Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-03
We're Potent for Good or Evil, Ac-
cording as They We're Aimed.
so WITH THE LITTLE CHILDREN.
The Duties Of Parents in Starting Them in
the Right Direction.
FEAR SHOULD NEVER BE SUGGESTED
rwRrrrEN ron THE prsrArcH.1

is that the side on which the arrows figh
, depends upon the giant; he aims them, anc
| the arrows have nothing to do with that a
all.
Like as the arrows In the hand of the
giant, even SO are the young children. .
Evidently the writer of that sentence meant
to emphasize the immense importance fol
the good or i'll of the world, of the aiming
of the lives of children. and the immense re.
sponsibility which the fathers and
mothers have for the direction in which
their children's lives are aimed
Christ came as a little child. The value
the Importance, the sacredness of child.
hood are all taught by that truth. This,
we may believe, is one of the reasons why
God, manifesting Himselfin the flesh, chose
to begin our life at the beginning, and to be
little child and to be nurtured in a human
home, that He might set His blessing upon
childhood and hallow the relationships OF
the family. IWe remember how Christ
taught us that whatever is done to the least
of the little children about us is done to
Him. The child who lay in the manger
lies IN every cradle. The Christ .ch lid
dwells in every household. Every mother
has Mary's charge upon her; every father
has Joseph's responsibility. Ny subject is
the Training OF Children in Religion.
RELIGION Is LIKE HEALTH.
As soon as child is born into this world
its father and mother ought to begin to train
1t in religion. For religion means, as re-
| CARDS the will, the conscience and the heart,
just what health means as regards the body.
The body is in health when it is in harmony
| with its physical environment When the
| eye sees the light and color of the world,
| and the ear distinguishes sound, when the
hand and the foot get strength from exercise,
and food gives frmuess to the flesh, then the
body is in health. And religion is spiritual
health. We want the child from the start
to be in right relation with all its spiritual
environment.
So say that the time to begin to train a
| child in religion is when it is one dav old
As soon as the child begins to perceive that
there is light. aud warmth, and food, in this
new world upon which he opens his bright
ewes, he ought to perceive also that there is
| love in it. And that is the very
beginning of religion and the end of it, too.
That is the first lesson, and the last The
first glimmering recognitions OF God and of
duty, are in that initial perception that this
is q world of love. Before the little child
can speak, it ought to be trained in the re-
ligious truth that the father and mother love
it. That is lesson in theology, and les
son in morality
Before the little child can put a noun and
a verb together, it ought to be taught that
there is such thing in this world as will;
loving, wise and firm will. That is the
second lesson in religion. The child begins
daily to understand that there is wisdom
which is above its wisdom, and rule of
right somewhere by which this superior wis
dom is guided, and that before this right
rule all its desires must give way. 1t the
child discovers that a certain amount
of crying, certain persistence in
will and reverse its judgment,
then the child, instead of learning the Sec
ond lesson in the religion of God, learns a
second lesson in the religion of the devil,
namely, that the rule of right in this world
is the child's own will, its own desire. And
that means inevitable trouble.
TWO GREAT PRINCIPLES.
A child who has learned that this is a |
world OF love and world Of law has learned |
the essentials of religion. The child may |
add in after years certain details to these |
great principles, and may discover more and |
more of their manifold applications to life, |
and may recognize more and more what they |
mean, but the whole of religion, the secret
of faith, the ideal OF conduct-it Is all here
in what you may teach a child between its
first and second birthdays. The idea of
love and the idea of law lead up to the idea
of God. AS soon as the child begins to
understand, it should be taught that all
love and all law center in God.
Above is One who loves the child
more than even the mother loves it. Above
is One whose will is law absolutely, who
always knows what is best and does what is
best. The child comes to see what it is to
love God and to keep the will of God.
But the child is forever asking ior things.
The relation between the child and the
father and mother is largely that of receiver
and giver. The child must be trained to
look up in that same way toward God and
to ask God. The child is taught be ore he can
even understand the meaning of the action
in the least, to kneel beside his mother, and
fold his little hands together and listen
while the mother says prayer. Little by
little the meaning of that gets into the
child's mind. The child begins to pray.
The child has been taught that God loves
him, and is his Heavenly Father and so he
prays as naturally as he speaks to his
earthly father, and thanks God for his
daily blessings and asks Him for all that he
wants. for himself and for those who are dear
to him.
THY WILL BE DONE.
But the child has been taught that Gods
will is a wiser will above bis own. and SO he
is not disappointed, nor does he lose his
faith when be gets no answer to his prayer.
He simply knows that he has asked for
which God knows he ought not to
have. He recognizes the fact that Gods
wisdom is wiser than his wisdom. 1t is
D mistake to teach children to pray for
things they want without teaching them ut
the same time to pray, THY will be DONE"
They may pray that the sun may shine to-
morrow morning, but they ought to be ready
10 accept the sight of clouds and rain, trust
ing God Just as much. They ought not to
be allowed to think for a moment that they
,an beg, or cry, or tease our Heavenly
Father into doing anything which His wis
dom decides Is not the best.
In all this the mother and father do not
wait tor full understanding on the part of
the child They do not wait for the child
to choose for himself. They might as we'll
decide that they will never feed the baby
iii he is able to spell "milk." They choose
for him in spiritual things just as naturally,
as reasonably and as necessarily as
they do in physical things. They want
he child to be in health on all sides Of his
nature. They do not want the child to be a
little animal and nothing more, with stout
bo,y and no mind and no heart. They
bring the child into the best relations they
,ap. with all the truth they know. That is
what is meant by the bsptizing of nfants.
The child is brought into the church, the
blessing OF God is spoken over him, and the .
cross of Christ marked upon his. forehead,
md the parents and friends bind themselves