Lo, thou art a landmark on a hill; thy little ones copy thee in all things: Let, then, thy religion be perfect: so shalt thou be honoured in thy house. Be instructed in all wisdom, and communicate that thou knowest, Otherwise thy learning is hidden, and thus thou seemest unwise. A sluggard hath no respect; an epicure commandeth not reverence; Meanness is always despicable, and folly provoketh contempt. Those parents are best honoured whose characters best deserve it; Show me a child undutiful, I shall know where to look for a foolish father: Never hath a father done his duty, and lived to be despised of his son: But how can that son reverence an example he dare not follow? Should he imitate thee in thine evil? his scorn is thy rebuke. Nay, but bring him up aright, in obedience to God and to thee; Begin betimes, lest thou fail of his fear; and with judgment, that thou lose not his love: Herein use good discretion, and govern not all alike, Yet, perhaps, the fault will be in thee, if kindness prove not all sufficient: By kindness, the wolf and the zebra become docile as the spaniel and the horse; The kite feedeth with the starling, under the law of kindness: That law shall tame the fiercest, bring down the battlements of pride, Cherish the weak, control the strong, and win the fearful spirit. Be obeyed when thou commandest; but command not often: Let thy carriage be the gentleness of love, not the stern front of tyranny. Make not one child a warning to another; but chide the offender apart: For self-conceit and wounded pride rankle like poisons in the soul. A mild rebuke in the season of calmness, is better than a rod in the heat of passion; Nevertheless, spare not, if thy word hath passed for punishment; Let not thy child see thee humbled, nor learn to think thee false; Suffer none to reprove thee before him, and reprove not thine own purposes by change; Yet speedily turn thou again, and reward him where thou canst, For kind encouragement in good cutteth at the roots of evil.