SUNDAY READING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6667, 31 March 1883, Page 3 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

KAIILY FORMATION OP TRUE CHARACI'Ki:.

BY THH RKV. D. C ICNOU'I.ICi The family in the gf-rn of the State. The forces that fashion the av» family foreiell accurate )v the political history of the coming generation. Order, respect, and obedience in tne home predict tho sarri? elements in the nati- rial life; whi'e lawlessness, irreverence, and rebellion to parental law point to anarchy iu society. Home is God's place to make good citizen*. Much is said of the importance of the public school system, and rigUly, fur the school is one of the factors of goo 1 society, but home is far more powerful for good or evil. Let us not despite the »«choo', but let us cherish more the home. \\ hat i* the oihee of the h'une ? Fi.st, to secure implicit obedience to parental authority. Submission to the will of anotl.er is the cornerstone of ehnr.i iter. It in the first lerson of life. Ihe child that hag never lean cd it wil not be li.:«-ly to make a god subject of human or L'ivine government. The soul must submit to law, to l:i\v given by a. power above itself, or it is tssentially lawless. Self is n-t the fountain of law, for there in but "one Lawgiver "—God. He who hay never learned to submit to this law of the parent, ther»-.for<', ill li'.t be like'y to submit to the low «>: the or of God Himself. S lr'*v*il etreugtbens indulgence, and a child grov*n to man's estate, who lias succvs-fu)l\ resisted parental control, will the more easily d'-fy social and Divine authority by as much as th . man's will is stronger than the child's.

The vry liis * p in family government is to secure "I) dience. How shall it be done? Comriunc.» in earliest infancy. Give the child its first and best lessons at the cradle. God has purj osely mad •it the Weakest and mo.-t dependent of creatures for this very end. The first dawn of intelligence in the opi ortunity to let it know it has a Master. Teach it to get favours by stopping its cries of passion. Indulge it with kisses and good things only when it obey.-". Kevr.»r«l it for submission, aud m less than a ye.tr the idea of obedience wid be r ecurely lodged in the little one's mind. Follow up this poiicy through all its early childhood, iirinly, kindly, constantly, and by ten years of age the work will be effoctnally done for life. Never allow a case of wilful disobedience to pasi; unreproved. Sudden gusts of passion " ill doubtless arise, Bwecpini; away the little one for a moment into acts Of self-win, but a firm, patient, loving hand will keep the reius of authority nevertheless.

A child thus trained will respect law everywhere. He will learo to love order, and when reason cornea to the throne of the soul will bo,v to human and Divine law with the same spirit of obedience wh:ch his been reudcred to parental autlirritv.

On this submission as a corner-stone is to be reared the structure of a true character. This is partly the work of !i>.me and partly of the child. Home instruction lays the foundati-hi and erects the frame, which the child encloses, and then completes the edifice. I'nrents ennrot i.dve a completed character ; it i" theirs to draw the plan and fashion the framework. f l he soul itself, ill its spiritual freedom, completes the structure on the model given, or builds on one o, its own ilv osiHg. If taught true obedie ee, it will in n'.ost cases go cm with the parental plan. What Uin A of a framework, ought parents to build on this eorn-r-stone of . bedience 'i A strong one first. In a strong frame hi safety. Orn'mentation should always be secondary to stre gth. It is in tir.st-dass ar.hr.ectu e \ it ah<»uld be in character.

By .'i sti'i ii<; frnme we mean a foul g"vcrned by lof:y ; rinc pie* ; a soul c 'n-hone-t, truthiul. asking wli.it is duty, rather th:m what is a_:reeaole ; inquiring litiw it can be useful, rather than comfortable. Such a fr.iine--.vork within a child is a. letter legacy than gold, or classical learning, or culture ot an external, wo-Idly type. It is tile one essential factor in a noble character. It is the bust safeguard against vue of every kind ; it is the one gnat lack of the age. The only way to make our hou es pioof against hurricanes is to put more and bet:er timber ill the frames, mid the only way to save uir sons from fraud, drunkenness, immorality, ami godlessnes?, is to brace tip the aoul with solid principle. Who are to do thi; ? Parents. Where ? At home. When? Beginning with the first dawn of intelligent action. Wi'.h what instruments'; Truth. What truth ? dial's truth, drawn from its hig' est sud purest fountain, the liible. God Himself has told us how to do it. "And these words which 1. command thee this day, shall he in Urne luart : and tliou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, anu when thou by the way, ami when thou liest down, and wii> n thou risest up." This miaus that parents must teach their children the principles of right- ousness, and base their teachings on motives .1. twn from the coimri.-iniia of (luil. "And t (Oil shalt Lin J tin-in for a sign up ui thine hand, anil Ihoy thall In: as froiit : ets hetween thine eyes. And thou, shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates." Thin means that parents must be examples in life, conduct, and spirit of all they teieh. A defaulter cannot teach honesty to a child. liod demands of parents thu same character they seek to inculcate. lie what you teacti. Family government of this kind is the treat want of the age, is the only solution to our social and political ditlieulties, and, if carried out, would change the whole face of society in a siegl'j generation.