A Few Words to Mothers of New Zealand.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 227, 5 November 1887, Page 1

A Few Words to Mothers of New Zealand.

liV LADY VOX.

It i^ a common question now-a-days, "What shall we do with our boys ? — and, what shall we do with our girls ? " Boys and girls there will bbande — and right it is there should be. And y hoe\ er has them is answerable for them — not. only how they may be clothed and fed — but what sorb of men and women they arc to be when they shall cease being boys and c^irls. This will depend Plainly on how their parents bring them up. As the tv\ ig is bent, the tree will grow ; straight or crcoked as may be. Children are like wax, and will retain for life the impressions made on them while young. Nobody has so many chances of teaching 1 a child as its ow n mother, and it is to the mothers of New Zealand that I wish to address a few words on the subject. Perhaps you did not think of it, but it is true, that yon may influence your child's life before it is born. You may pray for it as you can pray for yourself ; and you can so oider your own life and habits, your heart, your temper, and all your doings, as to make your child take atter you, and make it a better child in every way than it might have bean if you had lived a reckless, thoughtless, proycrless life. And when it i? born, leceivo it as a loan from the Lord ; not a gift, but a loan ; to be returned to Him, some day, with inteiest. The babe is a talent committed to your charge ; it i.s your privilege to make much of ic. Suppose that when God gave you this child, He said, as Pharaoh's daughter said to the mother of Moses. "Take this child and xursi: it tor me, and I v/ill gh c thee thy wages." Say to yourself, as Judali &aid when the ruler of Egypt was going to keep his young brother : " How shall I g 0 up to my father, and the lad bo not with me ? " As you hope to see the face of your Father in heaven, be sure to take your children with you that they may see Him al=o. Your child is born for eternity, to live for ever and ever. You will be often anxious about its blinking up for its business in this life — how it may be taught such things as will enable it to do well ; to get on in the world ; to have food and clothing, a good home, and be respectable. But all that lasts, at most only for threescore years and ten. What is to come to your child after that ? What provision are you going to make for it during that long period which is called "for ever and ever"? Tt is for you to give it a start on this long journey, and how it w ill get on w ill depend very much on the start you give it. Some people think it right to lefc a child grow up without religious teaching. They say, " i will not prejudice its mind one way or the other, but let it choose its religion for itself when it is grown up. " But, remember that the devil has no scruples : he will beyin as soon as ever he can get at your child, for he well knows that if he can get him while young, he will not trouble about religion when he grows up. If you leave your child to the devil's teaching, or, as 3 r ou call it, to "choose his own religion,' he will most likely never choose any at all ; or it will probably be the religion of thepublic-hous^, the race-course, the theatre, or the ballroom, which are so attracth c to most 3'oung people. People do not in general stumble by accident on the knowledge of Cod. Like other knowledge, it has to' be taught. Some think children cannot undei stand the Bible Perhaps they cannot nndeistand it all, but very small childien can understand a ?rea'^ deal of it. Some years ago there was a \ cry remarkable man named "Thomas Holcroft. His father was a poor cobbler; very ignorant, and nob at all religious ; but he was very proud of his boy, because he was a smart little chap, and he got a Bible, and made him learn to read it just to show how clever he wat. He used to make him read eleven rhaptess a day ; and he learned all the hard Jewish names in the book of Neheminh, to astonish the neighbours by repeating them. He became very much interested in the Bible stories, but had no clear idea of what religion meant, for nobody taught him. When he was barely six years old, his father, being very poor, sent the boy round to beg ; and while he did so the lad invented and told all soits of lies to interest the people from whom he was begging. But though he got a great deal of money by this, his conscience smote him ; and he tells us himself, in a book lie wrote — 'It pleased me that my talents could keep my parents tiom want; but, as it happened, I had leadand remembered the consequences of good and evil as they are pointed out in the Scriptures ; and f>o to be ■a liar, a rogue, and get hanged, did not square well with the confused ideas J had of goodness and greatness.' So he told his parents ; and they profited by it, and gave over the bad life they were leading; and they and he took to honest industry ; and though he was often mixed up with bad company in after-life, and never .seems to have understood the whole gospel, his early Bible reading appears to have given him as much light as made all the difference between his being a liar and a rogue and a vagabond, and what he was afterwards, a very distinguished literary man, and full of plans for the improvement of his fellow-men, and the promotion of their social and political welfare. The early start in the right direction made all the difference. Bo not, then, suppose that your children must be in years before yon begin the work of their religious training. Begin teaching them at your own fireside, and God 'will water the seed you sow. Little things not old enough to speak plainly have given their hearts to Jesus, and led others to do thefcame. " Suffer little children to come unto Me ; and forbid them not." This was what He said Himself, and what He says to you now— "Suffer little children to come unto Me." Do not keep them away, as if Jesus would hurt them. "He laid His hands upon them, and blessed them," when He was on earth ; and He will lay His blessing upon them now, if you bring them to Him.

Bui remember that the most effectual teaching will be your own example. Let your child's earliest recollections be of your Christian life. There can be no more pleasing sighf than whabl have myself seen, the babe of the family brought in and placed on its father's knee while ho read the daily portion of God's ■word, and prayed for all his household. Such is the way that Christian parents should begin the day. seeking the Lord's guidance ; for He knoweth what we want before we ask Him. A day thus begun will bring its own blessing ; and give strength to overcome all our family troubles, all our temptations to hasty words, to unkind thoughts and selfish acts, remembering that each should esteem others better than themselves. Rule your child lovingly, but firmly. Teach it obedience. Eli was (lod's high piiesfc; but he neglected the education of his children, lie let them do as they pleased, and they grew up " children of Belial, ' that is, devil's children ; and their bad lives brought down (lod's anger on the nation to which they belonged, and which was infected by their bad example. On the other hand, we read that Abiaham " commanded his children and his household after him, that they should keep the way of the Lord." And God commanded the fathers of Israel to teach His laws to their children : "when thou sittestin thine house, and when thou walkest by tho way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."— (Deut. vi. 7.) " Lot your light shine before men" ; that is, let them see yourself lead a Christian life, and show yourself one of the Lord's people. Never threaten children vs hen yon do not intend to punish them. I lately heard a woman, in one of towns, call out to her child — "Mary Jane, come into the hou^e, or I'll kill you." Mary Jane did not come in, but persisted in her disobedience ; and her mother did not kill her, and never meant to do it : but what better was either mother or daughter? The woman had evidently lost, long ago, all pioper authority over her child, probably because I she always scolded and threatened. If punishment must be inflicted, let it be done quietly, and without threatening, and give the child the reason as well a^ the rod. Let it understand that it is for its own good, and not for the gratification of your' temper. We are told to " seek first the kingdom of God, and all other things shall be added ' to us. Bat thi* ciocs not mean that we are to tru^t to chance for our success in life, or in bubinc-s. The Biblo nob only tells us to be fervent spirit, but it tells us also to be " notslothful in business ;"and " whatsoevi r thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.' 1 At the same time, as you bring up your children in tho nurture and admonition of the Lord, you are bound to give them such an education as will enable them to earn a livelihood, and to do their duty in that station of life in which it has pleased God to place them. When young persons have been allowed to grow up without education, or very little of it, they too often sink down in the world, and their life becomes a mere struggle for existence, without comfoit, pleasure, or respectability. They fail to comply with the Bible injunction — to '* provide things honest in the sight of all men. ' "To be without knowledge," Solomon say?, "is nob good." "It is nob easy to make an empty sack stand upright," was the saying of a modern wise man. . A huge majority of the criminals in our prisons can neither read nor write, or can only do the one or the other so imperfectly, that practically they seldom attempt either. Any knave can impose upon the ignorant. The government of this country has placed the simpler branches of education within the reach of every one at almost nominal cost ; and ' besides these there aie private schools and colleges, in which a more advanced education is given. There is, therefore, no excuse for your children not being sent to school ; and it should be a pleasure to you to see that your child makes progress in useful leaininr, and that whatever it learns, it lev. ■ i - n ell. Bui ; *rt 'cading, writing, and arithmetic, and a ..die geography, or Greek, Latin, and French, arc not all that go to make up a good education. You should take care that your children do not learn bad habits. Hundreds of boys are ruining their health by learning to .■moke, and hundreds more ruining both body and soul by learning to drink. What a fine lot of men they will make ! Every one of them will have a stomach complaint, or a liver complaint, or some sort of ailment. They will have to take somebody's pills, or somebody's painkiller, or somebody's something, to keep them on their legs and wake them up. Who arc they that swallow these things except the smokers and drinkers ? Nature never meant us to take them. They are poor substitutes for wholesome food. Tobacco and drink are also expensive and damaging ; they weaken the 'brain and j damage the digestion ; and those who in- ; dulgein them are always more or less under their influence. They are quite unnecessary for health ; in fact they aro very injurious. If you are wise, you will bring up your children to do without them ; but parents cannot influence their children if they use such things themselves. It is not necessary to name all the perils and dangers which, in these days, surround the young; the bad places, bad persons, bad habits, bad books, and other traps which the devil sets to catch tho unwary. If you love your children, and desire to see them walk in wisdom's ways, you will be on the watch against whatever your own common sense and knowledge of life will show you is likely to do them harm or lead ■ them astray. When children are growing ' into "young people" they will have to 1 exercise some freedom of choice, and you cannot always insist on their doino as you think best ; but you can advise anS counsel them, and set them an example in your own person ; and if you have brought them up in tho principles which I have ventured to lay before you, there is little doubt but that their respect and affection for you will induce them to listen to the word of warning when you give it. lv conclusion, let me say — ' I have been young, and now am old.' I have spent the greater part of my lite in New Zealand, and both in this colony and in old England, 1 have seen several generations of

children grow into manhood. I have been able, in very many instances, to contrast the results of a family religiously brought up, and one left to choose its own religion. When I remember the contrast in the case of individual families, I am constrained to extend my view into the future of this growing nation, now in its infancy, and to ask what will bo the result in a hundred years if the Book of God ceases to be the foundation of our, National Education. It cannot be otherwise than bad. As in private life, all the family virtues for which our nation has been remarkable have been mainly owincr to the religious faith which has pervaded the household of our fathers, so ha 6 our national greatness rested on the same foundation — no candid reader of history can doubt it. How great has been the contrast between our own country for several centuries— particularly in the great crises of political events - and other nations who have put the, Word of God in the background, or trodden it under foot ! I trust that our colony will yet sec the expediency of retracing its steps in this matter ; bub in the meantime it is all the more necessary that the parents of our childien should feel the responsibility which rests on them to lay the foundation of a religious education at the domestic fireside.