The Hazel Green herald. [volume] (Hazel Green, Wolfe County, Ky.) 1885-19??, 1894-05-31


ASPIRATIONS which wear out others
have been to you special dcvclopmer {
| and sanctification. EmploymenSs
which seem to relate only to an hour
have on them all the grandeur of
eternal history
You need the religion of Christ in the
discipline of your children The rod
which in other homes may bc the first
means used. in yours will bc the last
There will bc no harsh epithets You
knave, you villain, you scoundrel, I'll
thrash the life out of you: you are the
worst child ! ever knew" All that
kind of chastiscmcnt makes thieves,
pickpockcts, murderers and the out
laws of society That parent who in
anger strikes his child across the head
deserves the penitentiary And yet
this work of discipline must be attend
ed to- Gods grace can direct us. Alas!
for those who come to the work with
fierce passion and reclilessness Of con-
sequences. Between severity and lax
ativeness there is no choice. Both
ruinous and both destructive. But
there is n healthful medium which
the grace of God will show to us
Then we need the religion of Christ
to help MS in setting good example.
Cowper said of the oak: Time was
when settled on the leaf 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 sou 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 what
you do is right. They have no ideal of
truth or righteousness but yourself.
Things which you do, knowing at the
time to be wrong, they take to be
right. They reason this way: Father
always does right Father did this
Therefore this isright." That is good
logic but bad premises. No one ever
gets over having bad example set
him. Your conduct more than your
teaching makes impression. Your
laugh, your frown, your dress your
walk, your greetings, your good-bys,
your comings, your goings, your habits
at the table, the tones of your voice
are making an impression which will
last million years after you are dead,
and the sun will be eXtinguished, and
the mountains will umble, and the
IN nd nfn
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 would not have by this the idea
given to you that you must be in cold
reserve in the presence of your chill
dren. 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 inter
ested in all that interests them. Spen-
sippus, the nephew and successor of
Plato in the academy, had pictures of
JOY and gladness hung all around the
schoolroom. You must not give your
children the impression that when they
come to you they are playful ripples
striking against rock. You must
have them understand that you were a
boy once yourself, that you know
boys hilarities, 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
distant supernatural effulgencc, and
Il, h., -
Gus behavior, but the time will come
when they will find out the deception,
and they will have for you utter con-
tempt.
Aristotle said that boy should be-
gin to study at - years of age, before
that his time should be given to recre-
alton, can not adopt that theory. But
this suggests "A truth in the right direc-
tion. 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 a Christian? | have no.
ticed that however worldly and sinful
parents may be, they want their chill.
drcn good. When young people have
presented 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
10 or Is years, but they will be here
next Sabbath to see me baptized" /
have noticed that parents, however
want their children good.
SO il was demonstrated in a police
Court in Canada, where mother, her
little child in her arms, sat by table
on which her own handouts lay, and
the little babe took up the handouts
4 ...iAh Ahnr., LII ........4