government theory

Chapter 34 On Patriarchy (2)
65. Nay, this power belongs to the father, not upon any natural special right, but merely because he is the guardian of his children, and therefore loses his power over them when he ceases to discipline them.This power, which follows the upbringing and education of the children, is inseparably connected with each other, and it belongs to the adoptive father of one abandoned child as much as it belongs to the natural father of another.If a man has only the mere act of begetting, and has not taken care of his children, if he has the name and authority of a father by virtue of the mere act of begetting, he has little power over his own children.In those parts of the world where a woman has several husbands at the same time, or in those parts of the Americas where, in cases of separation of husband and wife, the children are left to the mother, follow her and be brought up entirely by her, patriarchy again faces a new challenge. What's the situation?If the father dies when the children are young, it is not natural for them to be as obedient to their mother as they are to their father when they are minors.

Would anyone, if he had lived, say that the mother has a rule-making power over her children, that she can make ordinances, with a permanent duty of obedience, to regulate all things connected with their property, and to restrain the rights of their existence? What about freedom?Or could she use the death penalty in order to enforce these regulations?This is the just power of the judge, in which the father has no shadow.His power over his children is only temporary, and does not concern their life or property; it is only an aid to their infirmities and imperfections in youth, and a restraint necessary for their upbringing.Though the father may dispose of his own property as he pleases, as long as the children are not in danger of starvation, yet his power does not extend to the lives of the children or to the goods which the children acquire by their own labor or gifts, nor when they are of age and enjoy interference with their liberty when it comes to civil rights.So far is the father's sovereignty, as he can no more restrict the liberty of any other man, so he can no more restrict the liberty of his son.And to be sure, this is by no means an absolute or permanent authority from which a man can be freed, since the divine right allows him to leave his parents and live with his wife.

66. But even if the time comes, as the father himself is not governed by the will of any other, so the children are no longer governed by the will and command of the father, and besides obeying the laws of nature and the internal laws of their country , are subject to no other restrictions; but this liberty does not exempt the son from the respect due to his parents according to the laws of God and nature.God not only regards parents in the world as tools for his continuation of the great cause of the human race, but also the life support of their children. On the one hand, God makes parents bear the responsibility of raising, protecting and educating their children. Express their inner respect and love with all outward expressions, so restrain children from doing anything that will damage, offend, disturb or endanger the happiness or life of their biological parents, so that they have the joy of giving them life and living Parents, do all the responsibilities of protection, rescue, assistance and comfort.No state, no liberty, can relieve the children of this duty.Yet by no means is this given to parents a power to order their children, or an authority to make laws and dispose of their lives or liberties as they please.It is one thing to ask for reverence, homage, gratitude, and help; it is quite another to ask for an absolute obedience and submission.A reigning prince should also pay homage to his mother, but this does not diminish his authority, nor make him subject to her rule.

67．The father, by virtue of the obedience of the minor, has a temporary dominion which ends at the same time as that of the child; the parent, by virtue of the respect due to the child, has a permanent right to be respected, respected, maintained, and required of their children, This is somewhat equal to the father's care, expense, and attention to their education.This right does not end with coming of age, but exists in all aspects and in all situations of a person's life.The indiscrimination between the right of fathers to discipline their children while they are minors, and the power of respect throughout life, is the cause of a large part of the errors connected with this question.To put them more precisely, the former is not any prerogative of the father, but the special interest of the children and the responsibility of the parents.

The upbringing of children is for the well-being of their children, and parents have such an inescapable responsibility that nothing can relieve them of this responsibility.Though there is also a power to command and punish them, yet God has mingled reason with a deep affection for children, so that there is hardly any fear that parents will exercise their power unduly; On the harsh side, it shows the opposite strong natural tendency.So when Almighty God wanted to show his tolerance to the Israelites, he told them that although he disciplined them, he disciplined them just as a man disciplined his son ("Old Testament Deuteronomy" Chapter 8, verse [-])—that is to say, with a loving heart—does not impose on them any stricter restraint than proper discipline, which would be unkind enough to be indulged.Such is the power which requires the obedience of the children so that the parents will not be more anxious or vain.

68．On the other hand, children should express their gratitude for the benefits they have received. Respect and support are the necessary responsibilities of children and the special treatment that parents should enjoy.As the other is for the good of the children, so this one is for the good of the parents.But education, as the responsibility of parents, seems to have a special power, because the ignorance and defects of childhood need to be restrained and corrected, which is exercising a visible dominion, a kind of dominion.And the duty shown in respect does not require so much obedience.But this obligation is more demanding on grown-up children than on young ones. Who can think that this command, "Son and daughters, obey your father and mother," requires the same obedience from a man with children to his own father, as his younger children should to himself; if Who would, on the basis of this maxim, think that all orders of his father must be obeyed, if his father still treats him as a child out of a presumptuous sense of authority?

69．The patriarchal power, or the first part of the duty, education, therefore, belongs to the father, and in due time this power comes to an end.This part of the right comes to an end automatically when the task of education ends, and it can be alienated before that.This is because a man may entrust the teaching of his son to another, and when he entrusts his son to another as an apprentice, he absolves his son of a large part of his obligation of obedience to his father and mother at that period. .But being respected, an important part of patriarchy, remains entirely theirs, and it cannot be undone.This duty is absolutely inseparable from both parents, so that the authority of the father cannot deprive the mother of this right, nor can any one absolve his son from his duty to respect his own mother.But the power to make laws, and to enforce them with penalties of property, liberty, body, and life, is distinct from both parts of paternal power.The right of commanding the sons and daughters comes to an end when the children come of age; and though thereafter a son always honors and honors his parents, nourishes him, protects him, and gives him thanks, in return for the favors he has received; , The monarch's command power is handed over to the father.The father has no dominion over his son's property or actions, nor any right to bind his son's will in any matter by his own, though even if his son respects his will, it is in many respects to himself and There was nothing inconvenient about his family.

(End of this chapter)