Royal Truths (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1866 Excerpt: ...the idea that they could take care of themselves. They did not teach them not to need to be taken care of. They would not let them stand alone. They were afraid that if they put them on their feet they would run away, and so they did not put them on their feet. They were afraid that if they allowed them to use their hands they would do mischief, and so they kept them tied. The consequence was that when they were eighteen, or nineteen, or twenty years of age, --just at that critical period when reaction is most apt to come; just at that critical period when the child passes from boyhood to manhood; just at that critical period when the parent throws the child on his own responsibility, --the consequence was that then these children did not know how to stand, or walk, or take care of themselves, and they went to the devil And people said, " That is what comes of Christian teaching. That is the way the children of religious parents turn out." K On the other hand, how was it in the other case, in which people seemed to neglect their children entirely, and in which, notwithstanding this, the children turned out well? The parents neglected the children in some things, but in some things they conformed to God's fundamental law of letting every man take care of himself to the extent of his ability. The influence of the neglect was therefore superficial. The parents were practising self-reliance, and the children, gaining confidence from their example, practised it also. The consequence was that the children, when the parents died, or when they went out from under the parental roof, knew how to stand on their own root, and were saved. Do not go back to monkish days, and take on ascetic ideas of religion. If you will go back, go back to the Jewish times, whe...