them, then the more wicked
we become, the less binding would be his authority, and if we only grew
depraved enough we might escape from all obligation to obedience. Such
an idea, cannot, of course, be tolerated. The truth is, that under the
government of God, as well as under human government, children are held
responsible for the conduct of their parents. Parents have a right to
act for them, and children must abide by their decisions, and endure the
consequences of their acts. They cannot escape from it, for this is a
natural as well as moral law which is continually operating. The
character and destiny of the child are determined mainly by the parent.
He may educate him to be refined, intelligent and useful, or to be
vicious, debased and dangerous. This process is going on continually.
The parent may make positive engagements in behalf of his children,
which they are bound to perform, and which the law recognizes as valid.
A father dying, for example, while his children are in infancy or in
their minority, may require them to appropriate a portion of his estate
for certain ends, as a condition on which they shall receive it. Another
may require of his children a given service, on condition of receiving
his blessing; and if the requirement be not morally wrong, who would not
feel themselves bound to observe it? But there are examples, perhaps
more in point, in Scripture, in which parents have entered into formal
covenants that have had direct reference to their children. Adam
covenanted for himself and posterity. They had no personal agency in it,
in any sense, and yet all are held accountable for its transgression;
all suffer a portion of its penalty, as they might, if he had kept it,
been made possessors of its blessings. So Abraham covenanted with God
for himself and his seed; and his descendants felt themselves bound to
fulfill its requirements. They knew, in fact, that unless they did, its
benefits could not be enjoyed. The same principle holds good in
reference to the baptized. You are bound by the covenant engagements of
your parents. You cannot be released from them on the ground that you
had no agency in assuming them. They were assumed for you by those who
had the right to do it--a right recognized by both God and man--and you
cannot therefore throw them off; you cannot willfully disregard or live
contrary to them, without guilt and dishonor. The apostle urges this
principle when he testifies "to every man th