Q. Adams, who daily repeated the little prayers his
mother taught him when a child.
Thus, then, we see that parents are encouraged by the most brilliant
examples of history, to teach their children religion at the home-fireside,
"when thou liest down and risest up." Oh, let the gentle courtesies and
sweet endearments of home engrave the Word and Spirit of God upon their
tender hearts. Wait not until they are matured in rebellion, and sin lay
beds of flinty rock over their hearts; but let them breathe from infancy
the atmosphere of holiness, and drink from the living fountains of divine
truth. See that your homes become their birth-place in the spiritual
kingdom of Christ.
Such religious training will be the guardian of their future life, and will
fortify them against impending evil. What made Daniel steadfast amidst all
the efforts to heathenize him during his captivity in Babylon? His early
religious culture. It was the means of his preservation. The truth had been
deeply engraven upon his heart when young, and nothing could ever efface
it. His early home-impressions glowed there with pristine freshness and
power amid all the terrors which surrounded him in the den and before the
throne of his implacable foe. These home instructions may be silenced for a
time, but never destroyed. They may be overshadowed, but not annihilated.
Says Dr. Cumming, "The words spoken by parents to their children in the
privacy of home are like words spoken in a whispering-gallery, and will be
clearly heard at the distance of years, and along the corridors of ages
that are yet to come.
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