The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-04-06

DR.. TALMAGE ON THE DUTIES OF PA
RENTS To CHILDREN.
The Dangers and Temptations which
Surround the Young-Necessity of
Wise Training and Proper Discip-
line-Responsibility of Mothers-

This discourse Oh LIT. IdiLldSe WIN
interest young men, while it is Of ad-
vice and encouragement to parents VINO
are trying to bring up their children
Alright; text, Proverbs 10, i, "A wise
son maketh a glad father; but a fool
isb sen is the h~eaviness of his mother"
In this graphic way Solomon sets
forth the idea that the good or evil be-
havior of children blesses OF blights
the parental heart l know there are
persons who seem to have no especial
interest in the welfare Of their chill
dren. The father says: NJ boy
must take the risks 1 took in life. II
he turns out well, all right; If he turns
out i'll, he will have to bear the con-
sequences. He has the same chance
that / had. He must take care OF him
self" A shepherd might just as well
thrust a lamb into a den of lions and
say, Little lamb, TAKE care OF your
self"
Nearly all the brute creation are kind
enough to look after their young. l
was going through a woods, and l
heard a shill cry in a nest. l llmDed
up to the birds nest, and l found that
the old bird had left the brood TO starve
But that is a very rare occurrence
Generally a bird will pick your eyes
out rather thar surrender her young
to your keeping or your touch. A lion
will rend you If you come too near the
whelps; even the barnyard fowl, with
it's clumsy foot and heavy wing, Will
come at you if you approach its young
too nearly, and God certainly intended
to have fathers and mothers as KIND
as the brutes.
Christ comes through all our house
holds today, and he says: You take
- ~ nnd
the minds of your children. what are
you doing for their immortal souls?'
1 read of a ship that A
lifeboat was launched. Many of the
passengers were in the water. A
mother with one hand beating the
waves and the other hand holding her
little child out toward the lifeboat
cried out, "Save my child" And that
impassioned cry is the one that finds
an echo in every parental heart in this
land today. Save my child" That
man out there says: Il have fought my
own way through life. L have got
along tolerably we'll. The world has
buffeted me, and I have had many a
hard struggle. 1t doesn't make much
difference what happens to me, blu
save my child" You see, l have a SUBJ
ject of s~tupendous import, and l am
going, as God may help me, to snow
the cause of parental sOlicitude and
then the alleviations of that 'solicitude.
The first cause of parental solicitude
I think, arises from the mperfection
of parents on their own part. We all
somehow want our children to avoid
our faults. We hope that if we have
any excellences they will copy them,
but the probability is they will copy
our faults and omit u e~XcellenceS.
Children are very apt to be echoes of
the parental life. Some one meets a
lad in the back street, finds him smok-
ing and says: Why, 1 am astounded
at you. What would your father say
if he knew this? Where did you get
that cigar?" "Oh, l picked it up on the
street" What would your father say
and your mother say if they knew
this?'' '-Oh," he replies, " that's moth
ing. My father smokes" There is not
one of us today who would like to have
our children copy all u example. And
that Is the cause of Solicitude on the
part of all of us. We have so many
faults we do not want them copied and
stereOtyped in the lives n characters
of those who come after US.
THE MATTER OF DISCIPLINE.
Then solicitude arises from our con-
scious insufficiency and unwiSdom of
discipline. Out of 20 parents there
may be one parent who understands
how thoroughly and skillfully to dis
cipline; perhaps not more than n
out Of 20. We nearly all of us, err
on one side or on the other. Here is a
father who says: Il am going to bring
up my children right. My sons shall
know nothing but religion, shall see
nothing but religion and e nothing
but religion" They are routed out at
6 o'clock in the morning to recite the
Ten Commandments. They are. wax
ened up from the sofa on Sunday
night to recite the Westminster cate
chism. Their bedroom walls are cover
ed with religious pictures and quota
tfons Of Scripture, n when the boy
looks for the day of the mouth he looks
lister comes to the house, he is request
ed 10 take the boy aside and tell him
what q great n he is. 1t is relig-
ion morning, noon and night.
Tfme passes on, n the parents are
waiting for the return of the son at
night. 1t is 9 o'clock, it is 10 O'Clock,
it Is IL o'clock, it is u o'clock, it is
a rafting Of the night key, and George
comes in and hastens up stairs lest
he be accosted. His father says
George. where w you been?" He
says, Il nave been out" Yes, he has
been out, and he has been down, and
he has strated on the broad road to
ruin for this life and ruin for the life
~ OAAO oAo lax NAO VOL ~ LIS
wife: Mother, the Ten Command
ments are a failure. No use of West
Minister catechism. 1 have done my
very best for that boy. Just see how
he has turned out" All! my friend,
you stuffed that boy with religion.
You had no sympathy with innocent
hilarites. You had no common sense.
A man at midlife~ said to me: 81
haven't much desire for religion. Ny
father was as good a man as ever Hv-
ed. but he damned religion down my
threat when I was a boy until / got
disgusted with it, and I haven't want
ed any OF it since" That father erred
on one side.
Then the discipline is an entire fail
ure in many households because the
father pulls one way and the mother
pulls the other way. The father says,
my son. I told you If I ever found
yeu guilty Of falsehood. again / would
shastise you. and I am going to keep
my promise" The mother says:
"DHa't. Let him OF this time"
a father says: ST have seen SO
1850 that roro rnic%ol-a H. 80 --1-s