The Alaska citizen., 1915-02-08
THE CHILD AND THE MAN.

W hen 1 was Cllu spdhe understood .. thought as a child : but when l became a man, l put away childish things. II Cor. l3:ll.
 There Is time for everything, and God hath made everything beau tiful in his time" We love the month of December as we love the month of May. providing these months follow the natural course of cold and heat The beauty of the autumn leaves, the sparkle of the hoar frost, the tulip rocked to sleep by the music of the wintry blast, and covered for its sweet repose with bed of pure, soft snow; all lose their seasons charm when spring comes to bring the leaves anew, to drive the cold afar. and say to the ice and snow. Come. now, steal away into the ground and cause the flowers to laugh under the kiss of the sun" The spring, summer, au- tumn and winter of our being are beautiful only in their time. Pro longed infancy. precious childhood or premature decay excite other feelings than those of admiration.
 The contrast here is very striking. "I spake as child" When the child begins to speak how broken is the utterance. The sharp ear Of motNer love can comprehend 1t, but the stranger finds 1t a task. q understood as a child" Papa" said the little boy, Do lions go to heav- en?" Why, no. my son, why do you ask such question:" "Oh. only Johnnie said his brother who is a missionary was eaten by lion" How weak the understanding. How liable to error. T thought as a child" How immature and illogical the processes. What a marvel is the change from childhood to man. hood! In the nursery at Tarsus was the infant boy Saul; at the court of Caesarea was Paul the full grown man, making Felix tremble.
 There Is something belonging to our childhood which We should al WHY'S seek to preserve-its freshness, humility and truthfulness. These are the characteristics that live. Childhood refers to the lovely and l0vah'e qualities of early life Childish things" are synonyms for things babyish. foolish, imbecile. in fantile, infantine, paltry, petty. puerlln silly. trifling, trivial; while child Nood seeks to emphasize those things that are bold-in it's true sense namely: resolute. strong, vigorous, of good report. against such there ts no law Between childishness and childlikeness there is the widest difference.
 Christ teaches us to unite the heart of the child with the under standing of the man. We do greatly err when We unite the heart of a nan with the understanding of a child. The understanding of a child being untaught and untrained natur- ally tends towards ignorance. The only healthy hunger of ignorance is knowledge. The child in sweet innocence worries the unappreciative parent by asking questions Poor little fellow, he is so hungry. Par ents should give him the ce>sidera tion he deserves and feed his hunger with good things. The parent, how ever, must have gone over the path way the child should tread. History tells us the pathway of the parent
 It is perfectly natural for a child Q attach undue value on his own surroundings. He Is not to be blam- ed for narroWness. As he has never been to a city to see it's vast popu- 'ation. grand buildings and business 'ustle and system. he ascribes un- due importance to the hamlet in which he lives: as he has never seen T mountain peak rise as mighty king head and shoulders above his fellows" he places undue importance to the hillock upon the sides Of which he plays and sings; as he has never seen a Niagara majestic, DOW er1ul ennohline he goes t0 the r9nT It the foot Of the hill and with a cast off vessel creates a "temnea' n teapot" and waterfall from it's spout; as he knows nothing "underetandine" and "thorpht" Of
 understanding" and though" of a child, small wonder that he plays all day with his toys oblivious to the world-the real world
 child is necessarily weak, and only by the exercise of his latent powers does he gain strength to nerform the tasks of manhood Feebleness is the cause of his fail ures. Not knowing his own power he lacks confidence. But feebleness in a child is but the approach to strength. There is a feebleness that nan expect no strength, and there Is feebleness that can expect strength. Both are natural Both are victory In the glow of his first love the young convert thinks he can achieve any task. He falls be cause of feebleness-feebleness of 1nderstanding. Of thoug't If evner fence. In due time he will become man if he allows his feebleness of Christian childhood to grow into the strength Of Christian manhood It Is obtained in no other way. The world is full of childish" Christians Necause they have left the sincere milk of the word" and have never gone on to It's meat"
 What is more noticeable in a child than the trait of selfishness. Hence the ereediness in children and their egotism. It takes man 10 use other than the perpendicular personal pronoun. A selfish child has the excuse of ignorance. The selfish man has no excuse. He tnows better. While this fault re- mains in man 1t Is impossible to make progress in true religion. Learn the lesson of the Master, Tt is more blessed to give than to re- ceive"
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