Monumental Example of a Faithful, Successful Parent — Degeneracy of the Age Reflects the Failures of Fathers and Mothers — Children That Are Trained Right, Go Right
By MARY ALICE HARE LOPER
WHEN God chose Abraham to be the head of the Christian household of earth, it was no haphazard choice that was made. Instead, He says, "For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment." Every one who keeps "the way of the Lord" to-day, belongs in a spiritual sense to the family of faithful Abraham, and is following his blessed example. His keen sense of the responsibility of fatherhood has made Abraham distinguished through the lengthened period of four thousand years.
DID NOT DRINK NOR SMOKE
Abraham did not drink nor smoke nor chew nor swear. He did not join any men's clubs for the purpose of having some regular excuse for spending his evenings away from home, nor did he become submerged in politics to the neglect of his household obligations. Although he was very wealthy, the chief desire of his heart was not found in the accumulation of flocks and herds and silver and gold for his own selfish enjoyment.
What a splendid opportunity Abraham had for making a magnificent home in the land of Canaan, if he had chosen to do so! He might perhaps have founded a walled city to perpetuate his memory, if his heart had been given to that kind of fame. But somehow Abraham was very peculiar. He chose to "camp out" all his life, while "he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God."
It was my privilege recently to visit some of the giant sequoias of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, perhaps representatives of the oldest living monuments of earth at the present time. Some way there is a divine atmosphere about these grand old trees, which instinctively draws one a little nearer heaven, — an atmosphere not associated with the most splendid palaces of man's construction. It would surely be a hardened atheist who could pitch his insignificant tent among these grand old living towers, and with his face turned upward in an effort to see the topmost branches hundreds of feet above him — it would surely be a hardened atheist who could ever again echo as his belief, "There is no God."
SOCIETY COULD NOT CHARM HER AWAY
If Sarah had been like many a twentieth century society woman, she might easily have said to her wealthy husband: "Now see here, Abraham! I have lived long enough in these dirty old tents, away off here in the country, and we are plenty able to have a respectable home in the city. But if we can't have that, I shall go back to Egypt, and enjoy myself where people live in some kind of style, and know how to appreciate others." But Sarah was not given to frivolity. She shared Abraham's faith, and did not find her longings satisfied with anything which this earth could afford. She and Abraham were human, and therefore made some mistakes; but they desired to be true to God, and not to murmur at His providences.
Men and women who wish to devote their time to fashion and folly in the congested centers of population, would better seriously consider what marriage means before entering upon that sacred relationship; for parents have for their solving the most difficult problems that ever fall to the lot of mortals, and those who are averse to putting the best thought of which they are capable upon these questions of such vital importance to the home would better never enter the marriage relation. A family reared to disobedience, irreverence, and sin, is the greatest failure of which mortals are capable.
FAILURE THROUGH SURROUNDINGS
Many parents are making a failure of their work to-day because of being located where their children are surrounded with evil. Abraham lived in the country. God Himself led him there as the very best place for the accomplishing of his life-work. And Abraham made a grand success both spiritually and financially. He found his joy in laying up his treasures in heaven; and when he enters upon that life which is to come, he will have a mansion that will be his through all eternity, which will far surpass anything this earth now affords.
But his own future reward was not the only consideration of Abraham. It is not the chief consideration of any one who now follows his example. The first work of Abraham's life was the saving of his household. No missionary work for others was allowed to eclipse this. He believed implicitly that the head of a household can not shirk his responsibilities, and at the same time make a success of life. He saw in his children the germs of great possibilities, but he believed that if those possibilities were ever to be realized, he had a very important part to act in their development.
Abraham taught his children reverence for gray hairs. Isaac did not approach his wealthy father with any such request as: "Say, dad, give me some dough. I'm going to the city to have a good time. You see I've stayed so close to these old tents, I just must have a little vacation." No, Isaac never uttered words of that kind to his father, whom he dearly loved and cheerfully obeyed. When good old Abraham took Isaac, at the command of God, expecting to offer him as a sacrifice upon a lonely mountain, Isaac might easily have objected, and said, if he had been trained in the vernacular of the present day, with all that goes with it, "O, no, dad! I never will submit to anything like that." It seems sacrilegious to use words of this character in connection with Bible stories, and yet such language is of common occurrence in professedly Christian American homes of to-day.
Ah, how different are the homes of the twentieth century from that of Abraham! Neglect on the part of parents to give to their children the training that is their due, is very conspicuous. Disobedience to parents, as foretold in Holy Writ (2 Tim. 3:2), is a striking characteristic of the present age. The little three-year-old who complacently swears upon the street, is a living monument of parental neglect. The boy who smokes, shows a sad lack of parental care. And the child who revels in "yellow-backs" and immoral shows, does so because he has been neglected, — has been allowed to form a mental appetite for that which is evil.
TEACHING BY EXAMPLE
Home example is much more far-reaching in its influence than many suppose. The boy who sees his father smoke and drink will probably go and do likewise. The girl who sees her father and mother set a godless example, will, in all probability, go in the society of young people who are traveling the downward road. Young people's sense of propriety, of economy, of health, of happiness, is not sufficient to cause them to realize what a terrible menace tobacco, liquor, and all their attendant evils are to the happiness of the home. No youth can smoke vile cigarettes as a constant habit, and preserve his integrity. He gradually loses his sense of honor, while lying, stealing, and immorality in time may become a part of his character.
Cigarettes are a curse of the American home. They are robbing our youth of both spiritual and mental power, wholly unfitting them for places of responsibility in the great needy world. Parents should be alarmed over the dangers of this monster evil, and do all in their power to subdue it. That castle of happiness which harbors within its walls a lighted cigarette, will sometime go up in smoke, leaving its former admirers to mourn over its ashes. It is the solemn duty of parents to warn their boys and girls against the unspeakable evils of cigarettes, tobacco, liquor, and immorality.
MAY OVERCOME HEREDITY
Some children are blessed with better ancestry than others, which means that some parents have less difficult problems to solve than others. However, it is not necessary that a young man should go to the penitentiary just because his great grandfather did so. That divine echo which has reverberated for thousands of years, is just as true to-day as when it was first uttered: "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." This blessed text does not say, "Train up a child15whose pedigree is faultless, and you may make a success of your effort." It permits of no "ifs," no provisos, no exceptions. It is a divine statement, and therefore has no doubt connected with it. Every child who is not rightly trained, is the loser; and every parent who neglects his God-given task, does so at the risk of his children's eternal salvation.
"O, but," says one, "I haven't time for all this rigmarole of training." But the fact is, parents have no time for anything to the neglect of this. Missionary work of the highest order begins at home. In these days of business rush and society whirl, it requires just as much time to make a success of child training as it did in the days of Abraham. The fact that this work requires so much time, is why God gives children exclusively to their parents for a series of years, that the holy precepts of righteousness may be taught to them.
NEGLECTED FOR BUSINESS
The American home is neglected to-day because of business, politics, social affairs, and general pleasure seeking. Disobedience and disrespect on the part of children attest to this fact. Pure Christian principles as applied by faithful Abraham, are greatly needed to-day to straighten out the tangled threads in the web of home life. O that parents might all appreciate the worth of their precious children as did that devoted Roman mother, Cornelia, who, when the jewels of a wealthy Campanian lady were shown her, said, as she proudly turned to her two beautiful sons, "These are my jewels"!
