Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-11-22

in the Brooklyn Tabernacle this morning
on the subject: "What is to become of our
children" The opening hymn begins;
''Come, let join our friends above
Who have obtained the prize;
And on the eagle wings of love,
To joys celestial rise"
After expOunding from the oath chapter
of Genesis, Jacobs wonderful discrimina-
ton of the characteristics of his sons, the
preacher took for his text Genesis Xiv,
80: Seeing that his life is bound up in
the lads life," and delivered the following
discourse:
These words were
SPOKEN BY JUDAH,
rs descriptive of the tenderness and affec-
tion which Jacob felt towards Benjamin,
the youngest son of that patriarchal family;
but they are words Just rs appropriate to
many Il parent in this hOuse-since "hs
life is bound up in the lads life" | have
known parents that seem TO have but little
interest in their children. A father says;
MY son must look out for himself. If he
comes up well, all right; if he turns out
badly cannot help it. am not respOn
sible for his behavior. He must take the
same risk in life that took" AS well
might the shepherd throw 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 it's young. have gone
through the woods on u summers day,
and have heard great outcry in birds
nest, and | haye climbed up to
see what was the matter
| found out that the birds
were starving, and that the mother bird
had gone Off not to come back again.
But that is an exception. 1t is generally
the ease that the old bird will pick your
eyes out rather than let YOU come near
the brood The lion will rend you in
twain if YOU approach too nearly the
whelps the fowl in the barnyard, clumsy
footed and heavy-wiDged, flies ticrcely at
yUu if YOU come too near the little group,
and God intended 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: "IOu
have been looking after this child's body
and mind; she time has come when you
ought to be looking after its immortal
soul" | stand before hundreds of people
with whom the question morning, noon
and night, is: "What is to become of the
child? What will be its history? Will it
choose paths of virtue or vice? Will it
accent Christ or reject him? Where will
it spend eternity?'
Tread OF
A VESSEL THAT FOUNDERED.
The boats were launched; many Of the
passengers were struggling in the water.
4 mother with one hand beat the waves,
and with the other hand lifted up her
little child towards the lite-bOat, crying:
Save my child" The iihpaSsioned out
cry of that mother is the prayer of huu-
dreds of Christian people who sit listening
this morning while speak. ! propose to
show some of the causes of parental anXi-
ETY. may be alleviated.
| find the first cause of parental anxiety
in the incfiiciency and imperteCtion Of
parents themselves. We have slight
hope, all of It's, that our children may eS-
cape our faults. We hide our imperIcc
tions, and think they will steer clear of
them. Alas, there is a poor pros
pect of that. There is more proba-
blity that they will choose our
vices than choose our virtues. There is
something like SaGedneSS i'll parental inn
perfcctions when the child looks upon
them. The folly of the parents is not SO
repulsive when the child looks ut it. He
says: Father indulgcS in it, mother i'll
dulgcS in it; it can't be so bad. " Your boy,
ten years OF age goes up q back street
smoking his cigar-an old stub that he
found in the Street-and Il neighbOr ac-
costs him and says: What are you doing
this for? What would your father say
if he knew it?' The boy says: 80, father
does that himsclii' There is not one of nS
this morRing that would deliberately
choose that his children should in all
things follow his example, and it is the
consciousness OF imperiectiOn on our part
~ 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 house or fashion ship; but more
ingenuity to build the temple OF cmld'S
character, and launch it on the great ocean
of time and eternity. Where there is one
parent that seems qualified for the work,
there seem to he twenty parents who mis-
erably fail. Here is father who says:
MY child shall know nothing but rclig-
ion" The boy is aroused nj six o'clock i'll
the morning to reCite the Ten Command
mentS. He is awakened of the sofa on
SUNDAY night to see how much he knows
of the Westminster 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 a religious almanac. Every minister
that comes to the house is told to take the
boy aside, and talk to him, and tell him
what great sinner he is. After
while the boy comes to that
period of life when he is
too old for chaStiSement, and too young
to know and feel the force Of moral prin-
ciple. Father and mother are sitting up
for the boy to come home. 1t is nine
o'clock at night-ten o'clock-it is twelve
o'clock-it is half past twelve, and they
hear the night key jingle in the door
They say he is coming. George goes very
softly through the hall, hoping to get up
stairs before he is accOStcd. The father
says: George, where have you been?'
Been Outr Yes, he has been out, and
he has been down, and he is on the broad
road to destruction, for this life and the
life to come. Father says: There is no
use in the Ten Commandments; the Cate
chism seems TO me to be an utter failure.
All, my friend, you make a very great
mistake. You stuffed that child with re-
ligion until he could not digest it; you
made that which is joy in many house
holds an adherence in yours. \ man in
mid-life said to me: Il can't become
Christian. In my fathers house got
such prejudice against religion, l don't
want any oft. My father was one of the
best men that ever lived, but he had such
severe notions about things, and he
iammed religion down my throat until l