Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-05-08
written for the Rutland Herald
Discipline --- Religious Training.
NO. XIV.

NO. XIV.
The personal welfare of our children
recurs for our consideration. A life of
virtue and piety stands opposed to life
of vice and crime. The former is life
of happiness; thelatter of misery. The
one leads to honor and usefulness the
other to disgrace and ruin. And no
sane parent can be Indifferent as to which
of these paths his children tread. Vital
interests are involved in this question
when contemplated only from a worldly
standpoint, and when we admit the doc
trine of future life, of which the pres
ent is but an introduction, and for which
it is preparation, the subject assumes
a fearful Importance. The duty Of pa
rents, in obedience to the divine injunc-
tioa to teach the great truths of Chris
tianity diligently unto their children,
now becomes imperative and imposing.
And what truths of Christianity are
so important for our children to under
stand answer, first of all, that great
truth in subordinatiOn to which all the
moral precepts OF the Decalogue are
proclaimed, viz. That there is one, and
only one. Great First Cause, who is the
Source of all human obligations and the
only object OF human worship. This is
the foundation of all revealed truths.
Without it human life is a desert, shut
in on every side by an impenetrable hor-
ison. Without this truth man knows
nothing of his origin, and nothing of his
end Let parents, therefore, teach this
to their children with all the accom-
panying precepts, so well calculated to
regulate human conduct and inspire hui
man hopes.
And ''snffer" the little children" to
come to Jesus, the perfect exemplifica-
ton of all religious truth. Send them
not to the schools of the Pharisees to
learn lessons of morality, dOgmas and
creeds, but to Him ''who teaches as
never man taught" Induce them to i'm
itate His example. obey His precepts,
and cherish His spirit. and they viii OBJ
tain to n higher morality. a purer life.
and more exalted joys than human phil
osophy has ever taught. The yearning
tenderness which has flowed from the
words and deeds of Christ towards Gilt
tie children" is well calculated to call
forth their love, and win them to ODE
dience.
The truth of Gods existence and attri-
butes can be impressed upon the minds
of children by directing their attention
to the visible creation. The starry
heavens above them speak of His great
ness and power: the wide expanse of
living verdure, fertile fields, shady
groves and blooming gardens, express
His constant love and bOuntiful care.
But Gods grace and mercy are revealed
and exemplified only through the COM
passionate, suffering and dying ''Son Of
God"
Instruction in these great truths must
be drawn from the Holy Bible. We
can direct our children to no other foun-
tain; can give them no other guide of
life, and can point them to no other
Savior than is herein revealed. Here
are unfolded the institutions of the Cos
pei and the means of grace, and every
duty that man owes to his fellow man
and to God. It's our special duty, there
fore, as parents, to impress upon their
tender minds, the principles drawn from
these sacred pages.
But children must be dealt with as
children. They should not be so intro
duced to the theory and practice of
Christian principles and observances as to /
be repealed and disguised; should be al
lured to the delightful paths of virtue
and plety They cannot comprehend
the unmeaning technicalities of religion
and hence, parents should not read to
them homilies on Christian ethics or
systematic theology. The truth must be
opened to them, through their own
channels of thought and action. Child
hood must be amused. Its innocent
sports are its very life and activity, and,
as intimated in another connection, this
activity is the only condition of its de-
velopment and growth. Children,
therefore, in their freedom, and in the
use of their toys, obey an imperative
law of their being. The question is,
how far, in their religious culture, should
they be restrained? The Sabbath is for
children as well as for men and women,
but was it designed to abridge this free
dom and cut off their engagements
Must all their books andtoys be laid aside.
and they subjected to a formal service
for which they have no taste, and in
which they can now take no pleasure j?
Ii so, the Sabbath will become a burden
to be anticipated with dread, and endur-
ed with Impotence, and all its benefi-
cial influence worse than lost to these
children. 1t must follow, therefore, if
parents would bring their children un-
der wholesome religious influence,
they must make their Sabbaths de-
light; must adapt its duties to their ma
ture, and select and control their amuse-
ments, instead of suppressing them.
The Divine Master delighted to see
''little children" happy on the Sabbath,
as well as on week days, and must APP
prove of their freedom and Echildish
glee, if only it can be tempered and
sweetened by holy and religious infu-
ence.
l will not presume to specify as to
how these desirable results can be secur-
ed, but would earnestly enjoin upon all |
parents who seek the religious welfare of |
their children, as far as possible, to make |
the principles and precepts of our holy |
religion, pleasant and attractive to them. |
''And, we fathers, provoke not your
children to wrath, but bring them up in |
the nurture and admonition of the |
Lord" remembering that they who be- |
queath to their children the results of q |
thorough christian education. endow |
them with riches more valuable and en- |
during than silver and gold. PAREys.
May, 1878.