts, implentur, cum ln"bendi est occasio, et in prreteritum et in futurum (' when they find an opportunity they fill thernsel ves both for the past and the future'); and so these thirsty heirs soak it when they come to their means, who, whilst their fathers were living might not touch the top of their money, and think they shall never feel the bottom of it when they are dead. In choosing a profession, he is directed by his child's disposition, whose inclination is tho strongest indenture to bind him to a trade. But when they set Abel to till the ground, aud send Cain to keep sheep; Jacob to hunt, and Esau to live in tents; drive some to school, and others from it; they commit a violence on nature, and it will thrive accordingly. Yet be humours not bis child when he m:i.kes an unworthy choice bene:i.lh himself, or rather for ease than use, pleasure than profit. If his son proves wild, he doth not cast him off so far but he marks the place where he lights. With the molhcr of Mose11. he doth not suffer his son so to sink or swim but he leaves one to stnnd :i.rar off to watch what will become of him (Exod. ii. 4). He is careful, while quenched his luxury, not withal to put out his life; the rather, because their souls who have broken and run out in their youth have proved the more healthful for it afterwards. He moves him to marriage rather by argument drawn from bis good tb:i.n his own authority. It is a style too princely for a paront herein to 'will nnd commnnd;' but, suro, ho m:i.y will and desire. Affections, like the conscience, are rather to be led than drawn; nnd it is to be feared, they that marry where they do not love, will love where they do not marry. Ho doth not give away his loaf to his children nnd then come to them for a piece of bread. Ho holds tho reins (though loosely) in his own hands; nnd keeps, to rnward duty and punish undutifulness, Yet, on good occasion, for his children's <iuvaucoment, he will depart from :rart of his mrnns. Daso is their nature who will noL  288 THE EPISTLE 'l'O THE EPHESIANS. fOH. VI. 1-24,