" Let, therefore, the property you
leave your children be just enough to meet the exigencies of their
situations, and no more; for
"Wealth hath never given happiness, but often hastened misery;
Enough hath never caused misery, but often quickened happiness;
Enough is less than thy thought, O pampered creature of society,
And he that hath more than enough, is a thief of the rights of
his brother!"
Parents should be impartial in the distribution of their patrimony among
their children. They should never give one more than another unless for
very plausible and Christian reasons, such as bad health, peculiar
circumstances, of want, &c. They should have no pets, no favorites among
them; and care more for one than for another, or indulge one more than
another. Neither should they withhold a dowry, from a child as a
punishment, unless his crime and character are of such an execrable nature
as to warrant the assurance that its bestowment would but enhance his
misery. Then indeed, it would be a blessing to withhold it. "A child's
vices may be of that sort," says Paley in his Philosophy, "and his vicious
habits so incorrigible, as to afford much the same reason for believing
that he will waste or misemploy the fortune put into his power, as if he
were mad or idiotish, in which, case a parent may treat him as a madman, or
an idiot; that is, may deem it sufficient to provide for his support by an
annuity equal to his wants and innocent enjoyments, and which he may be
restrained from alienating.
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