"Very little. And since we have told him we could not love a boy guilty of his crime, he has grown surly."
"Is it true that you do not love him?"
"Of course not."
"Why then tell him so?"
"We are trying, in every way, to make him abhor the sin?"
"Poor boy! poor father! poor mother! What a series of mistakes!" thought Mrs. Grey. "Where shall I begin?" And then remembered she had begun in her closet.
"I know," she then said, "that some children are born with such amiable instincts, that they give little trouble to their parents and teachers, and become, therefore, their pride and glory. But this is the exception, not the rule. The general rule is that the more character a child possesses, the more he will be faulty. My impression is, that most parental difficulties result from misconception on two radical points. The first is a putting off of God's regenerating work to a period in their children's lives when they can intelligently help Him do it. The second is faith in self. Now I will not say that I know it to be the case that some souls are regenerated before they enter this world; I only suggest the thought for your reflection; but that the mass of mankind enter it unregenerate, is the belief of all who accept the Bible as Divine truth. This being the case, every parent who undertakes to mould and fashion his child into a model of morality and virtue with his own hands, makes a radical mistake. Divine must precede parental work. Until a soul has been regenerated, labor spent on it is external, and cannot reach the roots of being."
Mr. and Mrs. Thayer listened with some incredulity, yet with the respect due to superior years.
At last Mr. Thayer said, "I must own that this theory is new to me, and that I am not prepared to accept, as I am unwilling to reject it. I have always believed that a soul must will to be born again, and that a child must reach an intelligent age before it would reach such a point."