The Penn's Grove record., 1889-03-16

erly his duty.
And we thus see a profound difference be-
tween merely telling a child what to do, an
having him do 1t on the spot. 1t is the difer-
ence between teaching and training. The text
does not say Teach" but Train" The latter
method, therefore, is the method of the text,
and doubtless were this more literally carried
out we would find very few persons who would
take exception to this portion OF Holy Writ.
But ed children can be trained. Is this q
fact? Yes. We nave just been noticing this
very point. Children cdnb be trained. When
children are born into the world they are born
with all the latent powers of manhoo within
them. Time and nature are required to de-
velop those powers and bring them into play.
All the physical, mental and moral properties
are there. effectively they require cultivation;
subjectively they can not elpdeveloping't they
will do so in one of two directions, either to-
wards the goal Of excellence, which alone is
In the path Of duty, or towards the high
way of worthlessness and -vagabondism, which
ends In nothing good. There are In every child
great possibilities. Let us never forget this
fact. The college president raised his hat to
the student because he saw in him the posi-
bilities of a future President of the Republic,
recognized this idea. The brain with all its fire
is Gagged in a little spark that m alone and
may fan into q flame that will ilium!ne
the world by its brightness. History abundant
ly proves the truth of this position.
What Is true or the physical ana mental, is
true of the moral. Certain causes pro-
duce certain effects. Just so; IL invigorating
are brought to bear upon the physi-
cal development of the child, SO shall the body
be properly matured, and healthy i'm its man
hood, making due allowance, of course, as al
ready indicated, for hereditary faint or pre-
monitory disposition. 1t is training, however,
oftentimes the training of nature alone, that
makes, in a large sense the healthy body. 1t is
simply surprising how much can be done for
the body diseased by inheritance. The science
of gymnastics, the laws of hygiene, etc, are
now so well understood that even an unhealthy
body can be much longer kept in connection
with the soul than people generally imagine
1t is wonderful how by attention to the SIM
pie laws OF healthy living in the training OF a
child with a tendency, for instance, to con-
sumption, the evil day-the day of death-can
be waried of to an indefinite period. Nor is all
this a whit less true, as we have seen, in rela-
ton to the mind, nor less worthy our belief
when argued in reference to the soul. 1t is ma
tural for the youth to learn; he must either
grow up in solid knowledge or stolid ignor-
ance,
If good, true knowledge Is laid before his
mental vision he will become a scholar, III only
rubbish is presented to his mind, such as dime
novels and other trashy literature, then secular
ignorance, but devilish knowledge will be the
result. He must either grow upward or down.
ward; naturally, the downcourse Is his choice
He requires no aid in hat direction; upward,
however, he requires guidance, I. C., training.
1t is a remarkable fact that no race or sect of
people has ever been found where develop
ment upward was achieved without external
assistance; in other words, without c~ommunica-
ton with an outside patton or nations higher
in the scale of civih ton.
1 am aware that Sir John Lubbec has en-
to prove the contrary In his book on
1.-THE races" but Professor Flint, of Edinburgh,
in his new book on ''Theism," has completely
demolished his premises, and shown that he en-
tirely begged the question. What is true of the
races is true of the individual, for individuals,
compose the races. Training, then, Is neces-
sary. External effort must be brought TO bear
upon the child physically, mentally, morally,
If you would securea rounded culture in these
various channels of education or development
for the true derivation of education is-E-ducO,
/. G., ~ lead out" A child may be trained either
way, up or down. Our text very strongly i'm
plies the fact. God would not have placed on
record the language before us, Train up a
child, etc." II 1t were not SO. 1t Is train up
Your child then being susceptible of training,
let him be early set in the proper path and he
will continue to walk therein.
If he Is taught early to desire God he will al
ways be an admirer and a doer of it. Habit
will become second nature. Good habits can
De lea1n6u AS Weh us Dtu oues, Dht Not oO cNottB.
'sTrain up q child in the way he should go, and
when he is old he will not depart from it."
But, again, the text suggests also that youth
is the time to train, INC strongly implies that
other time will DO.
1t says, 'Train up q child,' not q full-grown
person; such would be absurd. 1t would be in
conflict not only with the conclusions of ex-
but with the actual laws of nature.
.As the bough is bent, the tree is inclined. - Isl
rnnrvv o auinu If ynru hand tho fWfu yuhan
it is green it will grow as bent; you cannot pos
sibly bend q full-grown tree. If you wish to
train a horse It Is necessary that you begin with
the colt. Begin then the work Of culture
mental and spiritual-or as some people call 1t,
moral-in youth. This is most emphatically
the period Of life referred to in the text 1t is
clearly shown, not only by these words, but by
actual experience, that youth is the best, in
fact, the only time to train In VISIONS ways,
whose ways are ways of ~pleasantness, etc." A
child can be taught almost anything in infancy.
He can be taught also TO avoid and overcome
as well as by neglect of teaching, to cherish
that which is eviiand degrading.
If the child has the tendencies in him after
that which is vicious, you may root them out
in youth, or at least so effectuaily suDdue them
that the better principles inculcated will pre-
vail. You cannOt do SO, however, in after life,
When the tares and the wheat have become 50
thoroughly incorporated that the tires have
the upperhand, there is much danger Of de-
stroying the valuable cereal in the effort to up
root the useless wild growth. Discover, then,
in time the evil, and commence the wedding
process in childhood. The boy who Is selfish
with his brother or sister will likely be SO as u
man. Root 1t out! Teach him generosity and
magnanimity early. Again, the boy who steals
his Mothers apples and pears, or even his
mothers sugar, in childhood, isin danger of be-
coming largely dishonest In after life. Again,
I e,- . boot - nlatt Tt,li1 tho children tn ghnu
the very appearance of evil. Show them h
is light and wrong fOtc, else YOU may depend
upon it, you can not do 1t when they are old,
Youth is the only time to END the boys will OF
the girls nature. Irain the children to tell the
truth. Train them TO t0ue 1t. If this Is done
they will be truthful in manhood and woman
hood. If this is neglected they will, perhaps,
be liars, and universally mistrusted. Disregard
for truth, for ones word is a terrible failing,
Some one has said: "A liar Is worse than a thief,
you can hold the and of the latter, but you
cannot control the tongue of him whose false
hood is matter of common report" The law
reaches the one, and scarcely touches the
other.
But, this is not all. Our text leads US to con-
slider another point Of great importance.
at says: "Train up q child in the way he
should go" {. O., not in the way he t0ould go. II
requires no labor to train in the way he tUoutd
go. 1t Is most ~emphatically nothing but labor il
we would train them MS says our text, Le..
'up" as they SHOULD 60"
Children require no attention at all to grow
as they ioould; but that is down.. Let them alone
and they will go in that direction naturally.
But someone argues thus: II have seen chill
dren grow up neglected by their parents, and
turn out we'll" Frankly admitted. They some
times do, but no thanks to The parents for It.
The circumstances around them have been
favorable fortunately, and therefor, they have
imblbed those principles, not because they
were taught them by preceptors, but because
they received them from surroundings, and in
some measure, perhaps, by Inheritance. We
have more reason to thank God frequently for
our circumstances than many of us generally
imagine. While circumstances do not form,
they in a very emphatic sense confirm chanc-
ter. But to illustrate the point more fully and
show the absurdity of sue reasoning. let me
that l have heard people say; III believe
those children who are allows to grow up, re-
gardless Of the laws of healthful attention;
those children who seem to roll mostly in the
mud who are continually exposed to the ele-
ments ETC.; who are not kept covered with
warm clothing and supplied with the other
hardest and the strongest" Fallacious reason
dren who survive such unnatural trea, ment are
really healthy, robust and strong. Otherwise
they must have died.
In making such declarations as we have re-
ferred to, t. G., that toughest treatment makes
the strongest children, we are too often guided
by particular, notgeneral observation. we dc
tory. Our promises are wrong to begin with,
tbarafOrA A.1 nn.nl,sa4n.a sa.,-Af o,.stl., L.