62 DOMESTIC EDUCATION.
We repeat, the important duty, first of all,
and above ail, is to teach the infant obedience to
the mother and obedience to the father, because
they stand in God's place to enforce the idea
and the duty of obedience to order, law, and gov¬
ernment. No human regulation of Church or
state has required this at the hands of the par¬
ents. God himself has ordained it. He ordained
it before man was made—before the foundations
of the earth were laid. (Ephesians i, 4.)
The third time, we repeat, the first lesson to be
taught by the mother and to be learned by the
child is obedience to order, law, government, and
authority, which creates law, order, and govern¬
ment. By authority, I mean the God above the
parents.
Moreover, the child should be taught that the
law of obedience is identical with the law of
love. He ought to be so instructed by the intel¬
ligent parents as always to feel that where there
is a sincere and earnest love, there will be a
cheerful and ready obedience to a government whose
yoke is easy and whose burden is light".
Parents will also do well to study in order
that they may know the truth, that obedience
lies at the very foundation of a good character.
Therefore, in early infancy a child ought to be
taught that a good character, whether it mani-
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