The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-06-28

but apparent. How many people II
every one hundred in this so-called, but
greatly mis-called Christian country,
"epdeavor t. incline the senses
of their souls to b instruction Which
Cod in His great love and mercy so
carefully. so fully, so forcefully, so
clearly and SO pointedly sets forth in
the Book of Books? Now. for a few
minutes, turn to a lesson found in this
Psalm, not extending beyond the 18th
verse. The Psalmist is to set forth
teachings which are "of old"-"whieh
we have heard and known, and our
fathers have told U.S." The dark say
ings' are an inheritance D see. He
avs we will not hide them from
their children" but, in imitation of
those who have gone before. he and
others will show the teachings Of the
past ito the generations to come.
Here is the lesson we recognize and
would enforee-the duty, positive, i'm
perative, Of teaching truth to the
children of a generation. 1t is surely
a most important duty, as it should be
a really pleasant and profitable duty,
to transmit the glories Of Gods Holy
Word to the coming, unborn genera
tions, as we'll as to the present gener-
alton of the young. 1t Is a delightful
pleasure for a faithful parent to hand
down the knowledge of true religion
n genuine piety-what constitutes
these elementary and fundamental
truths of religion in the soul-from
father to son, from generation to gen
Grafton. What is the matter? How is
it that there are SO many impressions,
opinions, theories, dOgmatic state
ments as to what is truth? Says an
English clergyman, of the Church OF
England, Girdlestone: IF there ever
was a time when men learned the
truths by revelation direct from God,
there never ought to hav been a sim
gle generation from that time to the
present, which has not been instruct
ed Alright by those which came before
ii, and which has not instructed Alright
| those who came after it. Is not this
| so? If the parents of every generation
had been faithful to God, faithful to
| themselves and faithful 20 their chill
dren, would not the primal, revealed
truths of God nave been sent on from
| generation to generation in unbrOken
| exactness, fidelity and authority?
| There is no doubt of the duty of par
| ents Just here. The genuine. true, in
fallible religion of God is to be h u
| transmitted from sire to son, from gen.
| Grafton to generation down to the last
syllable of recorded time. Parental
teaching and parental authority go
hand in hand and can never end until
Il III AAAo Nliu AlIS AS
word is im~perishable, but oral teach
ing is a great help as well as duty in
| preserving this truth of roc in the
world. 1t does not supersede preaching,
| the lessons Of the pulpit, but is an aid
and supplement to it. 1t is the Lesson
| of the Bible that our children are to
be faithfully taught as to the way OF
life, and they are 20 be so instructed
as to be brought up in 1.-The nurture
and admonition Of the Lord" Teach
what is true, what is false, what is
pure, what is vile, what is God, what
is of the devil, what is holy and what
is sinful, hat they may practice faith.
fully the one and avoid always tho
other. The same divine writes of the
father: Let him teach his children
all that he knows Alright, and warn
them to avoid all that he is aware o.
having done wrong. Let them lave
the benefit, as far as possible, of his
experience, without the risk of his
temptations, n the pain of his re-
] gretS. All that he car do for them, by
teaching" exhorting, warning, and re-
/ proving, will not be more than needfu'
4 to prevent them from falling into
sins, and suffering the sorrows OF
those who I've gone before them.'