Good Talk in a Convention.
The following extract was put into our hands already “clipped,” and we cannot tell who is the speaker. It is worthy of careful reading, and consideration:— “RELIGIOUS TREATMENT OF THE YOUNG.
“This is the one topic that would bring him here from a sick bed. The world is getting the start of us, and sweeping away a majority of the boys and girls. We are not keeping up with the increase of population. We must secure the children. It is a very difficult thing to take a man at forty years of age and make him understand that he is to become as a child. One difficulty which we have to meet is that children are being better educated than their parents. Parents recognize the acquirements of their children, and children recognize the ignorance of their parents. A boy of ten years of age, now a days, knows as much of this world’s wickedness as a man could at forty, a few generations ago. He spoke in warm terms of severe censure, of the too common practice of providing the young with improper papers, books, and pictures. The lads are drawn into saloons, where dominoes are played by respectable (?) citizens, and they would not have gone there, but for the example of such persons. Our leading men must understand that these little things are the steps that lead to the utter ruin of the boys who see them. The obscenity and looseness of speech of such men is another great obstacle in the way of the improvement of the young. There are a few such among the leading business men of Adrian. They haven’t a God from the garret to the cellar of their houses. They are godless and corrupt.” “Nine parents out of every ten have no family altars. Mothers can’t let their boys go out of their sight without their coming into contact with men who want to drag them down to hell; they must pass gilded saloons whose only end is to destroy them, body and soul. His method for saving boys is to make himself familiar with them. It doesn’t pay to keep up dignity with them, and to catechise them regarding the ‘chief end of man’; if you try it, the boys will run away. He has organized what they call ‘Our Circle,’ wherein no boy under twelve years of age is admitted, except by special request. He related the results of that ‘Circle,’ which he regards as truly gratifying. He keeps the boys cheerful in a quiet, social way for a time; then they engage in prayer. Those boys had taught him what Paul meant by the Christian kiss. He always carries one of the circle with him in his travels, when possible. Next to familiarity, he placed courage and patience. A church that takes in a flock of young people during a season of revival, and leaves them without personal care, is tampering with their souls. We do not study to get into their ways of thinking so much as we should. We should cultivate our power of adaptation to the young more than we do. One of the best ways of getting the sympathy of the young is to talk with them about subjects concerning which they don’t dare to speak even to their parents. Parents make a great mistake in neglecting to teach their children regarding their secret life. These things must be attended to. It is a delicate matter, but the necessity of it is terrible, far beyond the imagination of any one unacquainted with it. He summed up the leading features of his plan as follows: familiarity, courage, and a patient, sympathetic adaptation to the minds and feelings of the young.” “DISCUSSION OF THE TOPIC.
“Rev. L. M. Hunt, of Jackson, spoke in a similar strain. He thought that nothing is lost by laying aside some of the ministerial dignity. The result of it has been to fill his church with young men and women. We are too much minister and too little man. “Rev. J. M. Fuller had found that children are much like men. There is more religion connected with our physical organization than anything else: the physical organization has more to do with the religious nature than is generally supposed. Train the children; give them physical exercise. Make home the most inviting place in the world for them. “Rev. J. W. Hough, of Jackson, stated that he gathered the children of his church into a pastor’s class once a week. In a free and conversational way, they are reading or talking about Bunyan’s ‘Pilgrim’s Progress.’ A great deal can be done for the children at home, before they come into the pastor’s hands.”—Det. Weekly Tribune.