Parents have no longer reason to complain of the
difficulty of finding sacred entertainment for their children on Sunday,
for these pleasing messengers,--if carefully dealt out,--one or two on
each Sabbath, would afford a never failing supply.
To form great and good characters, the mind must be trained to delight in
TRUTH,--not in comic rhymes, in sentimental tales, and skeptical poetry.
The truth revealed in God's Holy Word, should constitute the firm basis
of education; and the works of Creation and Providence the superstructure
while the Divine blessing can alone rear and cement the edifice.
Parents, train up your children to serve God, and to enjoy his presence
forever; and if there be amongst them--an EXTRAORDINARY child, train him
up with extraordinary care, lest instead of doing extraordinary _good_ he
should do extraordinary _evil_, and be plunged into extraordinary misery.
Train up--the child of imagination--not to dazzle, like Byron, but to
enlighten, like Cowper: the child of wit--not to create profane mirth,
like Voltaire, but to promote holy joy, like Bunyan: the child of
reflection--not to weave dangerous sophistries, like Hume, but to wield
powerful arguments, like Chalmers: the child of sagacity--not to gain
advantages for himself, like Cromwell, but for his country, like
Washington: the child of eloquence--not to astonish the multitude, like
Sheridan, but to plead for the miserable, like Wilberforce: the child of
ardor--not to be the herald of delusions, like Swedenbourg, but to be the
champion of truth, like Luther: the child of enterprise--not to devastate
a Continent, like the conquering Napoleon, but to scatter blessings over
an Ocean, like the missionary Williams:--and, if the child be a
prince,--train him up--not to reign in pomp and pride like the fourteenth
Louis, but to rule in the fear of God, like our own great ALFRED.
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