No one can imagine that he could wish the rod to be used when complete subjection to the parental authority could be secured by more gentle means.

And how this is to be done it is the object precisely of this book to show.
In this sense, therefore--and it is undoubtedly the true sense--namely, that children must be _governed by the authority of the parent_, the passages in question express a great and most essential truth.

It is sometimes said that children must be governed by reason, and this is true, but it is the reason of their parents, and not their own which must hold the control.

If children were endowed with the capacity of seeing what is best for them, and with sufficient self-control to pursue what is best against the counter-influences of their animal instincts and propensities, there would be no necessity that the period of subjection to parental authority should be extended over so many years.

But so long as their powers are yet too immature to be safely relied upon, they must, of necessity, be subject to the parental will; and the sooner and the more perfectly they are made to understand this, and to yield a willing submission to the necessity, the better it will be, not only for their parents, but also for themselves.
The parental authority must, therefore, be established--by gentle means, if possible--but it must by all means be established, and be firmly maintained.