PARENTAL affection is stronger than most other affection; yet too many fathers and mothers are careless about the welfare of their children; not about the inheritance which shall go to them, not about whom they shall marry, and not about their social standing; but about the formation of habits and the determination of permanent character.
In every city there are hundreds of traps for young men; and it is as dangerous for a girl to have no Christian care in a center of civilization as to be lost in an African forest. Worldliness, ambition, appetite, passion, are more destructive to the young people of our country than the wild beasts that are so rapidly disappearing.
Parents, when their boys go to school, should ask themselves the question, Is my child safe? or are they training him or her there for the theater, for the gambling-hell, for the saloon, or for the brothel?
When the parents are at church, they should ask, Where is my child? Where is he when the parent is in the parlor, or retiring? If the boy leaves the house as soon as the evening meal is eaten, where does he go, what society does he meet, and what is his employment?
While the parents should not annoy their children by frequent and unnecessary reproof, they should know what are their occupations and associates, and that they are right. If the child is unwilling to reveal these things, it indicates that his associations or pursuits are probably evil, or that his spirit is not right toward his parents. Unless curbed, the chances of such children for honor, health, and usefulness are very poor.
Is your child safe?
God has created no one too young to be good. Do not imagine that while your child is getting the upper hand of you, that you will later be able to turn him about and make him properly respectful. His habits of mind, as well as of body, will become fixed.
Train your child to religion. The command of God is in accord with nature: "These words which I command thee this day, shall be upon thy heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children."
The commands of the Bible to religious training are emphatic and plain: "Train up a child in the way." Bring up your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Tell them that God commands, "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth." God says, "They that seek Me early shall find Me."
Do not imagine that the last utterance we quoted means that if you allow your child to cultivate the habits of sin, that you can the more easily win him later to the ways of righteousness.
Jesus, "looking on the young man, loved him." He said, "Suffer the little children to come unto Me." Paul wrote to Timothy that he had "known the Scriptures from his youth up." If your boy learns the language of the card table instead of the Scriptures, in later life he will probably not be willing, even if converted, to regard the words of the Scriptures as of great value. He will know better what "stand pat" means than what "Our Father" means.
Let your child start for the kingdom on high, even before he knows the way. Let your hand lead him. Let the language he hears be the language of Canaan. Let the sights he sees be those of the church. Teach him to pray before he learns to swear. Teach him the doctrines of the Gospel before he learns the duplicity of mankind. Teach him that the "Young America" idea does not produce "old fogies," because the "Young America" fellow does not live long enough to be an "old fogy;" because God has made the commandment read: "Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long." Teach your boy that long life depends on the principles imbibed in honoring a virtuous parent, that if he enters God's house he must honor his heavenly Father, God will have no one else there.
But still we know that our children may die while young. They should have learned to serve God while young; that they may be familiar with the principles of heaven before they go there. Youth is the time to serve the Lord. Youth is the morning, the springtime, the planting-time of life; the worst part of life to throw away, and the most valuable part to improve; the time to choose good or evil, life or death.
Lead your child to God while he is young. He belongs to God. Man is a child of God by right. Death entered the world because of the enemy, sin. That is an intruder. God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. He belongs to God. You should make your boy understand this. Do not be afraid to talk of the law of God, when "thou liest down, and when thou risest up; when thou walkest by the way, and when thou sittest in thy house." When thy boy is away from thy presence sinners will talk to him, with little hesitation, unless they know that he is fixed in the right. But if thy influence has been strong and good, thou hast made thy boy's character so clean that when he may approach a group of sinners telling each other their vulgar stories, they will hush their vile talk, just as in the presence of an honored woman or a pure girl.
Parents, take care of your boys.—Herald of Gospel Liberty.