The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1906-08-17
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON By
THE REV. !. l. TAYLOR.
Subject: Chiidren's Rights.

|
Taylor, preached sermon In antici-
patton Of Anniversary Day, on Chill
dren's Rights" The text vas from
Mark lO;14s Suffer the little chill
dren 10 come un-o Ne, and forbid
them not; for OF such is the kingdom
of God" Among other things, Mr..
! Taylor said:
Here is the Magma Cha-ta. the
great charter OF Children's rights
The kingdom is their kingdom The
| Christ IS their Christ. He recognizes
their right 10 be; their right 10 be
children; their right to a blessed
life as children. The kingdom can
not come except as children have
their rights. Could we save the chill
dren Of bat one generation, the king
dom would be here. God does not
work i'm just that way; but the king
dom will never come unless We keep
our hearts with the children and our
. faces toward the unborn. The world
| must become better by being born
again. That is the way the kingdom
| has been coming. The human race
makes progress by being better born
/ each time. The right TO be we'll
/ born should be secured to every
/ child and from birth on all its rights
as child should be safe-guardad.
Christ's blessing rests upon every
/ plea for Children's rights, upon every
/ law enacted for their protection from
! inhuman parents, guardians and en-
! plOyGrS; upon every provision for
/ their welfare when orphaned, or de-
/ serted, or sick, or feeble minded. or
I crippled, or in any way dependent.
defective or delinquent. But the
/ children who are thus afflicted, the
/ children who are beaten and sent
| ont to beg and steal, the children
| who are compelled TO work long
/ hours and under unwhOlesome con-
| ditions, the children whose parents
are dead or unable TO provide for
/ them, are not the only children VINO
need 70 have their rights examined
/ In what we call the best homes GER
tain rights of the children are in
I danger Of being overlooked, are in
need of being declared, ChampIoned
and secured.
First and foremost ! would put
the right Of children TO be children.
/ They have as good a right to be
children as We have % be grown up
/ folks; better right, probably.
/ Childhood is as much a part Of the
/ framework of this universe as earth
/ or sky or sea. The right TO a child
/ hood is inalienable. Your child has
/ q right not only to live but to live as
/ a child We are not to infer that
! Paul was ashamed Of his childhood
! because he said: when | became a
man | put away childish things"
We are not to think the less Of
/ childhood because We were meant to
outgrow it, Such real men as Paul
| was are generally discovered to have
had a real childhood. He certainly
! had had childhood sufficiently
marked to be we'll remembered
! Some men and women are not so
! fortunate. They seem to have for
! gotten that they ever were or we're
meant to be children. But Paul
said: when | was a child, | spoke
as a child, | understood as a child,
l thought Cor reasoned) as a child.
And there seems to have been no.
! body to interfere with him. Child
! hood and youth are vanity" said
the preacher. But perhaps he was
simply lamenting their brevity.
Make the most Of childhood and
! youth for they are soon gone" But
! if we are to understand him as pro-
nouncing vain and proftless the
! golden days Of all our life, he is sadly
! out Of tune with all the rest of the
Bible. Vanity, Emptiness! The
! fulness of life's worth and meaning
! is nowhere writ SO large as in the
soul OF youth Is it just lie writ
large? oh, no, for God wrote 1t
thus:
The men who retain childhood S
sense of the reality and eagerness Of
! life are the men who never grow
old and never get through learning.
There Is no substitute" says the
! bright woman from whose charming
book of nursery logic | have bor-
rowed the title Of this DISCOURSE
for a genuine, free, serene, healthy,
bread-and- butter childhood. A fine
manhood or womanhood can be built
on no other foundation" God says
the foundation shall be childhood.
Why. then, should We be impatient?
! Why should we fear to trust what
He puts nethermost for all the rest
to stand upon? II is we'll enough to
think OF the manhood and the wo-
manhood We want our children to
attain and to give TO the world But
| am persuaded that we think less
than we should Of the childhood
which it is our first duty TO give
| them.
The second right OF childhood
which | shall mention is the right
20 be governed. BY a real childhood
/ do not mean an unrestrained child
hood. A child left TO itself will not
have n natural childhood. That
which is most distinctive and beauti-
full in childhood is contributed to il,
or developed in II. by wise and low
| ing restraint. The street Arab is
not the ideal child Nor is the child
who grows up in a home where the
political maxim that governments
derive their just powers from the
consent OF the governed" is accepted
rs applying 10 parental authority.
The authority of father and moth
eS is derived from the Fitths Com
mandment and from the constitution
OF nature which lies back OK that
4 { N NtNfs.