Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-02-19
LAX|TY OF PARENTS
IS MORAL MENACE
Bible Contains a Rational Program
Of Progress and Reform Suit
able to Modern Times
A GOOD MANS BAD SONS
The International Sunday School
Lesson Is The Death of Eli and
His Sons," | Sam, 4:l-l8
A GOOD MANS BAD SONS
(By William T. Ellis)

our own land ana time.
The cynical proverb about Preach
ers' sons and deacons' daughters is
not true, as repeated statistical show
ings have demonstrated. Children of
the manse do not ordinarily go wrong;
quite the contrary. Sufficient eXcep-
tions remain, however, to give point
to the saying. The preachers son
who strays is sure to be noted because
he is a preachers son.
Some ministers are so engrosSed
in the larger concerns of spiritual
truth and moral progress, that they
imperceptibly drift into the state of
mind of that statesman who said that
he had no time for individuals"
Home to every minister and teacher
and Christian worker comes the init
nation that no amount of public serv-
ice can atone for failure to be true
to ones responsibilities in ones own
home.
The American Fathers Failure
Eli, the priest of Israel at Shiloh,
was a good man and efficient priest.
He was devoted to the altar and to
the glory of God. He was a kindly,
considerate character, as his dealings
with Hannah and Samuel showed, but
his love was lax in his own household,
where firm hand was needed.
Old Eli was a prototype of the
American father, engrossed in large
concerns, who let's his sons have
their own way. A prominent bust
nessman in New York said to me one
day Il really do not know my son.
You see, he has been away at school
and college, and on summer vacations
most of his life. and when he is
home for a short time, he has evening
engagements and friends at the
house" That man was beginning to
realize that perhaps, in spite of the
success that had made him a marked
personality in the great metropolis,
he had not done mans full duty by
this time.
moral menace to-day is this lax
ity on the part of the American par
ents. We are building our homes
without woodsheds, and without that
discipline for which the woodshed
proyerbially stands. The idea of law
anE discipline is lacking from
myriads of American boys, whose par
ents send them off to private schools
in the hope that hired teachers will
make up for parental neglect. 1t is
not uncommon for wealthy fathers
to give their boys huge automobiles
as toys with which to break speed
limits and frighten pedestrians
generation is growing needless of the
rights of man and of the laws of the
land. We are sowing the wind of
self-indulgence and we must expect
to reap the whirlwind of moral an
archy Old Eli returns from the dis
tant past to challenge every parent
to his primary duty as a man and a
father.
Glass Houses
1t is easier to find fault with Ell
than to train our own sons. He did
fail in the rearing of Hophni and
Phineas, his sons They abused their
position and their opportunity, and
because he was so very lenient with
them, God sent him a warning by
the lips of the child Samuel. Even
then Eli was not equal to the dras-
tic measures required, and the cor
rupt priests continued in their posi-
tions of influence. Eli bent beneath
dignity, perhaps exercising the grace
of resignation when he should have
employed the virtue of swift, strong
action.
When we are thinking about the
failure of Eli with his sons. we must
not forget that he also had much to
do with the rearing of Samuel, Is
raels greatest prophet. 1t is true
that Hannah helped more than a lit
tie, but it was under the influence
of Eli that Samuel became a states
man of God. Lest we be moved to
condemn the old priest too much, we
are reminded that Samuel's own sons
proved unworthy.
Since we live in glass houses, let
us be easy on Eli the aged. He had
real nobility of character. The blow
that killed him was not a personal
bereavement. but the news that the |
ark of the covenant had suffered ca |
lamity. AS we look about us we cam
not escape the fact that godly par
ents may have wastrel sons. Even |
the best of fathers and mothers can |
not wholly determine the moral and |
spiritual life of their children-al- |
though the home where holiness is |
made attractive is the best co-operat-
ing agent that the Lord Almighty |
has on earth.
The Preachers and the Acid Test
Quietly and soberly, as they talk |
by firesides and over luncheon tables. |
Christian men are saying |
to-day to one another that the prob
lem of the church is the problem of |
effort to shift responsibility from |
their own shoulders. But the proverb |
Like priest like people" was never |
more true than now. The world |
wants spiritual leadership. 1t is eager |
for tidings of truth and for a clear
note of certitude from the man who
speaks for God. The opportunities be-
fore the Christian ministry were never
greater than in this year of our Lord |
nineteen hundred and fifteen.
While the vast majority of the
preachers of the gospel are men of
clean life and of godliness and OF
self-sacrifice, there is nevertheless a
lack of leadership, of vision and of |
power. The church Is confessedly !
not meeting the needs of our time
we are forced to say, as
was the verdict of old Israel at the
time of our lesson, that the weak
ness of the church is the weakness of |
the priest
The sons of Eli had corrupted the
people. Their self-indulgence had
made a scandal of religion They
stopped at nothing in the way Of |
shameless, open sin. They were not
ministers. but were ministered unto |
The old epigram is recalled, "Once |
the church had golden bishops with |
wooden croziers and then the shep- |
herds fed the sheep Now we have |
wooden bishops with golden croziers |
and the sheep fed the shepherds" /" |
Worship at Shiloh had been pro- |
foundly impaired by these sinful sons |
of ELL Their evil had eaten like |
gangrene into the life of the people. |
When the Church Cannot Win
The background of this lesson is the |
battle between the Philistines and |
Israelites. When the armies were
Joined in array Israel was smitten and |
four thousand Israelites fell. It was |
dark day for the Chosen People. In !
panic, runners were sent quickly to |
Shiloh to bring to the battle the Ark
of the Covenant. that emblem of vic