The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-06-16
Sins Against Childhood.
FOR PARENTS.

1t is related that when conquered city
was sacked and brutal soldier was strik-
ing down all before him child cried out,
" Please, sir, don't kill me. I am so lit
tie" He must be a brute that would not
respect the feebleness of a child. 1t is
one of the fendish features of alcoholic
drink that it often maddens parent to
main and to murder his own offspring.
There is poor crippled lad in this neigh
borhood whose spine is manned for life
by the drunken father who hurled him
down stairs in debauch. Let us be
thankful for the organization of "socie-
ties for the prevention of cruelty to chill
dren." They might adopt for their motto
Reuben's counsel to his brethren, "Do not
sin against the child"
There are many other sins against
childhood besides brutal blows or the slow
starvation which drunkenness occasions.
Nor do they spring from wanton cruelty.
Many of them grow out of carelessness,
or Ignorance, or utterly false views of
parental duty. Fully one-half of all the
parents In the land need to have the SOL
emn caution whispered in their ears :
Beware how you sin against your child
Parentage involves tremendous trust.
God puts into your hands the most sus-
ceptible and receptive creature on the
globe when he entrusts to us young i'm
mortal mind. No Photographic plate
takes impressions so readily or retains
them so surely. In geological museums
you may see stone slabs which show the
prints of birds feet or of leaves which
were made in the stone whenit was liquid
pumice, centuries ago. In like manner
we detect the finger marks and footprints
OF parental influence upon the character
OF their adult children. Very ugly are
some of these footprints, too
Cd You may sin against your child by
seeding his mind with false teachings
1t lies open before you like garden or
field in May, waiting for either the pre-
cious seed or the poisonous weeds. A
bad principle dropped in will sprout. A
sheer against the truth of Gods word or
sly skeptical thrust will insinuate itself
into boys memory and prepare him for
early infdelity. Much of the caviling
criticism INDUCED in by parents after
they come home from church completely
neutralizes all the good influences of a
sermon. If the Holy Spirit has inspired
the minister's faithful message. then the
foolish derision thrown at that message
is not only sin against the children, but
a sin against the Holy Ghost. In vast
majority of cases religious errors are he
reditary. Dishonest practices descend in
the same way from father to son. Pa
rents often corrupt their children by tax
ing them to impure places of amusement.
While the father is laughing at the play,
the lad beside him is inhamed by the in
decent costume or the lascivious move
ments of the actress. The daughters
purity is soiled by the licentious ballet
or the immoral inuendoes of the stage
These impure sights and utterances breed
salacious thoughts 1t is bad enough to
smutch your own soul but, we beg you,
do not sin against your child
(2) Nothing breeds so rapidly as ec-
ample. We all know how tendencies to
character, either good or evil, spring
from natural descent, and the chief ele1
ment in moral heredity is the force of ex-
ample. There is a monotonous uniform
lty In the history of the Jewish kings
Each one walked in the ways of his father
who caused Israel to sin" Observe that
word ways" The father made the
path, and the son trod in it. This is as
true now as in ancient days. The most
difficult cases which are brought to our
inebriate asylums are those of hereditary
drunkenness. have worked hard lately
to reform two inebriates, both very in
teresting characters; but have about
given up in despair since I discovered
that their fathers were slaves of the bot
tie.
Outbreaks of passion have terrible
influence on our children. A man of
culture, yet Of most violent temper,
pleads as his excuse when he gets en-
ragged, l cant help it. Ny father was
Just 50; his boys are all so. We cannot
live together in peace; we never did.
We are all possessed Of the devil" This
is frightful indictment for a living son
to bring against dead parent. And what
a penalty these living sons pay for the sin
committed against their childhood by
parental example Often, when I see q