The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1886-12-08
A SERMON TO PARENTS.
Rev. T. De Witt TalInage on the
Rearing Of Children.
Parental MISUNDERSTANDING and Imper-
fsctiOn-Unwise Discipline and Instruo.
tOn-YOuthful Sins and Tempta-
tions-Doing W.. Teaching.

OF DIR. TAlmage'S sermon al the Tabernacle
this morning was: What Is to Become
of Our Chldrenp The text chosen was
from Genesis A 30, as follows: "Seeing
that his life is bound up in the lads life"
Mr.. Talmage said:
These words were spoken by Judah as
descriptive Of the tenderness and affection
which Jacob felt toward Benjamin, the
youngest son of that patriarchal family;
but they are words Just as appropriate to
many parent in this house-snce "his
life Is bound up in the lads life" | have
known parents that seemed to have but lit
tie interest in their children. A father
says: my son must look out for himself.
II he comes up well, all right; if he turns
out badly can not help it. am not re-
sponsible for his behavior; he must take
the same risk in life that took.o As well
might the shepherd throw lamb into o
den of lions and then say: Little lamb.
look out for YOURSELF"
II is generally the case that even the
beast looks after its young. It's generally
the case that the old bird will pick your
eyes out rather than let you come nigh it's
brood. The lion will rend you in twain If
YOU approach too nearly the whclps; the
fowl in the barry or l. clumsy-footed and
heavy winged, flies fiercely at you II you
come too near the little group, and God in
tended every father and mother to be the
protection and help of the child Jesus
comes into every dwelling and says to the
father or mother: "You have been looking
after this childs body and mind; the time
has come when you ought to be looking
after its immortal SOUL" stand before
hundreds Of people with whom the ques-
ton, morning, noon and night, is: "What
is to become of the child. What will be its
historys Will it choose paths Of virtue or
yice' Will IL accept Christ or reject Hint
Where will it spend eternity"
read of a vessel that foundered. Tho
boats were launched; many of the passen-
gers were struggling in the water A
mother with one hand boat the waves and
with the other hand lifted up the little child
toward the life-boat, crying: "Save my
child Save my child" The imprisoned
outcry Of that mother is the prayer of hun
dreds Of Christian people who sit listening
this morning while speak. l propose to
show some of the causes of parental anx-
iety, and then how that anxiety may be al
leviated .'+
find the first cause Of parental anxiety
in The inefficiency and imperfecton of par
ents themselves. We have slight hope,
all of US, that our children may escape our
faults. We hide our imperfections, and
think they will steer clear of them. Alas /!
there IS a poor prospect of that. There is
more probability that they will choose our
vices than choose our virtues. There is
something like sacredness in parental i'm
perfections when the child looks upon
them. The folly of the parents is not SO
repulsive when the child looks at it. He
says: Father INDUCES in it; mother in
dulges in it; it can't be so bal" There is
not one Of us this morning that would de-
hberately choose that his children should
in all things follow his example, and it is
the consciousness of imperfection on our
part as parents that makes us most anxious
for our children.
We are also distressed on account Of the
unwisdom of our discipline and instruction.
1t requires a great deal of ingenuity to
build a house or fashion a ship, but more
ingenuity to build the temple of q childs
character and launch it on the great ocean
Of time and eternity Where there is one
parent that seems qualified for the work
there seems to be twenty parents who mis-.
| erably fail. Here is father who says:
"My child shall know nothing but re-
| ligion--he shall hear nothing but rel gion =
he shall see nothing but religion"
The boy is aroused at six o'clock
in the morning to recte the Ten Commands
ments. H. is awakened of the sofa on
Sunday nights to see how much he knows
of the We stminster Catechism. 1t is re.
ligion morning, noon and night Passages
OF Scripture are plastered on the bedroom
wall. He looks for the day of the month
in religious almanac. Every minister that
comes to the house is told to take the boy
aside and talk to him and tell him what {