THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN.
By Ethan Lanphear
ETHAN LANPHEAR
(Plainfield, N. J.) “TRAIN up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Prov. 22:6. Probably there is no requirement or command more neglected by parents and guardians than this one, and possibly more children go down to ruin as a result of this neglect than from any other cause, for “as the twig is bent, the tree is inclined.” Many parents, and even professed Christians, are very negligent in the training of their children. Many seem to think that children must sow their wild oats. This is a great mistake. It is a true proverb that “if you sow to the wind, you will reap the whirlwind.” How should parents teach their children? Teach them that every one should stand for the right, that there is a God in heaven, that He is just and good, and that it is better to obey God’s law than the laws of man. Every child should be taught to reverence God and His law. Teach the children to have a clean conscience, void of offense toward God and man: teach them to attend church and the Sabbath-school: teach them to reverence good things and good acts; never to speak evil of a good man or woman because some one else does; never to swear, or take the name of God in vain, and never to despise the poor because of their poverty, and that it is wicked to tell an untruth; teach them to remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy; that it was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. How shall parents teach their children all these things?—By always practicing them in the presence of their children. Actions speak louder than words many times. Parents should never say and do things before their children that they would condemn their children for doing. Children acquire habits early and easily, and usually consider it safe to follow the example of their parents. If parents use vulgar and profane language in the presence of their children, the children will use the same. If parents are careless in regard to the Sabbath, the children will be. I have known professed Sabbath-keepers who would occasionally attend Sabbath service in the morning, and visit ball games, wheel races, boat races, or go visiting the rest of the day, and allow their children to go fishing, chestnutting, berrying, or do whatever they pleased all day. I have such a man in mind now: he would talk in meetings, and pass himself off as a Sabbath observer. He raised quite a family, and every soul of them left the Sabbath. This carelessness in Sabbath observance has been one of the great reasons why Sabbatarians have not made greater growth in the world, and especially in this country. I believe there are more descendants of Sabbath-keepers in the State of New Jersey to-day than there are real Sabbath-keepers. A professed Sabbath-keeper, when spoken to in regard to his loose manner of keeping the Sabbath, replied, “I guess we keep our Sabbath as well as the Sunday people do theirs.” That very idea of measuring ourselves by other men must surely result in disintegration. Christ should be the pattern for every believer. Sunday-keepers violate no law of God in being slack in their observance of Sunday. I have visited a city where the professed church-members would attend church in the morning and a bull fight in the afternoon. How much better do some professed Sabbath observers do than this? I have been acquainted with professed Sabbath-keepers all my life—over fourscore years. I have known good Sabbath-keepers, those who kept the Sabbath because God commanded that we should remember it to keep it holy, and rest from our labors the seventh day, as He rested from His creative work. A good Sabbath-keeper will say to his children, at the end of the sixth day’s work: Now, children, our six days’ work is done. The Sabbath is begun. Lay by your playthings and your tools, and gather your books for reading and observing the Sabbath day according as our Father, God, has commanded. “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Do you think such children will leave the Sabbath when they grow up?