Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1902-12-06

ter generally means a quick tempered.
sinful. ungovernable woman. who will
ultimately despise and trample upon all
pure love. 1t was because Queen
Agrippina laughed at her little, willful
boy, Nero, who doubled up his tiny
fists and struck at her. that she was
compelled to live to see the day when
the queen mother would have to bnre
her flesh for the fatal stroke of the
royal hrellngs who came to do the
bidding of murderOus son. Some
times the unkndest act that a parent
can do to a child is to give to the boy
or girl sugar plum when that child
ought to have, according to the Solo
monte advice, a good, sound thrashing.
The Sin of HypOcrisy.
Hypocrisy is the most awful of all
parental sins. No matter what the
father or mother may do, as long as the
child can firmly believe that his par
ents are living consecrated. gOdly, pure
and noble lives, that child is bound to
the foot of the cross with bands OF
steel. but when the child believes that
his mother and father are lending hypO-
critical lives, pretending one thing to
the world and living another kind OF
life at home as a rule. there Is very lit
tie temporal or spiritual hope for the
child. Bad parents generally have bad
children. The sins Of those fathers ana
mothers are visited upon the children,
even to the third and fourth genera
tions.
Sometimes the reverse Of this rule
seems to be true. Good parents, also
for awhile may seem to have bad chill
dren but II you will carefully study
the history Of different Christian homes
you will generally-aye. | believe al
ways-fnd that the children Of conse-
Grated, godly parents who have trained
them up in the way they should go
will always turn out right. while those
hypocritica parents who do not train
I'D their children right will ultimately
have their children turn out wrong.
Good old DR.. Alexander of Princeton
Train up a child in the way he should
90, and when he Is old he will not de-
part from it." He preached to prove
that nearly all the sins which men and
women practice can ultimately be traced
back to wrong parental training or tothe
hypocrisies of parents who have lived
in the home a religion of sham. After
the sermon was over some OF DR.. Alex
ander's friends said to him. Professor,
It is absurd for you to preach a sermon
like that. II what you say is true, then
you yourself have been living the wrong
kind of a Christian life or else you have
not trained your children as you should
have done. You know, doctor, that
your boy Dick is one of the worst boys
in all Princeton college. He is as Wild
as wild can be-" "Oh," answered the
good old doctor, you did not hear my
text Alright. Ny text was, Train up
child In the way he should go, and
when he is old Dick is not old yet.
Just wait awhile, and the boy will come
out all right" DR.. Alexander spoke
the truth. Dick did come out all right.
III a few years he not only gave his
heart to God, but he went to New York
city and entered business as Chris
tan layman. and long after his hon
ored father had pillowed his head in
the dust Richard Alexander, the wild
Princeton student welded a mighty
influence for God and for heaven. So,
my friends, today. as Christian men
and women, we must realize that TIE
whole future destinies Of our children
are largely dependent upon us. If we
live consecrated, godly lives and train
up our children in the way they should
90, they will also become consecrated
Christian men and women, and if we
are hypocrites and dc not train them
as they ought to be trained then our
children will also turn out wrong. Bad
parents have bad sons and daughters;
good parents produce good children.
There is hardly an exception to the
rule.
The Effect of Example.
Parental examples and training in
variably reproduce themselves in the
lives of children. There is a beauti-
full story told of noted king in the
far east who was about to take a
journey into remote part of his king
dom. He therefore sent ahead Of m
a trusted minister to build for his royal
mastera suitable palace where the king
could lodge in the far country. When
the royal courier reached the remote
part Of the kingdom, he found plague
raging there and people were dying
by thousands and tens Of thousands.
So. instead of taking the money from
the royal treasury and spending 1t for
bricks and stones and mortar, the royal
messenger spent II for bread and medi-
cine. With it he dug graves and
buried the dead. With 1t he bought
clothing to protect the living. And
when the king came and found what
his messenger had DONE instead Of
furnishing his minister. he commended
him. He said: "Oh, faithful servant,
you have builded for me a palace. You
builded 1t IN the hearts Of my people.
You have builded it's white walls out
of the tombstones which you have
erected over the graves Of the dead.
You have jeweled it with the tears
you have wiped away. You have made
my palace echo with the sweetest OF
songs; for those songs are the echoing
sobs which you have stilled." So, like
the king of old, who sent his messen-
ger into the far country, God sends US
forth as parents on a most important
mission. BY our examples and self
sacrificing love, we are to build the
palace of purity in the hearts of our
children. What we do invariably de-
cides how our children shall live and
die: II decides tler eternal welfare.
The influence of noble Christian par
ents upon the lives Of their children
cannot be described better by me in
closing than by telling the history Of