The parents who are, in discipline, prompted
by the first, may be loved, but will not be respected. Those who are ruled
by the second, may be dreaded, but will not be loved. The first does
violence to law, and ends in the insubordination of the child and the
imbecility of the parent. The second does violence to love, makes duty a
task, correction a corporeal punishment, the child a slave, the parent a
despot, and ends consequently in the destruction of natural affection.
Hence, in home-discipline, true severity and true sympathy should unite and
temper each other. Without this the very ends proposed will be frustrated.
True home-discipline repudiates the legal idea of punishment as much as of
impunity. It lies in a medium between these, and involves the idea of
Christian correction or chastisement. We should correct, but not punish our
children. Correction is not the mere execution of legal penalties as such,
but the fruit of Christian love and concern for the child. It does not mean
simple corporeal chastisement, but moral restraints. The impunity is the
fruit of love without law; the corporeal punishment is the execution of law
without love; Christian correction is the interposition of love acting
according to law in restraining the child. Hence, true discipline is the
correction of the child by the love of the parent, according to the laws of
home-government.
Abraham instituted in his household a model system of home-discipline.
Pages:
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222