Fleetwood, William. The relative duties of parents and children, husbands and wives, masters and servants, consider'd in sixteen sermons

 

Quotations from 1722 edition: ---"There is, in a word, no worser Token or Prognostick of a bad Disposition in Children, than to see them wanting in Reverence to their Parents, in any kind: 'Tis probable they will never make good Citizens and Subjects to the Commonwealth, or good Relations of any sort failing in those respects which are most due, and paid with greatest ease, and accepted the most kindly" (9). "There is all the Reason in the World, that whilst Children want Understanding to direct their Choice and // Will, they should have no other Will but that of their Parents; and therefore should obey whilst they do not understand. Even Children themselves see this, as soon as they come to Reson in the least degree: They see, tht if they had been left to themselves, they had in many Cases some to Mischief; and therefore see how fit it was they should obey their Parents Orders and Commands. And People, somewhat older, see as much Necessity that they should do so too; and they themselves will see as much, when they have once outgrown their Childish Fancies. They will see that their Parents Wisdom, and Experience, and Capacity, was much greater than their own, and therefore fiter to Rule and Guide. I believe that there are few People in the World, that have, whilst Young, disputed and repin'd at the Commands of their Parents, who have not afterwards chang'd their Minds, and found they were truly wiser, better, and more reasonable to be complied withal, than their own Wills and Humours, altho' for the present they thought otherwise. . . . When Children obey their Parents, tho' they afterwards happen to miscarry, yet they have this to comfort themselves withal, that they miscarried // in their Duty and Obedience; that they took the safest and wisest Course, and such as all good People approve; and every one is much more ready to Pity and Help such, under their Misfortunes, than such as fell into the like, throughh Stubbornness, and Self-conceit, and Disobedience. There is therefore all the Presumption in the World upon the Parents side, that their Advice and Commands are the wisest and mot reasonab le. And next, there is all the Certainty of the good Intention and Design that can be. Who should intend the Benefit of Children so much as the Parent?" (14-16). ----"But lest these Reasons should not prevail, god makes it a command, and bids us Honour our Father and Mother" (25). EXCEPTIONS "But because there are a great many Cases, in which the Children plead Exemption from this Rule; and in which they do not actually obey their Parents Commands, and yet defend themselves as no Transgressors of this Law, it may be of some use to see in what particulars they are oblig'd to obey without Reserve, and in what they are at Liberty; that the Duty of Children, and the just Authority of Parents, may be both of them secur'd, ---But of these Things in the following Discourses" (23). ***Commands of God--but those commands must be plain (24). ***Negative liberty but not always positive: "But though Children are at liberty to disobey unjust Commands, yet are they not always at liberty to do or undertake even Things that are truly good and religious, without the Consent, or against the Commands of their Parents" (25). ***Laws of the Country (29) ***Matters Indifferent (31) [an important and difficult category in this period]--which shows the difficulty of GENERALIZING. "the most common Case, and the // most necessary to be considered: And that is, the Marriage of children without, or against the Consent of Parents; whether this be consistent with the Obedience due to Parents, and be not a Violation of the 5th Commandment" (31-32). After a history of the world on this matter, see p. 40.