It is vided for the development of his rational powers. a parent's authority which not only restrains the evil passions as they rise in his childish breast, but trains him to a course of mental improvement. It is the persuasive eloquence of a beloved mother's admonitions, or the reverential awe of a father's command, which induces the youthful mind to forego its indolence and love of amusement; to acquire useful but irksome instruction in the public school, or under the anxious and experienced eye which presides over the domestic circle. Let us now look for a moment to the supposition with which we set out.-Imagine man exempted from this long-protracted pupilage, and rising to the full vigour of his bodily powers in a few weeks or months, and consider the result. Being thus early rendered independent of parental tenderness and support, the endearing tie, which binds the parent to the child, and the child to the parent, would at once be materially weakened. That ceaseless assiduity and inexhaustible tenderness which is called forth on the part of the mother, by the utter helplessness of her infant charge, would abate with the necessity from which it sprang. She would still love him indeed, but her affection would be less deep and exclusive; she would still attend to his wants, but they would be less numerous and pressing, and their urgency would cease before they had been formed into a permanent habit, and had entwined themselves very strongly round her heart. On the part of the child, the effect would be still more injurious. The love and gratitude, which parental kindness now engenders, if it existed at all, would be very greatly diminished. There would be no remembrance of the mother's long nights of watch ing, and the father's days of unwearied toil, to enhance the feeling;—no consciousness of that generous parental regard, which sacrifices self for the welfare of his child, or, at least, no depth of tender sympathy, excited by that consciousness, and rendered indelible by the experience of many years. As the youthful mind expanded, the heart would grow callous and hard. Selfishness, which even now takes so strong a hold of the human character, would then possess it undivided;-there would be no melting charities, no relenting ruth; from generation to generation the degeneracy would increase, and the whole earth would probably become a habitation of cruelty. The same deteriorating influence would extend to the intellectual world. The mental powers would cease in early youth to be cultivated. Emancipated from parental control, the childish and inexperienced man would refuse the drudgery of school, and all those painful exercises of mind which train it to learning. There would be no books, no study, no science. The untutored mind would remain without light and without employment, -a savage with tenfold more darkness, ferocity, and intense selfishness, than the most uncultivated and fierce of the savage tribes of Africa. It were easy, but seems unnecessary, to follow this part of our subject further. It is clear and undeniable, that for man, constituted as he is, the early discipline of a father's roof is of most essential importance; that even supposing the picture I have drawn to be overcharged, of which I am by no means aware, yet, to say the very least, without such discipline the moral character would be altogether defective, and the intellectual powers obtuse and uncultivated; and that therefore, with reference merely to the effect on the child, the arrangement which leaves him long weak, helpless, and dependant, unequivocally argues the contrivance of divine wisdom and goodness. SEVENTH WEEK-SATURDAY. MAN.-EFFECTS OF PROTRACTED CHILDHOOD ON THE PARENTS AND ON SOCIETY. It is not on the child alone that a salutary effect is produced by the protracted period of childhood. Whatever, indeed, forms the character of the child, provided the effect, as on the present supposition, be permanent and universal, must, in the second generation, influence the character of the whole race, so that there would be much reason for thankfulness, even although the arrangement in question were to produce no other direct advantage, than that on which I have already commented. But, besides the character formed in childhood under a parent's roof, there are benefits arising to the parents themselves, from the lengthened state of dependance which the Creator has entailed on their children. It is the cement of the marriage tie. Man, like many of the inferior creatures, is a gregarious animal, and, in this state, we seldom find that any very close and endearing connexion subsists between the parents, except, as in the case of birds, the production of offspring be attended with many cares, extended over a considerable period. It is easy to see, that the very same principle operates with man as with the birds. The husband "leaves his father and mother, and cleaves unto his wife, and they twain become one flesh." And what renders this intimate and permanent connexion a natural as well as a commanded duty? No other than the tie formed between them by a helpless family, mutually endeared as being their own flesh and blood, and depending wholly upon them for support and education. There is here a bond of union of long continuance and of great responsibility, even where there is only one child; but renewed frequently, year by year, for a considerable period, by additional progeny, and increasing with his increasing family. In the rearing, training, and providing for these pledges of mutual love, their sympathies are strongly called forth, their energies are united, their labours are lightened, their sorrows are alleviated, their hopes and enjoyments are exalted. Affection begets affection. The glance of love flashes from parent to parent, and then from the parents to their fondly cherished offspring; whence it is reflected with a softened lustre from the guileless eyes of infancy and childhood. The endearing influence spreads and accumulates. Mutual benefits, conferred and received, complete the union; and thus are formed and rendered permanent the tender charities of domestic life; which, in reference to the intercourse of man with man, constitute at once the most important of his earthly duties, and the most ennobling of his earthly enjoyments. But the stimulus which parental love excites is not confined in its advantages to the family circle. Industry is necessary for the supply of domestic wants; and industry is the road to wealth." The hand of the diligent maketh rich;" conveniences succeed to necessaries; comforts to conveniences ; and so the stimulus urges forward. Ingenuity is demanded; invention succeeds; the produce of the rivers and the forests is put in requisition; the powers of the soil are called forth by cultivation; the arts and sciences take their origin and are cherished; and man, rising as he advances, emerges into civilized life, and becomes conscious of powers, susceptible of enjoyments, and capable of an expansion of mind, which, in the ruder stages of society, he could not even comprehend. And all this arises from that one arrangement on which the domestic bond is founded,―the protracted period of pupilage. Nor is even this all. From the patriarchal state, government and the social compact take their rise, and all the advantages accrue, which are secured by a well-regulated and closely-united community. The mutual relation of parent and child, implies authority on the one hand, and obedience on the other. This is the principle on which all government is founded; and we may well doubt whether, if family ties did not exist, men would ever unite together in communities, and place themselves under the useful restraints of law. If not, then the hope of improvement would be at an end. 'Every man would do that which was right in his own eyes;" and rapine, oppression, and bloodshed, would pervade the world. 66 "There is a holy tenderness, A nameless sympathy, a fountain love,— Branch'd infinite from parents to their children, From friend to friend, from man to man in general, Then, again, consider what would be the state of religion, that softener of the manners, that enlightener of the mind, that solace and hope of the heart; that bond of union and of sympathy among brethren. Doubtless the Spirit of God might move over the chaotic and jarring mass of humanity, as he at first moved on the face of the waters, and produce a new moral creation,—a power which, under all circumstances, indeed, must be exerted before fallen man can be renewed in the spirit of his mind. But who does not perceive, that, under the circumstances we are supposing, the world of mankind would be totally unprepared for such a change. At present, they have learned, in the school of domestic discipline, to reverence, to love, to trust, and to obey their parents, and their affections have early and habitually gone forth toward their brothers and sisters. Here God has laid a foundation for the religious principle. It is but transferring the filial affections from an earthly to a *Thomson's Sophonisba. |