The weekly sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1886-1887, 1886-11-25
ADVICE TO PARENTS
THE THEME OF REV. DR.. T. DE WITT
TALMAGE'S SERMON

TALMAGE'S SERMON
how Children Ought to be Broushs Up.
Sins that Are Inherited-H You Do
Not Live Right Yourselves, You Can
not Expect Your Children TO Do So.
BROOKLYN, Nov. 1.-The Rev. T. De Witt
Talmage, D. D., preached in the Brooklyn
Tabernacle this morning on the subject:
what is to Become of Our Childreni5 The
opening hymn begins:
Come, let US join friends above
Who have obtained the prize;
And on the eagle wings Of love
To joys celestial rise
After expounding from Genesis xix,
Jacobs wonderful discrimination Of the char
acteristics of his sons, the preacher took for
his text Genesis Xiv, 80: Seeing that his
life is bound up in the lads life" and deliv-
cred the following DISCOURSE:
These words We're spoken by Judah az de-
sriptive OF the tenderness and affection
which Jacob felt toward Benjamin, the
youngest son Of that patriarchal family; but
they are words just appropriate to many a
parent ia this house-since ''his life is bound
up in the lads life.' I have known parents
that seemed to have but little interest in their
children A father says: my son must look
ont for himself If he comes up well, all
right; if he turns out badly I cannot help it.
I am not responsible for his behavior. He
must take the same risk in life that took :"
As well might the shepherd throw a lamb
into den Of lions and then say: Little
lamb, look out for YOURSELF"
1t is generally the case that even the beast
looks after its young. 1 have gone through
the woods ON summers day, and have
heard great cutlery in birds nest, and
have climbed up to see what the matter.
found out that the birds starving and
that the mother bird had gone off not to
come back again. But that is an exception.
1t is generally the case that the old bird will
pick your eyes out rather than let you come
nigh its brood. The lion will rend you in
twain if you approach too nearly the whelps;
the fowl i'll the barnyard, clumsy footed and
heavy winged, flies fercely at you If you
come too near the little group, and God in
tended every father and mother to be the
protection and the help of the child. Jesus
comes into every dwelling and says to the
father or mother: 'sYou have been looking
after this child's body and mind; the time
bias come when you ought to be looking after
It's immortal soul" 1 stand before hundreds
Of people with whom the question morning
noon and night is: What is to become of
the child2 What will be its historya VIII it
choose paths of virtue or vice? VIII it ac-
ept Christ or reject hint Where will it
spend eternity2"
I read of a vessel that foundered The
Boats were launched; many of the passengers
were struggling in the water A mother
With one hand beat the waves, and with the
other hand lifted up the little child toward
the lifeboat, crying: ''Save my child Save
my childw The imprisoned cutlery of that
mother is the prayer Of hundreds Of Christian
people who sit listening this morning while I
speak. propose to show some Of the causes
Of parental anxiety, and then how that anx-
iety may be aIeviated.
I find the first cause of parental anxiety in
fhe inefficiency and imperfection of parents
themselves. We have a slight hope, all of
Us, that our children may escape our faults
We hide our imperfections, and think they
VIII steer clear of them Alas, there is q Door
prospect OF thatl There is more probability
that they viii choose our vices than choose
our virtues There is something like sacred
ness In parental imperfections when the child
looks upon them The folly OF the parents
is not repulsive when the child looks at it
He says: Father INDUCES In it; mother in
dulges IN it; it can't be so bad" Your boy,
no years of age, goes up back street smok-
ing his cigar-an old stump that he found in
the street-and a neighbor accosts him and
says: What are you doing this for? What
would your father say if he knew itT' The
boy says: "Oh. father does that himself n
There is not one of this morning that
would deliberately choose that his children
should in all things follow his example, and
it is the consciousness OF imperfection Of 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
It requires great deal of ingenuity to build
a house or fashion ship, but more ingenu
ity to build the temple of child's character
and launch it on the great ocean OF time ano
eternity. Where there is one parent thai
seems qualified for the work there seem to bt
twenty parents who miserably fail Here il
father who says: any child shall know
nothing but religion; he shall hear nothing
but religion; he shall see nothing bu
religion" The boy is aroused at o'clock il
the morning to recite the Ten Command
ments. He Is awakened Off the sofa on Sun
day night to see how much he knows Of tn,
Westminster catechism. 1t is religion morn
ing, noon and night. Passages Of Seriptur,
are plastered on the bedroom wall He look
for the day Of the month in religious alma
nae. Every minister that comes to the hous
is told to take the boy aside and talk t.
him and tell him what a great sin
uer he is. After while the boz
comes to that period Of life when he i
too old for chastisement, and too young t.
know and feel the force of moral principle
Father and mother are sitting up for tn
boy to come home. It is nine o'clock a
mght-ten o'clock-it is twelve o'clock-it
half past twelve, and they hear the night Ike,
Jingle in the door. They say he is coming
George goes very softly through the hall
hoping TO get up stairs before he is accosted
The father says, George, where have yo
been?' "Been outI" Yes, he has been out
and he has been down. and he is on the broaI
road to destruction, for this life and the lif
TO come. Father says: There is no use i
the Ten Commandments; the catechism seem
to me to be an utter failure" All, my friend
you make very great mistake. You stuffe
that child with religion until he could nc
digest it; you made that which is a JOY
many households adherence in yours. !
in mtdlife said to me: ~ can't becom
q Christian. In my fathers house got sue