What a hell must it be to his own soul!

(George Lawson, "A Practical Exposition of the Book of Proverbs" 1821)

"Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death!" Proverbs 19:18

How painful must it be to the heart of a parent who neglected the training of his child, to see the that child walk in the paths of wickedness. Every wicked act in such a child must be a wound in the heart of his cruel father, who by his cruel negligence, left his child to be a prey to the devil - and, carried captive by that cruel tyrant, to be employed in his hellish drudgery!

If the father lives to see him die in such a situation, what a hell must it be to his own soul! Even the agonies of a wounded conscience are unequal to the torment of reflecting that, in spite of all the obligations of nature - he allowed his poor child to be carried away by Satan to the Lake of Fire; where he is now justly cursing the parent who brought him into the world, because he never used the proper means for preventing that horrible misery, to which he is now reduced.

"He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him." Proverbs 13:24

"Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him." Proverbs 22:15

"Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die. Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death!" Proverbs 23:13-14