"Divine Husbandry "

Feilding Star, Volume XI, Issue 34, 3 September 1889, Page 3

"Divine Husbandry "

■'■ The following is a report of the above lecture given in the Presbyterian Church, on "September Ist; by the Rev. H. M. -Murray-: — The subject of the lecture was the right training of children, the lecturer taking- for 'his text Proverbs XXII, 6 — Train Up a child in the way it should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. He remarked it might seem as if this promise were • often' falsified, because sometimes children brought up by good ■and religious parents turned out worthless men, while on the other hand many whose training had bsen woefully neglected grew up into good and honored and useful members ;of society. •• The lecturer remarked that these might be only apparent What appears to us a good training may not really" be good. Pious -and well meaning parents are not always wise in the treatment of their children. They often err by over indulgence and in other ways. What seems to us a failure -in God's promise is really not so, but is the. result of failure of the parents to fulfill, the attached to it. Our wisdom .Being -imperfect at best, our efforts Obeing feeble at best, and the spirit in which; we engage in duty being often very •defective, we need not wonder if the measure in which we realise the fulfilment of' Grbd's promises is imperfect too, •but even in cases where the training given in youth seemtf to 'have been entirely cast offend to have come to nothing, we are Hpt\ topi, hastily to conclude that it has been lost. The prodigal in a far country may' thiiik pf his earthly father's house and of thY admonitions and instruction he jreteeived': there, -and these thoughts may lead him back to his Heavenly Father's liouse,''Sq that there may be even then, at tbat.late^Vday, a fulfilment of the promise of ourctexti . even when he is old he will liot deparfcfroni it. Having thus removed preliminary r dilficulties and objections the lecturer ;next considered the question of how children were to be trained. He laid downthe following maxims : — 1- You "miTst walk in the right way .yourself before you can teach your child to'w.alkvin it. Children are more influ«ngedr,;by : :the : general example of their parents than by the words which' they speak to itjiem. In order to make children\pbVaient to us we must show them that;>ye "ourselves obey a higher authority. If we-do- not reverence God, how can we «xpec't';- our children to reverence us. Parents often^grieve over the want ' of respteot. and gratitude and natural kindness shown to them .by their children after their, eferlwst years, -but 'the "reason often is jbhigje^naye L never taught those children thai r .t.]hfere yi;as anything to respect or- love or ,'ti|y^rence. Eeverence for God is the root' bf true" obedience, but reverence will not be found in the child unless it is placed there by the parent and it's growth eneoiira^edvr^.

A second maxim was that parents should be firmancl.-consi'steut in the management ; tot ;th«k cilildren. Many well meaning parents, err^ here, they make rules and suffer them to be broken with impunity,, tbe^igive epinmanda and sufter them to be disobeyed, they bribe them to do things which ; ought; _-to be 'done 'without any reward, ttiej > weakly yield '. complianco with all tbewhims of their children. 'The«vU of this is ;twofoldj -. it makes both the parent and the child unhappy ; it worries ■and teases the -mother and it makes the children fractious and discontented. Nothing promote&cnaofe the comfort of.parents and the Kappihess of childrenthan a firm, calm, consistent, but kindly government of the household. ,^~~'SThel;|hwfeinaxim . was that parents should;^c^en'sb. ■ in; their children -sehtiments of "juitiee.. .charityi. •This is. violated when' parents ; are toa eager to listettVto All. their, -camplaints... against nei'4iborß and companion-!, and' too unwilling to believe that their 'chiidren can be in the wrong. Now this injures the child in two wajß,>it fosters all the evil'passions of bis heart and- itrtaises up enemies. It tends to make him both Hateful and hated.

A fourth maxim was, children should be taught to be kind to animals.' '-They should be taught that the law of kindness, which should rule. V, their treatment of human friends and coinpanibns, extend to animals alSo'... Teach them that the animals are iHeir. fellow creatures, and that God hateji ttridlpjraishes cruelty. Cruelty Bhouldfbe^repressed in children because nothing tends rnpfe to corrupt and harden their he'artfc ' : '. : ,"''.,;.'.. . „: The fifte.Vand T^Lst maxim was, that parents should u&part '-. to their children the knowledge of the revealed way, of sal : . vationand'shquld seek to set.tnem in that way- "'"He reni&riteH .that thlis was the most important maitfeiv 0f,,a1l and that if it were neglected, though .'aft other things were Attended to their.cUildren would still be left putlside of the way in^which they :»hould go. This; is the way' of salyatipn .through dhrist crucified, and it consists in pardon of sinv pfeace with God, repentence, faith, and hew 6Fediencey But in 6rder to teach^this.way. to their. children parents jaust kfiowr:iV themselves 'and be .walking iv it tjjMEtsl^es- parents iriust have a double Snai?tiy^vifor" amending to their sal ; Bakes and /or {be sale© M '"their^ children.; ,