Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1900-04-04
SERMON
Rev. DR.. CaImase

0NVVV ~ ~eo"OO
Subject: The Home Life-It Points Out
the Duty of Parents and Admonishes
the Children-Don't stun the Young
People With Religion.
GCopyr,ght lsoo.l
WASHINGTON, ID. C.-This discourse OF
DIR. Taimage will interest young men. while
it is full OF advice and encouragement to
parents who are trying TO bring up their
children Alright; text, Proverbs X, l, "A
wise son marketh a glad father, but "A fool
ish son is the heaviness of his mother"
In this graphic way solomon sets forth
the idea that the good or evil behavior OF
children blesses or blights the parental
heart. l know there are persons who seem
to have no especial interest in the welfare
of their children. The father says: MY
boy must take the risks took in life. Ii
he turns out WE'LL all right. Ii he turns
out i'll, he will have to bear the conse-
auences. He has the same chance that l
had He must take care of himself"
shepherd might just as well thrust lamb
/, into a den OF lions and say, Little lamb,
take care OF yourself"
Nearly all the brute creation are kind
! enough to lock after their young. 1 was
going through a woods, and l heard u
shrli crv in nest. 1 climbed up to the
birds nest, and 1 found that the old
bird had left the brood to starve. But that
is n very rare occurrence. Generally bird
will pick your eyes out rather than surren-
der her young to your keeping or your
touch. lion will rend you If you come
too near the whelps. Even the barnyard
fowl with its clumsy foot and heavy wing,
will come ut you II 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 households
! to day and He says: "You take care OF
| the bodies of your children and the minds
| of your children. What are you doing Tor
their immortal souls2" l read of ship
that foundered. A life-boat was launched.
Many of the passengers were in the waters.
! A mother with one hand beating the wave
| and the other hand holding her little child
out toward the lifeboat, cried out, Save
! my cbild!' And that impassioned cry is
! the one that finds an echo in every paren-
! tai heart in this land to-day. Save my
| childI' That man out there says: Il have
| fought my own way through life, have got
| along tolerably we'll, the world has buffeted
| me- and have h d many a hard struggle.
1t don't make much difference what hap
| pens to me, but save my child!' You see
| / have a subject of stupendous import. and
| am going, as God may help me, to show
| the cause of parental solicitude and then
| the alleviations of that solcitude.
| The first cause of parental solicitude,
| think, arises from the imperfection OF
parents on their own part. We all some
| how want our children to avoid our faults.
| We hors that If we have any excellences
| they will copy them. But the probability
| is they will copy our faults and omit our
| excellences. Children are very apt to be
echoes of the parental life. Some one
meets lad in the back street. finds him
| smoking and says: why, am astonished
| at youl What would your father say II he
knew this? Where did you get that cigar2"
"Oh, l picked it up on the street" what
| would your father say and your mother say
| IL they knew this?" "Oh, he replies, "that's
nothing. My father smokes" There Is
not one of US to-day who would like to
| have our children copy all our examples.
| And that is the cause of the solicitude on
| the part of all of u.s. We have SO many
| faults we do not want them copied and
! stereotyped in the lives and characters OF
| those who come after us.
| The solicitude arises from our conscious
! insufIicieucy and unwisdom of discipline.
| Out of twenty parents there may be one
| parent who understands how thoroughly
and skiIlfully to discipline; perhaps not
| more than one out of twenty. We, nearly
| all of u.s. err on one side on the other.
| Here is IA father who says, II am going to
| bring up my children right; my sons shall
| know nothing but religion; shall see moth
| ing but religion, and hear nothing but re-
I ligion." They are routed out at o'clock
| in the morning to recite the Ten Com
| mandments. They are awakened up from
| the sofa on Sunday night to recite the
| Westminster Cutechism. Their bedroom
| walls are covered with religious pictures
| and quotations of Scripture, and when the
boy looks for the day of the month he
looks for it In Il religious almanac. If a
| minister comes to the house, he Is re-
| quested to take the boy aside and tell him
| what n great sinner he IL. 1t is religion
| morning, noon and night.
| Time passes on, and the parents are wait
ing for the return of the son at night. 1t
| is O'Clock, it is 10 o'lock, it is IL O'Clock,
| it is II o'clock, it is half-past IL O'Clock.
| Then they hear a rattling of the night key,
| and George comes in and has.ens upstairs
! lest lie be accosted. His father says,
| George, where have you been?" He says,
| Il have been out" Yes, he has been out,
| and he has been down. and he has started
on the broadroad to ruin for this life and
| ruin for the life to come. and the father
saws to his wife, Mother, the Ten Com
| mnndments are II failure; no use of West
| minister Catecbism; have done my very
| best for that boy; Just see how he has
turned out All, my friend, you stuffed
| thar boy with religion; you had no sym
| pathey with innocent hilarities; you had
| no common sense. A man at midlife said
to me, Il haven't mu ch desire for religion;
| my father was as good man as ever lived,
but he jammed religion down my throat
when 1 was a boy until 1 got disgusted
with it, and I haven't wanted any of it
SINCE" That father erred on one side.
Then the discipline is an entire failure
in many households because the father
pulls one way and the mother pulls the
other way. The father says, "My son, /
told you IL ever found you guilty OF false
hood again 1 would chastise you, and L am
| going to keep my PROMISE The mother
says: Don't! Let him off this time"
A father says. 81 have seen so many that
| make mistake by too great severity in the
rearing of their children. Now, 1 will let
my boy do rs he pleases. He shall have
| full swing. Here, my sou, are tickets to
the theatre and opera. Ifyou want to play
| cards do so; IL you don't want to play
| cards, you need not to play them. Go
| when you want and come back when you
| want to. Have II good time. Go iti'' Give
| II boy plenty of money and ask him not
what he does with 1t, and you pay his way
straight to perditirn. But after awhile
| larger supply. He has been treated, aud
| he must treat. He must have wine sup
! pers. There are larger and larger ex-
| penses.
After awhile one day a messenger from
the bank over the way calls in and saws 10
! the father of the household of which am
| speaking, ''The officers of the bank would
| like to have you step over a minute" The
| father steps over, and the bank officer
I says, "Is that your check?" NO." he
says; that is not my check. 1 never made
| an H in that way; 1 never put n curl to
| tho 'Y' in that way. That is not my
writing. That is not my signature. That
| Is a counterfeit. Send for the police"
"Stopl' says the bank officer. "Your son
| wrote that"
Now the father and mother are waiting
| for the son to ccme home at night. 1t is
| IL O'Clock, 1t is half-past IL o'clock, It is l
| O'Clock. The son comes through the hall
| way. The father says: MY son, what
does all this mean? / gave you every op-
portunity. gave you all the money you
| wanted, and here In my old days 1 Ind thai
you have become spendtbrift II libertine
| and a sot." The son says: "Now, father,