pleasure that is at once proper and useful. In fact, it is difficult to decide which produces the most injurious effect upon the mind of a child, the indulgence of a wrong, or the denial of an innocent gratification. While the natural tendency of the wrong indulgence is to corrupt the heart and diminish filial regard, the tendency of a denial of what is innocent is to provoke to wrath; and both alike must tend to make the child restive under parental restraint, and more inclined to violate parental authority. Indiscriminate censure, also, is irritating. The child, as well as any one, knows perfectly that there is enough for which he deserves censure; but he does not relish, any better than his seniors, to be censured when he is not blameworthy. It is very natural, however, if any mischief is done, to presume that the children have done it; whereas it is far better to ascertain, in the first place, whether it may not be attributed to some other source. It is always provoking to be presumed to have done a wrong. It is so, when, although we are guilty, we know it is impossible for any one to prove it. But especially is it so when we know ourselves to be innocent; and the small child, although he may not be able to defend himself, and for that very reason, is quite as sensitive to the injury of such a suspicion as those who are older. Again; an important distinction exists between deficiencies in character and wrong doing with a wrong intent. Mere foibleschildish defects are not crimes. And if such distinction is not recognized, great injury is the necessary consequence. It is painful to witness a mere peccadillo, a simple mistake, or even a childish freak, regarded as a malignant crime. And if it is painful to witness it, how much more so to feel that one is himself the object of such regard. For a child, who has accidentally, or even carelessly, broken a pitcher, to be harshly blamed, as though he had maliciously dashed it in pieces upon a rock, it can only serve to provoke him to wrath, and make him secretly glad the thing is done. It is sorrow that you wish to excite in the heart for an accident, and remorse for a wrong; two very different effects, which require a corresponding difference in the measures to secure them. A disregard of this difference can only be attended with disastrous results. Impatience, too, even with the wilful rebellion of a child, is productive only of injury. It aggravates rather than cures the evil. Children, as well as adults, belong to the degenerate race of Adam. . They are not the little innocents which some suppose. At a very early period they give signs of an evil nature. Their ill temper, deception and selfishness bespeak their depravity. These are all well fitted to excite the irritability and impatience of the parent, and there is no particular, probably, in which a parent needs to be so much on his guard. Meeting one wrong with another only produces resistance. The stronger may hold the other in check for a season; but it cannot eradicate it. When we have done wrong, it is only a gratification to our evil nature to see that it produces a wrong feeling in another. Sin, as well as misery, loves company. Sin is bolstered up by sin. Therefore, the child whose wrong produces impatience and fretfulness in a parent, is only encouraged to repeat the wrong. His self-complacency is fed, and he is strengthened in his crime. Anything approaching to anger in the parent only provokes wrath in the child. Injudicious punishment is another method of exciting the wrong passions of a child. Since folly and sin are bound up in the heart of a child, it is idle for any parent to think of escaping the necessity of punishment. But great discretion is necessary in its infliction, so as to secure its desired result. It may be corporal, in accordance with the instruction of Solomon, who said, "He that spareth the rod hateth his son; but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes;" or it may be mental, by arousing his mortification and self-reproach. But, if it be ill-timed, or disproportionate to the offence, or administered in anger, it only excites the wrath of the child, rather than that regret and remorse, which are essential to genuine repentance. Some say that they cannot punish a child unless their own passions are excited. Then they will do quite as well to let him go unpunished. But that, too, is a sad alternative, fraught with untold evils to the parent as well as the child. For the parent only prepares the way for his own accumulated suffering in the increased rebellion of his child; and his only safety is in self-government and the infliction of appropriate punishment with deep parental affection. If the wrath of the child is provoked by such punishment, it is not against the parent who inflicts it, but against himself for having deserved it; which is certainly the desired result. In Once more. Parents often unconsciously injure their children by assuming that they are actuated by wrong motives. In very early life we learn that others can know but little about our thoughts and feelings. Therefore it is not their prerogative to judge of our motives. Every one naturally wishes to be presumed honest; and if we know that such is the presumption respecting us, it is comparatively difficult for us to indulge or act out our depravity. But if we find that we are presumed to be dishonest,-if it is taken for granted that we intend wrong,- the first impulse of the depraved heart is pretty sure to be wrong. And a child is as sensitive to such injury as any one. Let him imbibe the notion that his parents habitually suspect him of mischief, and they are certain to provoke him to wrath, and actually induce him to commit mischief, of which he had never before conceived. The feeling of his young and wicked heart is very likely to be," Well, since I am thought no better of, I have no inducement to be any better, and therefore I will be no better. I might as well find some kind of enjoyment, and if I cannot have any credit where I try to do right, I will just abandon such effort, and give loose reins to my passions, and secure such pleasure as I can." Many a child, it is feared, has thus become wayward, and undesignedly turned aside from the path of virtue by his dearest earthly guardians and friends. Finally; a betrayal of more self-interest than parental affection, is sure to work mischief in the heart of a child. It is love which moves the heart, more than a sense of duty. We discharge our duty to our friends, not so much because it is a duty as a pleasure. It is love, not duty, which causes the fond mother to watch with unremitting anxiety over the couch of her sick child. Hence, Christ says, "If ye love me ye will keep my words." Love to God and love to man commends itself to the human mind as the correct fundamental principle of action; and the very little child soon instinctively knows and feels its force, long before he can define and analyze it. He knows and feels that it is what a parent owes to him. At any rate, no one can appreciate it better where it is exercised towards him. Well, now, let the child obtain the notion that such a feeling for him in a parent's heart has been displaced by a predominating selfishness, let the child imbibe the idea that the parent, in all his requirements, is actuated by his own self-gratification, rather than by any peculiar and fond affection,—and he feels that the parent, as such, is worthy of no special reciprocity of regard. Hence, his commands, as parental, are spurned, and the child is provoked to wrath to think that one should thus presume to act a parent's part. Every child's heart yearns for a parent's affection to meet its wants; and if it is met with nothing but the cold demands of sordid self-interest, it must suffer a sad repulse. Under such circumstances, a child may be induced to obey from fear, while he cannot do otherwise; but he can never love to obey with the proper feelings of a child. It can never be his pleasure to do a parent's will. He may obey one because he is his master; but he can never obey him because he is his parent. For there is no ground for the reciprocity of fond parental and filial affection. It is worthy of remark that the obligations of parents and children are mutual. The obligation is not all on one side. It is not simply the duty of the child to obey; neither is it the sole duty of the parent to exact obedience, regardless of the manner in which it is done. But while it is the duty of the parent to exact obedience, and, at the same time, of the child to obey, the parent owes it to his child to secure his obedience in a manner not needlessly to provoke his wrath. And to this end it is all-important that both parent and child should realize that their mutual obligation rests upon the obligation which they owe in common to their Father in heaven. Let the parent show to the child that it is from the fear and love of God that he lays upon him his commands, and the child will soon learn that, from the same fear and love, he ought to yield his cheerful obedience; and however much disinclined he may be, on the ground of the natural opposition of his heart to God, he will the more readily yield to his earthly parent. Or if he does not yield, he will not be angry with him, because he will feel his conscience will tell him that the controversy is really not between him and his earthly parent, but between his heart and his Father in heaven; and though he may even continue to hate God, he may, at the same time, be led by his natural affection to love and obey his earthly parent. Yet, it is in a state of filial obedience that we are naturally to look with most hope for the reconciliation of our children to God. It is well, also, for parents to consider how much of their children's disobedience and waywardness is justly chargeable upon themselves. It is true the child, as well as the parent, must be held accountable for his own sin; and yet, we must remember that we are so constituted as easily to involve one another in sin. For Paul exhorts Timothy "not to be a partaker of other men's sins ;" and the nearer the relations which we sustain in life, the greater the danger of in volving one another in transgression. In case of the little child, who, it may be, willingly goes to the dram-shop to get his father's bottle filled with intoxicating drink, who is most to blame, the child or the intemperate father who sends him? Instinct or intuition answers. In case of the child, who is thrown into a pet by the angry look, tone or manner of the parent, who is most to blame? Ought not such questions to modify the passions, to secure more patience, consistency and love, from parents, in all their dealings with their children? Finally, let parents reflect upon the criminality and cruelty of provoking their own children to wrath. It is melancholy enough to think of exciting such a hateful passion in any one's breast, but much more so in the breast of a beloved child. Let every parent shudder at the thought. Wrath! - anger! - what is it? An essential element of a demon! What should we think of a man who would carelessly expose his children to vipers, reptiles, savage beasts of prey? And yet, how often do parents expose their children to the influence of their own ungodly passions, which, without some powerful antidote, will infect, poison and destroy their immortal souls forever! O, what a fearful responsibility rests upon parents, in view of their capability, and the danger of their exerting that capability, to train up their children to be the companions of devils, who might be angels of light! And, 0, the unnatural cruelty involved in being unmindful of such a responsibility ! We need no less parental faithfulness, no less strictness, no less correction, but more of our heavenly Father's love, manifested in causing his sun to shine upon the evil and the good, in sending his only begotten Son to propitiate the divine favor, and forestall the sins of his children by his suffering, and in commissioning the Holy Spirit to lead them to repentance. So that, when the day of retribution must come, when the sentence of condemnation must be pronounced, and the threatened punishment must be inflicted, every mouth must be stopped, and mercy and justice have no contention. HOPE FOR THE DESPONDING. THERE is a day of sunny rest, |