"The parent is ruler of the child, and may dispose of it as he sees fit."
But Jesus said—and these are the most beautiful and affecting words in all the moral law of the world:
"Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven."—Matthew xviii., 10.
No threats so terrifying as those aimed at men who should harm little children:
"It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea."—Matthew xviii., 6.
It is impossible now to conceive the horrid indifference to childhood's rights which preceded the birth of Christianity.
Infanticide was not the exception, but a settled custom. So much so, that in Rome the "exposure" of children in desert places was almost a virtue, since it gave the child some slight chance of surviving.
Not a few, but thousands and tens of thousands of children were thus "exposed." They fell a prey to wild beasts, or to the human beasts, still more ferocious, who took the children to make slaves or criminals of them.
Jesus came, and a miracle was worked—a miracle that no man will deny.
This was the miracle: