§. 63. The freedom then of man, and liberty of acting according to his own
will, is grounded on his having reason, which is able to instruct him in that
law he is to govern himself by, and make him know how far he is left to the
freedom of his own will. To turn him loose to an unrestrained liberty, before
he has reason to guide him, is not the allowing him the privilege of his nature
to be free, but to thrust him out amongst brutes, and abandon him to a state as
wretched and as much beneath that of a man as theirs. This is that which puts
the authority into the parents' hands to govern the minority of their children.
God hath made it their business to employ this care on their offspring, and
hath placed in them suitable inclinations of tenderness and concern to temper
this power, to apply it as His wisdom designed it, to the children's good as
long as they should need to be under it.
