The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-08-06
The Children at Home.

The current issue of the Andouer Re
Uiec contains an excellent article on the
subject of The Church School," quote
from it the following suggestive para
graph: "We are all by-and-by going to
awaken to a consciousness of the perils
that threaten our family life, and, closing
our ears to the clamor which has driven
us into public life, we shall begin to draw
doors, and fan the dying embers upon the
altar of our household religion" In an
address on "Christian Education" l lis.
tened to few days ago, heard the fol.
lowing thought expressed But now
abideth the state, the Church and the
home, these three and the greatest of
these is home" These, and many SINH
lar sentiments uttered with emphasis
nowadays, go to show that the religious
education of our children, especially in
the family, is a matter that needs to be
attended to much better than it is. In
many homes it is wholly neglected. In
others where it is thought to be import
ant, it is taken up only now and then as
something incidental. That it is con-
slant work, that it cannot be begun too
early, and that it should be conducted in
the simplest and most pleasant manner, is
too little kept in mind. Nothing should
be more natural and delightful than the
religious culture of our children at home
The less formality about it the better.
Its discipline must be not so much of the
training as of the educational sort more
hopeful than apprehensive in its spirit;
calculated to call forth and cherish what
is good, instead of merely REFRESHING what
is evil. / have seen children so educated
at school that they were led to hate books.
So there are those who have come to de-
spise religion by reason of senseless and
disagreeable training. Parents make a
grave mistake when they shift their re-
sponsibilities and duties in this matter on
to the shoulders of the pastor or the Sun.
day.school teacher. Some even hold that
our public schools can and ought to
provide religious instruction. This is
simply impossible. As for pastors part
in the work, it has, save in some notable
instances here and there, dwindled to a
minimum. And what can Sunday
school teacher do, with hardly half an
hour week Parents, then, must take
the matter of the moral and religious nur-
ture of their children into their own
hands. If they are Christian people, no
one can attend to it so well as they. If
they are not, its Importance is one of the
strongest reasons why they should be.
One shudders to think of the many chill
dren who grow up in families that are
goddess and impure. 1t is to be deplored
that many fathers are 80 much absorbed
in business or politics, and many moth.
ers occupy themselves so exclusively with
movements for the improvement of So
ciety at large that they utterly neglect
their families at home. Much of the evil
which they seek to reform might be cut
off at the roots, or prevented from taking
root at all, by cultivating properly the
garden of the home life. With the best
efforts aud influences, parents generally
find it hard TO bring up their children in
the right way. There are so many ad.
verse influences, the work requires con-
slant care and faithful application. Nor
is it 30 much a work, or q task, as
perpetual communication of spiritual
power. And religious instruction is TO
be administered as the daily food of the
soul, rather than as medicine, or stimu-
liant. On what ground are we to proceed
in the Christian nurture of our children ?
Are they to be looked on only as of fallen
race, aud possessed of depraved ten.
denotes Shall we expect them to grow
up into sin, until at some time, by an
elective purpose, or arbitrary act of God
one and another of them are regenerated
and converted Or shall we have the
heart to believe that God desires them al
to grow up in him, and unto holinessi
True, they are born into a state and worlc