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families are broken up, the most sacred ties are severed, discord and misery reign where all should be happiness and love. Hence, in all ages, and by all laws of God and man, it has been treated as an aggravated and serious offence. By the Jewish law it was punishable with death.

By the law of nature and of the Scriptures, the husband is the head of the family; with him is vested the chief authority: hence the duty of respect, and, so far as there is any occasion for it by reason of the conflict of opinion or diversity of choice, the duty also of obedience, on the part of the wife. This authority, of course, gives the husband no right to abuse his power by acts of unkindness and severity, or any harshness of demeanor; nor, on the other hand, does it derogate in the least from the honor and dignity of woman. To submit and obey, is not more the sphere than the highest grace and ornament of the gentler sex; as such, it is explicitly enjoined in the sacred writings. In ruder states of society, and in earlier ages of the world, as even now wherever barbarism exists, woman has been but the slave of man. His brute strength has prevailed over her weakness, and abused her gentleness and uncomplaining, patient endurance of ills and wrongs. The Roman law allowed the husband to treat the wife with severity, and even with personal violence. But where Christianity comes, it elevates woman from this degraded position, and makes her the equal companion of the stronger sex; and, while it still enjoins upon her the duty of obedience and subjection to the husband, it clothes that very subjection with a dignity and beauty more attractive than any outward adorning.

But, while it is the part of the gentler sex to yield, it is the part of the stronger to support, protect, and treat with uniform kindness and courtesy, the weaker. Strength and authority give the husband no right to tyrannize over the

wife, or manifest his power by acts of unkindness, or any want of that respect and affection which are ever her due. He is to provide for her physical wants, her comfortable maintenance and support. He is to protect her, so far as possible, from injury and insult. He is to be her guardian and defender. She is to lean upon his strength, and feel secure, as the vine clings for support to the sturdy oak, whose rude, strong arms are able to defend it against the winds and storms.

Nor is the relation of the wife one of entire dependence, but rather of reciprocal aid. She has her part to bear, and to perform, of the duties and struggles, the cares and toils of life. She is not to hang as a mere useless weight upon the stronger arm, but rather to stay and strengthen that arm, and make it firmer and bolder for its work. The labors of providing for the physical wants and maintenance of the household, are to be shared in common; the duties of the husband lying, for the most part, in labors without, and those of the wife in labors performed within the house. In these she is to bear her part cheerfully, and with good courage; and whether in wealth or in poverty, in sickness or in health, in comfort or in distress, what

ever the varied lot of life may be, she is in all to be a sharer and a helper. If the arm on whose protection and strength she relies is disabled and stricken down, she is, so far as possible, to assume the cares and duties which have hitherto devolved upon the stronger,as the faithful vine still clings to the broken branch, and hold up in its weakness that on which she has leaned for support.

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Still another duty devolves on those who sustain to each other the marriage relation, that of mutual affection. Where this is wanting, or where, having once existed, it is suffered to die out, the marriage tie becomes irksome, and that which should lend a charm to life, only adds to its

burden. There must be respect, kindness, courtesy, honor, fidelity, from each to each, these, but not these alone; there must be something more than these, or the principle on which the marriage contract is based is wanting, and the contract itself becomes virtually null. Where there is no true affection, marriage is but a form, from which the soul has fled. This, then, must in truth be regarded as one of the first and most imperative duties of the marriage state, to cherish each that pure and true affection for the other which the sacred bond implies, and which is essential to the happiness, if not to the continuance of the relation. That bond and sacred vow are in reality broken, let it ever be remembered, not merely by unlawful intercourse with others, but by any neglect, unkindness, desertion, withdrawal of mutual confidence, and mutual regard. The want of affection is itself a violation of duty, and where it continues, amounts to a virtual sundering of the marriage tie.

CHAPTER II.

DUTIES OF THE PARENTAL RELATION.

§ I. - DUTIES OF PARENTS.

Ir is the duty of the parent to provide for the physical wants of his children, and also to educate them, in such a manner as shall best prepare them for the duties of life, and the stations which they are to occupy in society, and best conduce to their happiness, temporal and eternal. The end in view, in all family nurture and training, is, directly, the welfare and happiness of the child, both

present and future; indirectly, the demands of society and the state; ultimately, and as inclusive of all others, the claims of God.

The family, as we have already seen, is an institution peculiar and complete within itself- having its own laws, its own rights and interests, its own end. Nevertheless, it does not exist for itself alone. It has its relations to other objects and other institutions, its duties to perform, its office to accomplish. Prominent among these duties, and one chief end for which it exists, is the training and preparation of the children for those duties which they owe to themselves, to society, and to their Maker. Whatever tends to promote this, furthers the great design and end of the family as an institution; whatever interferes with and prevents this, frustrates that design.

This general object includes several specific ends or duties, for which the parent is responsible.

1. MAINTENANCE. The duty of the parent is to support the child during his years of minority, and provide for all his physical wants. Infancy and childhood are helpless and inexperienced, unable to provide for themselves, dependent of necessity on the watchful care and protection of the parent. Without that care and provision, they must inevitably perish, unless, indeed, some other takes the place of the parent. Parents are the natural guardians and providers for the wants of their children. The deep and strong affection which nature has implanted in the bosom, looks to this end, and was designed as the basis and security for the discharge of this important trust; nor can this trust be devolved upon another, except in case of death or inability, without positive violation of duty.

The manner in which this duty shall be performed, must depend upon the circumstances of the family, and the general position in life which the child may properly be expected to occupy. The children of the rich and the poor cannot be alike provided for; the one will have more and better food and clothing than the other. The parent does his duty when he provides for the support of his children according to the best of his ability and judgment, and according to his own circumstances. Nor need he reproach himself, when this is done, because his limited means have not allowed him to bring up his children in that affluence which others can command; since the simple habits of frugality and industry, which the lessons of honest poverty are most likely to teach, are in themselves of greater value to the household, than any amount of wealth, or any degree of refinement.

2. GOVERNMENT.—The family is a little society, a miniature state; and every society, every state, must have its laws, its government. The government of the family is entrusted to the parents, both by the nature of the case and by divine authority; and the faithful administration of this government is a duty which they owe both to the household, to the state, and to God. For the manner in which they discharge this duty, they are directly responsible to Him who instituted the family relation, and who placed in their charge this solemn trust. The end of the family institution is to train its members for the service of the state, and the service of God, in whatever stations they may hereafter be called to fill; and both the state, or society in its organized capacity, and God, have a claim upon the parents for the faithful performance of this important trust.

"The family," it has been well said, "is but a nursery

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