The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. I., No. 8, April, 1835Various
General
The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. I., No. 8, April, 1835
Various
American literature -- 19th century -- Periodicals
It will be seen that many of my remarks on the subject of instruction,
apply also to that of discipline. I have already shown that the
discipline, whose purpose is to prepare the child for his duties to
his parents, should be modified by a proper regard to his duties to
God. In like manner, that which may be called religious discipline,
should be so regulated as not to counteract what has been already
done. _Parental_ training, if I may so distinguish it, should be so
managed as to cultivate the love of the child for his parents;
_religious_ training, so as to cultivate his love for God. It would be
strangely inconsistent, that we should be careful not to offend and
estrange a child by imposing on him, of our own authority, any harsh,
unexplained and inexplicable commands, and at the same time load him,
by the alleged command of God, with burthens grievous to be borne.
Duties which he is not old enough to understand the nature of, are not
his duties. There is no more violation of God's law in a child of a
certain age playing on the Sabbath, than in the sports of a puppy. Yet
long before he is old enough to be capable of a violation of this law,
it is a matter of great importance that he should be gradually and
carefully trained, and prepared to obey it. In this training, I would
carefully avoid any thing like austerity. I would familiarize his
infant ear to the name of _Sunday_, and accustom him to regard it as a
day of privileges. Put on his best clothes, caress him, praise him,
warn him to keep himself sweet and clean, make him take notice that
every body else is so, and that nobody is made to do any work, and all
because it is Sunday; make him observe the staid and quiet behavior of
every body about the house, and see how soon he will get his little
stool, and set up with his hands before him, and try to _behave
pretty_ too. When this is done, enough is done for the beginning. When
he is tired of imitating the grave demeanor of others, let him go. The
spirit of imitation will return again and again; the habits it induces
will make a deeper and deeper impression, and if he is carefully
imbued with a love for his parents, and a love for God, without being
taught to dread and hate the Sabbath, he will be thus well prepared to
submit cheerfully to its restraints, by the time he is old enough to
know the reason of them. Let him see that you too, submit to them
cheerfully. Let him miss nothing of your accustomed kindness or
amenity of manner on that day. Do not let him learn to think of it as
"a day for a man to afflict his soul, and hang down his head like a
bull-rush," a day of fault-finding, and formal observance, and
Judaical austerity. In short, let him see that you esteem the Sabbath
as a day of privilege, and leave the rest as much as possible to the
spirit of affectionate imitation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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