Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1868-12-06
SUNDAY SCHOOLS.
ARTICLE ".


ing of home and the Sabbath Schools, in
enlisting the young affections on the side
of religion, was set forth in our last ar
ticle. This opens up the way to the
consideration of the fact that the Sab
bath School is the only organization at
the present day, to develop and engage
the religious affections of thousands Of
children, rich as well as poor, who have
none of the benefits of christian home
instruction.
Now there is in every community q
middle class who may be said to constias
tute the bone and sinew of the nation.
Generally speaking, the moral and re-
ligious training of their children is well
attended to at home. But there are two
other classes in which such instruction
is almost totally neglected. Imean the
very rich and the very poor. They
stand at opposite ends of the social lad
der, but religious and morally, they &C.
cupy relative positions. To present this
truth clearly in connection with our
subject we state what all know to be true,
when we say that home is the nursery
of childhood. Home through its sancti-
ties and relations, the home of childhood,
should weave itself, as mystic charm, a
hallowed memory through all the bright
ness, through all the darkness of ma
turer years. Here should originate the
deepest springs Of social life, the purest
joys, the noblest purposes. Rightly
viewed, it should embosom the gem
and ideal Of the State" in the
magic of its love, the wisdom
of its rule, the inviolability Of its
duties, and the truth of its moral and
religious training. Yet such is not the
case among the majority Of the two
GLASSES to which we have referred. Fer
there is many home of luxury, in our
midst, where the childish mind is unim-
pressed with any just conception OF life.
To live, drink, and. be merry, and bow
the knee at fashions gilded shrine, con-
stitutes the goal to which their young
ambition is directed. They are early
taught the lesson that wealth and happi>
ness are SYNONYMOUS terms. What an
Elusive and deceptive idea Hatred and
| pride, envy and Jealousy, together with
dearth OF every true affection or noble
purpose, may be concealed beneath the
glitter Of gold. Still, they mock the splen-
did nothingness Ofmere wealth alone, and
like demons Of evil cOrrOde and consume
the life of their victims. In these homes
where such lessons are taught, there IS
| no religious surrounding, or christian
| principle incuICated The Bible is never
read, or if read at all, never to the chill
dren. To the childish heart there is no
sweet hour ofprayer. No altar is reared,
around which the family may conSecrate
itself each day, for the high duties Of
life. Instead thereof, glitter and show,
frivolties and nothings sum up the home
education of the children. Alas this
parental foolishness and neglect, this
coronation of youthful pleasure, is too
| often the phosphorescent light to lead to
a ruined life and dread eternity. But,
| on the other hand, the converse OF
the picture among the poor class is
equally true, and equally as dark. Here
| in homes innumerable, poverty and deS-
| titution has fixed its impress. Here
broods the shadow of despairing want,
unrelieved by any of the refinements or
comforts of wealth. Here cheerlessness
and Responding toll are the only incen-
| tives TO action. Here in PriTation and
suffering, every finer feeling is crushed
out. scared to death by the pressure Of
animal wants, by the encamping leglons
| of hunger and heat and cold. Added to
all this, there is a moral and religious
desolation, on which there seems to await
| no resurrection. Such are the homes OF
| the poor, especially in large cities, where
they congregate together. Such is the
| blank where they live and die. Such are
| the homes in which their children are
nurtured and grown up; in which Child
hood is baptized in infancy, trained to SIN
| and worked to Sleep by misery. Children,
whose instructive affections are as warm
and loving as those Of christian parents
Poor boys, whose hearts are as generous
as those of rich ones! Poor girls, whose
natural feelings are as tender and pure
as of those who are reared in the lap OF
luxury And yet, despite this, they grow
up knowing nothing Of the beautiful in
nocency of childhood, tolead them by sue
cessive steps.out into the struggles of the
world. Knowing nothing of goodness,
seeing only the worst side of life, they
wilt into premature manhood and woms
anhood, and too often, grow old in sin
before the look of youth has LEFT thelI
faces. Such degradation necessarily fol
lows, because evils not only live, but
breed. Vice and misery react upon one
another, and withouta counteractinS IN
fluence the son Of thief will become &
thief; the son of drunkard will be
come drunkard, and so on indefinitely
Thus we see that ignorance and crime
poverty and wickedness stand as tht
} dread contrasts of knowledge aud integ
rity, purity and religion, alike II
the howell Of the poor, and tn
palace of the rich. Morally and relig
! | iously speaking, the condition OF tn
two are the same. The only difeIenc
= being, that the false glamour of richie
conceals what poverty cannot.
, Here we have presented two eXtrem
pictures, vet, none the less true to htt
They only suggest the deprayity an
# wickedness to which human nature ca
= sink, whether in high or low estat
I | Furthermore, they open out ar exhaust
less field for the philanthropist, an
Christian worker Such being the cas-
8 how are these giant evils, these antagC
nisms to all truth and purity to be m
c and successfully grappled with? Clear
: by commencing at the beginning, anon
- the children of these two classes, an
: teachingthemt the religious truths OfwhiC
= thew learn nothing at home. The old adat
e that an ounce Of preventive is worth
+, pound of cure" expresses the exact ide
~ You NAV not cure those hardened
u sin. but YOU can save their children fro
Ie a life of wretchedness and infamy. TIL
,e can be best accomplished by some d
- fusiye influence, whose teachings will il
" culcate Just views of life and. win t
le Young affections away from fashion a
es friyolity, OF out from penury and wan
n TO a sincere and earnest love for Chri
-, tianity and the bible. And who W
refuse this to children thus surround
by constant temptations to evil? TIL
need and ask for bread What Gallo
NJ, heart will give them stone ? Now
T" we have proved anything in these ar
IS cles. we have already shown that
D. Sabbath School is this yeritable infuen