The Penn's Grove record., 1905-06-30
THE PULPIT.
AN ELOQUENT SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. ROBERT CoLLYER.
Subject: Leading Children Softly.

Brooklyn, N. Y.-The Rev. RODert
Collyer, the Oldest Unitarian pastor
in Greater New York, preached in the
Second Unitarian Church, Clinton and
Congress streets, Sunday morning. His
last appearance in that church was last
fall, when he delivered an address on
the late Rev. DR.. John White Chad.
wick, the former pastor, who had just
died. The eloquent preacher took for
his text: Genesis XXXiii:13-14, 1.-THE
children are tender; l will lead on soft
ly," and said;
1t was one of the secrets of my craft,
in the old days when | wanted to weld
iron or work steel to a fine purpose,
to begin gently. If l began as all
learners do, to strike my heaviest blows
at the start, the iron would crumble
instead Of welding, or the steel would
suffer under my hammer, SO that,
when it came to be tempered it would
fly" as we used to say, and rob the
thing l had made of its finest quality.
1t was the first condition of a good
job to begin gently, later l could strike
with a firmer hand, and in the end pour
out all my might i'll a storm of sturdy
blows; out if l began so it ended, as a
rule, with a wreck. The perfection of
II ANdSllN III hOIIlICL Z III III AClO
ing of its gentleness and it's pOnderous
might, so that it can come down as
gently rs a June shower or smite like a
tornado, according to the need of the
moment. So the skillful mechanic
starts new machinery, a locomotive,
a steam engine or even a sewing ma
chine, gently. 1t is the first condition
of keeping the balance true that the
machine shall not tear away at first
at high pressure. l noticed the same
in the building up of a grand organ.
The builder began gently in bringing
out its h~armonies, with some fine
chords, made those true and went
on to the others, and so wrought
on to the end. Again an animal trainer
while he smites the tiger with an iron
bar, if he is wise talks to a horse, al
lures him, courts him and makes him
his friend. We do not speak of "break-
ing" a horse, so much now; we train"
him.
Sol love to note such things as these
as l watch the perpetual advent of
little children into this life of ours, and
wonder how we shall deal with them in
the one wise way which will weld
them, shall l say, to whatsoever things
are true and lovely and of good report,
start them to the surest purpose and
train them so as to bring out the
whole power for good which God has
hidden in their nature. There must be
one right way, and l think this father
found it when he said: THE children
are tender; l will lead them on SOFTLY"
They may seem crude, mere machines
or little brutes; there are some men
who seem by their actions to have
such notions of a child's nature, to
their eternal shame. Here is the prin-
ciple: They are tender; we must lead
them on softly. Solomon may slip in
with his cruel maxim of Spare the rod
and spoil the child" He has no bust.
ness about my place while my children
are tender. L can no more be hard
on them than Jesus could. If | hurt
them in this evil way 1 hurt thosc
who are of the kingdom of Heaven.
My white hairs have brought me this
wisdom: That the objectionable sin
is to be hard on a tender child. 1 do
not wonder that the old grandsire is SO
gentle with the second generation. He
will not tell you, or himself, perhaps,
why he is, but he would fain recall
some passages of his fatherhood, but
that cannot be done, so he chokes back
the ineXtinguishable regret and humbly
tries to get even through the over
measure. My good mother was some.
thing of a Spartan, a very gentle
Spartan, with her children. but it was
wonderfully beautiful to see her in
her old age spreading her wide, grand.
motherly wings over the children OF
the new day. She could no more be
hard upon them, no matter what
FRANKS they played, than your May
sun can be hard upon your May bios.
SOM. 1t was the return of the heart
to the soft answer, the sweet submis.
sion to the better plan, the vision of
the infinite worth q gentle ways with
tender folk, the endeavor, unknown to
herself, to ease her dear old heart OF
what little pain there was from the
old days, the feeling that perhaps she
might have gone more softly once.
These children are not things at all
that we can turn out to pattern, but
human beings. each one living to him.
self or to herself, holding a Sc.
cret we cannot fathom, possessing
powers perhaps we cannot even
guess al children after the
flesh; Gods children after the spirit.
but intrusted to Il hands and homes
that, coming out of Heaven with hints
OF the angels in them, they may go
back when their time m as sealed
saints. The boy may be the image of
the father, yet totally different within.
We vainly try in our children, some.
times, to see our image, we detect a
faculty or temper We never had. The
Holy Spirit, which watches forever,
selects and saves, by a law we do not
half understand, and we do not I'M.
derstand these tender natures until we
know what these powers are which are
waking out of their sleep. My boy
may have a faculty which in thirty
years may be a benediction to the
human family, but to-day it may look
Xix" q vice to me, and may grow to be
a vice If | did not say, "The child is
tender. l will lead on softly" He may
be born with an OverpluS of imagina.
ton and things that have no existence
may seem realities to him; l imagine
he is lying right and left, and then
instead Of a gentle guidance, through
which lie cal find the line between
things and thoughts, / give first q stern
warning and then 4 sound whipping.
Here is a case where a father and
son are alike, out WITH q ulnerences
The father, a minister, has been draw
ing on his ina gination, time out Of
mind, for matter for his sermons; the
son has come honestly by the faculty,
but he is not shrewd enough to see
how far he can go without being found
out. The father prays for him at the
family altar, as if he were a son Of
perdition, and helps to make him one
through such prayers. gently" I
would say, pray for insight and fore
sight; this may be a rare gift you do
not understand. The loftiest poet that
ever sang may be but a vaster liar by
your criterion"
Children are tender we must remem-
Der as we try to educate them. We
could hardly light on a wiser or better
woman than Mrs. Barbauld; but she
was so eager to make a very remarka-
BILE man out Of her little nephew,