The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1855-09-06
81 Plead for the vital interests Of your
Children"
4 SERMON preached in the Methodist
Episcopal Church, of Stroudsburg, by
the PASTOR, and published by request.
Dnoy-rDDs % q
PROVERBS, %. g.

LplSc0bat ChHfCh, OF Stroudsburg, by
the PASTOR, and published by request
PROVERBS, %. 6.
Train up your child in the way he should
go, and when he is old he will not depart from
it,"
The text pronounces an important duty
upon all who have the care of children
and youth For the encouragement of
all such-there is promise annexed
The duty enjoined, Is, train up a child,
T. C., eolucate linn, c}ratc t0rth hiS mcntal,
physical ami SpiritHai pouerS, but there IS
particular direction, as to the charac-
ter of this training, it is to be such as shall
properly guide and control him through
life. One which is not to be forgotten,-
one from which, he will have no need to
depart, hence, at once, We are remind
ed of the moral and religious training,
which the text most emphatically pre-
scribes. It's the way he should 90. Not
the way he may wish to go,-not the way
in which many do go,-not the way to
which many things may inyite him to 20,
not the way from which he will wish to
depart, seeing subsequently, its folly and
disadvantages no, but the right, the
honorable, - the uScful, the happy way,
the way of manly integrity, justice-of
love to God, and of good will to men.--
The lray he &loa2d 60 the way he will
wish he had gone,-the only way to hap
piness on earth and to glory in heaven
The work Of thus training child is a diff
fcu.t one; for the natural tendencies Of
the child's mind aud heart, are opposed
to it. There is natural proclivity-to
eyil-to the way we should not go, on the
part of US all; and it is only by careful,
patient, timely culture, as a very general
thing, that we are brought to walk in the
way We should 90. Mans nature in in
fancy is but a JaJ1H2e Of SllSceWjJHujcS,' -
inviting the careful and wise hand of time
ly culture But these susceptibilities if
neglected, by parent and teacher, are al
ways perverted and corrupted. The most
careful and unremitted attention and cul-
tiyation, are requisite, to preserve them
from iTreclaimable deterioration. They
will not come to any good, by any spOH-
taneOus, unguided efforts, or essays of
their own-they will not remain in a state
Of torpor or embryo, until genial iDdu-
cnces, and plastic hand 700 and guido
them unto kindly manifestations. 10 let
the child alone, is to insure, both prccoci-
ty, and prof.iHcy in evil 1t affords de-
noDstratiye evidence of the constitutional
depravity-of man, as we'll a. of its uni
early childhood ever be-
trays a strong bias to the wrong, and new
er fails of growing up in sin, except un-
der decidedly counteracting Influences
This susceptibility, to both moral, and de-
Influences exists at an age, and
to an extent, little expected by inatten-
tive observers. We give no countenance
to the extravagant speculations Of those
who teach, that the character Of the man,
both moral and mental, is fixed in infan-
cy, anterior to the dawning Of season; but
We do think it dcmonstrable, that the bi
as, which influences our earthly aud etern-
al dcstinies, is usually received in early
childhood We are very confident that this
is the teaching Of the holy scriptures; and
and all careful, uDprejudiced observation
confirms its truth tile nature 0f early
cLilIto0d is crqzlisite2y susceptible J moraL
The delicate surfaces on
which the dagucrrcotypist, SO exactly por-
trays, "the human face divine" with no
pencil, or colors, but reflected sunbeams,
are not half 50 impressible, as the unso-
phisticated spirit Of childhood. The mind
Of this tender age, is not only open to all
influences, good and evil, bat it sponta-
Deously invites them to write upon its cx-
Panding capacities, their image and su-
prescription. 1t longs for impressions,
as the parcIed cornfelds, the genial show
ers. 1t spreads its tender leaves to re-
cciye them, as the green plant the dews
Of heaven. There is q class Of flowers,
which are said to follow the sun through
all his circuit, and to open their gay bo-
SONS full upon his glowing, rolling orb,
all day long, from morn to noon, from
noon to night: SO We have thought infan-
cy and childhood, are irresistibly drawn
within the sphere Of necessarily active in
fuences, which must 60 far to fashion
their manhood, and to impress upon them
forms of moral dignity or degradation,
which will endure iuefaceable through
eternity. 1t is this extreme susceptible
ty of opening life, and its active, urgent
tendency to put Oh the attributes of NOR
al character, that demands the utmost So
licitude of every christian and philanthro-
pist. The tendency of these SUSCEPTIBLE
ties we have stated to be, towards the
wroug-hence the injunction, train up
child in the way he should 60, and when
,1e is old be aclH not depart from it,
Ana .h;s injunction comes to US upon d.
zine amJso, sSttg, without any Limitation or
draw back; and it az least, lnculoatoS this,
that pious example and association re, re-
enforced by sound teaching anG parental
faithfulness, will produce such charac-
ter as neither time, nor eternity will have
cause to regret. And do we not ever ex-
poct children to follow in the main, the
example and characteristics Of their pa,
f