The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-04-16

y
ment and qualification Emp1oyments
which seemed to relate only to an
hour have on them all the grandeurs
Of eternal history.
You need the religion of Christ in
the discipline of your children The
rod which in other homes may be the
first means used, in yours will be the
last There will be no harsh epithets
you knave. you villain, you scound-
rel. I'll thrash the life out of you. you
are the worst child i ever knew" All
that kind of chastisement makes
thieves, pickpockets murderers and
the outlaws of society. That parent
who in anger strikes his child across
the head, deserves the penitentiary.
And yet this work of discipline must
be attended to. Gods grace can di-
rect us. Alas for those who come to
the work with fierce passion and reck-
lessness of consequences. Between
severity and laxativeness there is no
choice. Both ruinous and both de-
structive. But there is a healthful
medium which the grace of God will
show to us.
Then we need the religion of Christ
to help as in setting good example.
Cowper said of the oak: ''Time was
when settled on thy leaf a fly could
shake thee to the root. Time has been
when tempest could not" In other
words your children are very impressi-
BILE just now. They are alert; they
are gathering impressions you have no
idea of. Have you not been surprised
sometimes. months or years after some
conversation, which you supposed was
too profound or intricate for them to
understand-some question of the
child demonstrated the fact that he
knew all about it?
Your children are apt to think that
what you do is right. They have no
ideal of truth or righteousness but
yourself. Things which you do know
ing at the time to be wrong. they take
to be right They reason this way:
Father always does right Father
did this. Their efore, this is right"
That is good logic, but bad premises.
bad example set him. Your conduct
more than your teaching makes i'm
preston. Your laugh. your frown,
your dress, your walk, your greetings,
your goodbys, your comings, your
goings. your habits at the table, the
tones of your voice, are making an i'm
preston which will last a million
years after you are dead. and the
sun will be extingujshed, and the
mountains will crumble and the
world will die, and eternity will roll
on in perpetual cycles, but there will
be no diminution of the force of your
conduct upon the young eyes that saw
it or the young ears that heard it.
Now 1 would not have by this the
idea given to you that you must be in
cold reserve in the presence of your
children You are not emperor; you
h fo,.
you can, you must walk with them,
skate with them, fly kite with them,
play ball with them, show them you
are interested in all that interests
them Spensippus, the nephew and
successor of Plato in the academy, had
pictures of joy and gladness hung all
around the school-room. You must
not give your children the impression
that when they come to you they are
playful ripples striking against rock.
You must haye them understand that
you were boy once yourself, that
you know boys hilarities a boys
temptations, a boys am oitiOn-yea,
that you are boy yet You may de-
ceive them and try to give them the
idea that you are some distant SUPER
natural effulgence and you may shove
them off by your rigorous behavior,
but the time will come when they will
find out the deception and they will
have for.you utter contempt
Aristo tie said that a boy should be-
gin to study at II years of age; before
that his time should be given to recre-
alton. can not adopt that theory
But this suggests truth in the right
direction Childhood is too brief, and
we have not enough sympathy with
its sportfulness. We want divine
grace to help US in the adjustment of
all these matters
Besides that, how are your children
ever to become Christians if you your
self are not Christian? l have noticed
that however worldly and sinful par
ents may be, they want their children
good When young people have pre-
sented themselves for admission into
our membership have said to them,
Are your father and mother willing
you shall Gomez and they have said,
''Oh! yes; they are delighted to have
us come; they have not been in church
for ten or fifteen years, but they will
be here next Sabbath to see me bap-
TIED L have noticed that parents,
however worldly, want their children
good.
So it was demonstrated in a police
court in Canada. where a mother, her
little child in her arms-sat by a table
on which her own handouts lay, and
the little babe took up the handouts
and played with them, and had great
g1ee- She knew not the sorrow of the
hour And then when the mother was
sent to prison, the mother cried out,
ssOhi God, let not this babe go into
the Jail Is there not some mother
here who will take this child? 1t is