The Bossier banner., 1894-05-31

tyrs of housekeeping. Yet there are
hundreds of people in this church this
morning who in their homes are man.
aging all these affairs with compo-
sure, an adroitness, an ingenuity and a
faithfulness which they never could
have reach ed but for the grace of our
practical Christianity. The exaspera-
tions which wear out others have been
to you spiritual development and sane
tification. Employments 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 scoun-
drel, I'll thrash the life out of you; you
are the worst child l 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 his work of disciple must be
attended to. Gods grace can direct
US. Alas for those who come to the
work with fierce passion and reckless
ness of consequences. Between severity
and laxativeness there is no choice.
! Both ruinous and both destructive.
But there is healthful medium which
the grace of God will show to us.
Then we need the religion of Christ
to help us in setting good exam
pie. Cowper said of the oak: Thine
was when settled on thy leaf a fly
could shake thee to the root. Time has
been when tempest could not" In 9th.
er words, your children are very i'm
pressible 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-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 Therefore this is right "
This is good logic, but bad premises.
No one ever gets over having had a
bad example set him. Your conduct
more than your teaching makes impress
sion. Your laugh, your frown, your
dress, your walk, your greetings, your
good-byes, your comings, your goings,
your habits at the table, the tones
of your voice, are making an inn
preston which will last million years
after you are dead, and the sun will be
extinguished, and the mountains will
crumble, and the world will die, and
eternity will roll on to endless 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 / 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
are companion with them. AS far as
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 a rock. You must
have them understand you were boy
once yourself; that you know boys
l1ilarities, boys temptations, a boys
ambition-yea, that you are boy yet.
You may deceive them and try to give
them the idea that you are some dis
tant supernatural 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
Aristotle said that boy should be
gin to study at seventeen years OF age
before that his time should be given tC
recreation. l can not adopt thai
theory. But this suggests truth il
the right direction. Childhood is too
brief, and we have not enough sym
pathv with its sportfulness. We want
Divine grace to help us in the adjust
ment of all these matters.
Besides that, how are your children
ever to become Christians if you your
self are not Christian? l have no
ticed that however worldly and sinfu
parents may be, they want their chill
dren good. When young people hav'
) presented themselves for admission in
to our membership. I have said t.
them, Are your father and mothe
willing that you shall?" and they hav
said, ''Oh! yes; they are delighted t
have us come; they have not been il
church for ten or fifteen years
but they will be here next Sabbath t
see me baptized" l have noticed tina
, parents, however worldly, want thei
children good.
/ So it was demonstrated in polio
court in Canada, where mother, he
i little child in her arms, sat by a tabi
/ on which her own hsndcuffs lay, an