The Fountain of Life Opened

Fourthly, Submission to their Discipline, and rebukes is also your duty, Heb. 12.9. We had Fathers of our flesh that corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Parents ought not to abuse their authority.¹ Cruelty in them is a great sin, but wrath and rebellion in a Child, against his Parents, is monstrous. It's storied of Aelian, that having been abroad, at his return, his Father asked him what he had Learned since he went from him; he answered, you will know shortly. I have learned to bear your anger quietly, and submit to what you please to inflict. Two considerations should especially mould others into the like frame, especially to their godly Parents. The end for which, and the manner in which ⟨p. 422⟩they manifest their anger to their Children. Their end is to save your souls from Hell. They judge it better for you to hear the voice of their anger, than the terrible voice of the wrath of God. To feel their hand than his. They know if you fall into the hands of the living God; you will be handled in another manner.

1. 1Saevitia patris in filios grave pec•atun, sed ira filii in patrem, gra•e monstrum.

And for the manner, in which they rebuke and chasten, it is with grief in their hearts, and tears in their eyes. Alas, it's no delight to them to cross, vex, or afflict you. Were it not mere conscience of their duty to God, and tender love to your souls, they would neither chide, nor smite. And when they do, how do they afflict themselves, in afflicting you! When their faces are full of anger, their bowels are full of compassion for you, and you have no more reason to blame them for what they do, than if they cry out, and violently snatch at you, when they see you ready to fall from the top of a Rock.