Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1860-01-05
FH0R.AtS.I & RELIGIOUS
For the Gazette
OBEDIENCE TO PARENTS.

"a man shall be known in his children. ,
! (Ecclesasticus, II: 28; Jer. 35: IS, 10;
| Eek. I6: "A Children, in the first in.
stance, learn almost everything byimitation.
1t seems to be a law of their nature to do
what they see others do. Hence the fact
SO universally observed, that children grow
( up to be like those with whom they are
reared. just in proportion to the dcprav-
/ ity of the society among whom they dwell,
| is the difficulty and danger in training up
a family for God. Regard it, then, as es-
sential to your success, that you should be
before your children what you would have
them to be. Teach them to be wise, by
acting wisely in their presence. Teach
them love, and faith, and humility, and
godly fear, and other Christian graces. bv
/ habltually acting those graces before their
/ eyes. Keeping your children much with
/ yourself, carrying them daily to throne Of
/ grace, and exemplifying in simplicity and
godly sincerity, the true Christian character
before them, it will be marvellous indeed,
if, in due time, you have not the unspcak
able happiness of seeing ''some good thing
toward the Lord q Kings, II: l3 ) found
in them. Jerome compared the impress
| siOns made on young minds, and habits
formed in early life, to locks Of wool dyed
in scarlet, which never could be reduced to
their original whitcness.
The selfconceit of badly brought un
children" is one great source of those dan
gers to whish they are exposed. The bliss
to be aimed at Is, in their opinion, fully ap-
parent. 1t is not the danger Of mistake,
but the failure Of success, which they dread
Activity to seize, not sagacity to discern, is
the only requisite which they value To
them, the experience Of all ages lifts its
voice in vain. If in Paradise itself, there
was tree which bare fruit fair to the eye,
but mortal in its effects, how much more,
in this fallen state, may such deceiving ap-
pearances be expected to abound. Many
poisons are pleasant to the taste, and so0the
those that take them into sweet slumbers ;
but from these slumbers they never awake.
"The way of the wicked is as darkness /:
they know not at what they stumble: but the
path Of the just is as the shining light that
shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
My son, attend to my word; incline thine ear
| unto my sayings; let them not depart from
thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine
| heart, for they are life unto those that find
them, and health to all their flesh Keep thy
heart with all diligence, for out of it are the
issues of life. Put away from thee froward
mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee
| Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eye
lids look straight before thee; ponder the path
Of thy feet, and let all thy ways be establish
ed; turn not to the right hand nor to the left
remove thy foot from evil" prov. 4: 1872;
Deut. Is: 2-29; Isaiah, II: 10, IL; Jer. ,: II. }
Give glory to the Lord your God, before lie
cause darkness, and before your feet stumble
upon the dark mountains, and while ye look
for light, He turn it into the shadow of DEATH;
and make it gross darkness" der. 10: l6 !;
Psalm, 40: l6, II; Prov. l: 24-3I)
A good child not only renders cheerful
obedience to his parents, but makes them
repositories of all his secrets. There is
nothing clandestine in his movements. He
takes no step without consulting them. He
keeps near their side He tells them all
his plans and all his troubles, and seeks
their advice in everything He is not smit-
ten or carried away with the attentions Of
strangers He allows no human being to
ALLEVIATE his interest from his parents; nor
does he set up separate interest under the
idea of personal independence. He goes
with his parents to the sanctuary, unites his
religious sympathies with theirs, and listens
to the truth as it is in Jesus,-as it is in
the Evangelical or New Testament Church
es. Principle, not fashion or caprice, gov
ern his movements in these respects. His
likes and dislikes are all sacrificed on the
altar of filial affection. He knows that if
he is led hither and thither as fashion or
caprice or selfindulgence may prompt, he
viii find ere many years are passed over his
head, that his course, like that of Esau,
may bring upon him consequences which
he will have reason to deplore whilst yet
there is left no space Tor repentance. Tn
dutiful or bad children fill the minds of all
good men with loathing and horror, and
they are objects Of still more adherence 10
God than to men.
There IS one clear and distinct ground
upon Whlon Ne may limit the application Of