by some one who has received them directly or indi-
rectly from Him. The revealer is one who conveys
to the mind of another a fact or truth of which he was
ignorant, and of which he would have known nothing
except from such revelation. In this respect every
teacher is a revealer of new truths and facts to his
pupils ; and the parent, above any other, is a revealer
of religious facts and truths to his child. From him
must or should come to the child its knowledge of the
divine, of the spiritual. It is by this revelation that
the spiritual development and life of the child must
begin and be carried on. Without it, the spiritual
would remain dormant and dead, while the animal is
gaining vigor and activity.
In the conflicts between these two natures and liv^s
lies the conflict of life. If the animal in man obtains
the mastery, then the spirit is crushed out, and the
man becomes degraded to the brute, is a mere animal ;
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42 . CRIME AND THE FAMILY.
whiliJ, if the spirit obtains the ascendency, the man
grows up into the spiritual image of his Maker, and his
animal nature becomes subdued and subordinated to
the spiritual life and its laws. The object, then, of all
education should.be to develop the spiritual power in
man, so that he may hold in subjection his animal na-
ture to his spiritual wants. Here we see an illustra-
tion of that conflict between the law of the members
and the law of the spirit, of which St. Paul speaks so
earnestly and feelingly. The law of animal life, the
law by which our animal appetites and passions act, is
directly in conflict with the law of the spirit. Grati-
fication is the law of the one, and restraint, denial, in
obedience to a law out of and above us, is the law of
the other. Self-gratification is the law of the one,
and self-denial the law of the other.
In the education and training of a human being, it
will thus be seen that there are two things to be re-
garded — first, the development of the animal man,
and, secondly, the development of the spiritual man.
The animal powers are to be developed into healthy
action, atid the understanding educated, so that it may
study and comprehend all the facts coming through
sensation to its cognizance. The body is subordinate
to the spirit, and hence is to be developed and culti-
vated in reference and in subordination to this higher
life, the perfection of which is the object and end of
all life.
Two things are also to be kept in view in the devel-
opment of the spiritual powers, capacities, life. The
first is the revealing to the reason of those spiritual .
truths which alone can bring into activity the spiritual
powers and capacities ; and second, the education of
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THE CHILD, THE SUBJECT. 43
the intellect, so that it may be able to study and ap-
prehend these spiritual facts and truths ; but the end
to be aimed at is to bring into activity the emotions of
love, which is the perfecting of humanity and the ful-
filling of the law.
It will further be seen that the spiritual life can not
be developed from within through the action of the
understanding upon the facts obtained through sensa-
tion. A child left to itself and the teachings of nature
will remain an animal, will never have any religious
or moral development or ideas — must remain ignorant
of God and of ajl ideas of a right and a wrong. We
here see the absurdity of that theory of humanity
which would leave it to itself,* without ever teaching
those spiritual facts and truths, a knowledge and
admission of which are essential to any and all moral
development and spiritual culture. To refuse to teach
a child these spiritual facts and truths is to leave it an
animal, a slave to its animal appetites and passions.
The child, then, must be taught these spiritual, these
religious facts and truths, if it is to become other than an
animal — if it is to be born of the spirit, and begin that
spirit life which outlives the body to flourish in ever-
lasting blessedness in that spirit world of which God
is the light thereof.
This vital distinction between our. animal powers,
our animal life, and our spiritual powers, our spiritual
life, and the different modes of their development and
culture, lies at the foundation of all correct opinions
upon the subject of education. This distinction once
admitted, and we may see clearly the reason why so
many fatal mistakes have been made by well-inten-
tioned persons, who lose sight of the spiritual in their
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44 CRIME AND THE FAMILY.
attention to the animal. We may here also see how
it must be true that children who are neglected and
left to the. teachings of nature and the streets become
criminals, are being educated for crime and not other-
wise. The only thing to be astonished at, is that so
many stop short of actual crime, seeing how utterly
they are neglected by those who should be their teach-
ers of those divine truths which alone can secure their
spiritual development and life, which are the only ef-
fectual protection against the tyranny of brutal pas-
sions, and lawlessness and crime.
With this distinction in view, the parent can see what
his work is, and how it is to be carried on. The spirit
is to be developed by a revelation to the reason of di-
vine truth ; all else is subordinate to this highest of all
work. The mind is to be cultivated only as a means
to the accomplishment of this higher end, while our
animal wants are to be provided for; because without
this, mind and spirit have no power of action. Mate-
rial interests and growth are therefore of minor im-
portance, and never should be suffered to engross the
attention and enslave the spirit ; the first should ever
be kept subordinate to the latter.
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THE FAMILY, THE MEDIUM. 45
CHAPTER VI.
THE FAMILY, THE MEDIUM.
The child is born into the family. Such is the
divine arrangement for the nurture and culture of a
human soul. On its entrance upon life, the child is
incapable of providing for its material wants, and ig-
norant of its spiritual necessities. Hence the family
is provided as the medium into which every human
soul is thrown on coming into the world, as the place
where it first commences the development of its nat-
ural and spiritual lives, and where it receives its first
culture. The character, then, of the family becomes a
matter of vital importance to the future welfare of the
child who is subjected to its influence, since the train-
ing there begun will depend upon this character. As
the family is, the child will be. Whatever feelings and
emotions and relations exist in the famil}^ will be devel-
oped and nurtured in the child.
We have seen that the child is endowed with ani-
I
mal capacities, w4th appetites and passions; with
spiritual capacities, with the emotions, among which
is a love of the true, the good, and the beautiful. This
spiritual, therefore, is to be developed and cultivated,
while the animal is to be restrained and denied. The
power of the first is to be strengthened, and that of
the latter to be weakened. It will thus be seen that
our emotional nature ought to be roused into action,
and the family is appointed as a means for the ac-
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46 CRIME AND THE FAMILY.
complishment of this great end, this first step in the
spiritual life of humanity. *
Among these emotions, the most important is that
of love. Its opposite spiritual emotion is that of hate.
The one is the joy, and the other is misery. It is, then,
all-important that this joyful emotion of love should
be developed in the soul as early as possible, and its
opposite, hate, should remain undeveloped. Now,
our emotions are brought into action by the presentation
of the proper condition, and not otherwise. Among
these conditions .is that of love and kindness on the
part of others. We can not avoid loving the good,
and kind, and loving. Love begets love, and smiles
answer to smiles. This is the law of human develop-
ment. On the other hand, unkindness, ill treatment,
angry feelings, will produce their like in the bosom of
another. Hate begets hate.
Such being the law of humanity, we see what should
be the character of the family, of its members — what
the spirit whiqh should pervade that charmed circle!.
Its bond of union should be love, and the intercourse
of its members should be marked by kindness and
gentleness. The heads of the family must be united
by a love which is superior to all the accidents and
disappointments and trials of this mortal life. What-
ever may happen, come disappointment and trial, the
t heads of the family should ever be loving and gentle
and kind in their intercourse with each other, and with
all those within the family circle. The child should
be born into an atmosphere of love and gentleness
and kindness. It should be received into life with
smiles, and nursed with that aflfection that never sleeps
and never tires. Thrown into such a family, the child
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THE FAMILY, THE MEDIUM. 47
must learn to love ; the medium in which it lives must
and will develop in it its emotional capacities, and fill
and warm its little bosom with the sweet flame of a
never-dying love. Its spiritual n^iture will be devel-
oped and cultivated and strengthened, while its ani-
mal nature will be kept within proper bounds, and not
unnaturally developed and intensified. The child will
thus, on its first entrance upon life, Ijefore its under-
standing and intellect are so developed that it is able
itself to see the prudent and the right, start right —
start as a spirit, and not as an animal.
On the other hand, if the family circle is pervaded
with a spirit of hatred and unkindness, the child must
partake of its influence. Parents can not hate and
quarrel with each other without impressing upon all
within their influence the spirit which burns within
their own bosoms. The heart filled with hate, and,
of necessity, with misery, can not fail to treat the new-
born child with harshness and unkindness. The child
is received with a scowl, instead of a smile ; with a
blow, instead of a loving kiss ; with neglect, instead
of that eager attention which true afllection bestows
upon its loved ones. Instead of harmony and order
in the family circle, there is discord and wrangling,
unkind words and bitter reproaches. Under such an
influence, the worst passions and emotions of the child
must be developed and strengthened! Anger, instead
of forbearance — hate, instead of love — will spring up
in the infant mind, and its first start in life wiir be
wrong, instead of right ; and this wrong start will in-
fluence for evil all its future, and prove the cause and
source of untold misery and burning agony.
Thf: family, too, should present an exhibition of
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48 CRIME AND THE FAMILY.
neatness and order. If the child is to have his love
• of neatness and order excited and developed, it must
see them constantly before its eyes ; but if the family
presents only scenes of disorder and a want of neat-
ness, the child will insensibly imbibe a love for such
habits, which will follow it through life. The child
will show what the family has been, what the mother
i especially was, since her influence is felt more than
that of the father. Upon h^r depends very much
what shall be the character and influence of home
upon the child. To qualify the mother wisely and
properly to fulfill her duties a§ a wife and a mother,
she needs no ordinary culture, no common wisdom ;
though, above all, she needs a loving heart and untir-
ing gentleness and kindness, and a firmness which
never fails in enforcing duty.
The family must also be made pleasant and agree-
able to the members of it. Children should there find
their sweetest joys and their happiest hours. Home
should be more attractive to the child, to all its mem-
bers, than any other place can be. For this purpose,
the father and the mother should be there to guide and
instruct and interest. If the father is away when busi-
ness does not call for his absence, the sons will be
liable to follow his example ; and if the mother spends
her leisure hours abroad, the daughters will be apt
to imitate her example. Parents teach by example
much more emphatically than by precept. In the
long evenings of winter, the family should, if possi-
ble, be clustered around the fireside, and busy in the
various avocations which interest each and all; the
children inquiring for knowledge, for information, and
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THE FAMILY, THE MEDIUM. 49
the parents wisely imparting it and guiding the minds
of their children into all truth.
As children grow up, more effort must be made to
render home attractive. It is at that youthful age that
their attention and interest are called to scenes abroad,
away from home and home influences. To counter-
act this tendency, an interest must be created for them
at home. It is vain to expect a child to remain at
home without employment, without recreation, without
aught to excite his emotions, and thus attach him to
home. His passions find gratification in the variety
of scenes met with abroad, and this pleasure must be
counteracted by a higher and purer joy, aroused in
the soul by the gentler glow of the emotions stimu-
lated by purer thoughts and more elevating subjects
of contemplation. The imagination must be brought
into exercise, and the mind must learn to look out
upon the material world through the power of this
idealizing faculty, which clothes with beauty and unity
whatever comes within its reach. The spiritual pow-
ers are to be regarded more than the animal ; the emo-
tions, the love of the beautiful, the true, and the good,
are to be cultivated, if the child is to avoid the fatal
mistake of finding pleasure in the play of the pas-
sions.
For this purpose, the mind must be cultivated, the
habit of reading must be early formed. Books, there-
fore, must be procured — such books as will interest
and absorb the youthful mind. To do this, the books
must be such that their perusal will call into play the
emotional nature. When this is done, the child will
be interested, will be captivated. While books which
4
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50 CRIME AND THE FAMILY.
would tend to stimulate a development of the passions
of our animal nature are to be carefully avoided, al-
most any other books may be profitably put into the
hands of children. The important thing to be sought
for, is to make home of deeper interest to the child
than any other place in the world can be. He will
then remain at home, and never wander away into
dangerous haunts and mix with dangerous compan-
ions. The child therefore needs to be interested. He
had better read anything at home than to wander away
where vice puts on her blandest smiles and presents
her most enticing pleasures. Let the child; therefore,
read almost anything rather than not read at all. It
must be left somewhat to its own choice. It will read
what interests it, and it alone can decide upon the book
which will do that. Never force a child to read what
is tedious to it. The parents are to scatter around it
books of various kinds, and leave the child to make its
own selection.
Children are usually interested at first in biography,
travels, and novels. Works which treat of abstruse
subjects are above their comprehension, and hence not
interesting. Novels generally interest children ; and
the reason for it is, that such works call into play the
emotions, wake up in the child those loves which are
supposed to agitate and warm the hearts of the va-
rious characters described. Some persons have scru-
ples about the reading of such books ; but their scruples
are worse than mistakes — they are crimes, since thej'^
hinder the progress of their children. Works of fic-
tion, if well written, are truer to humanity than his-
tory, or even than much biography. The great object
is to develop in the child those emotions which are a
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THE FAMILY, THE MEDIUM. SI
part of his spiritual nature. Novels will contribute to
do this, and hence constitute a beneficial agency in
the spiritual education of the child. A proper selec-
tion can be made, the influence of which can not fail
to be beneficial. Such works as Irving's, Scott's,
Cooper's, Miss Austin's, Bronte's, etc., can only profit,
if they are read by the child. As the mind becomes
strengthened and developed, works of history and
science will become interesting, and the habit of read-
ing be carried on through life. It must be repeated ;
the main thing is to have children read something at
home, as a means of keeping them there, instead of
leaving them to wander abroad in the by-paths of vice,
which always terminate at the gateway of crime.
The parents should set an example. If, in the long
evenings of winter, in hours of leisure, the mother or
father seem absorbed and interested in their books, the
children will call for theirs in order to imitate the pa-
rental example. Conversation, too, may run on books.
The parents and older children will discuss the merits
or interest of the books which they read, and the
younger ones will become interested, and eager to read
for themselves these stories, and histories, and lives,
and travels so full of interest and wonder to others.
In this way, if the parents read, the children will also
read, and yoii will see a reading family, the children
of which are ever around the domestic fireside, ab-
sorbed in their studies, growing up into home-bred men
and women, with their spiritual natures fully developed.
Such children become in their maturity the light of
the world and the salt of the earth.
Children should be made to feel an interest in the
current events of thie times, with the varied habits and
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52 CRIME AND THE FAMILY.
conditions of the nations of the world, contrasted with
their own. The newspaper and the review will there-
fore be an essential part of the literature of every
family. The most important current events should be
run over and discussed between parents and children
around that dear fireside, where cluster all the home
affections, the richest and sweetest which a human soul
can experience.
The mother can do much in this work of guiding
the children aright, and interesting their minds in
books, if she herself is an intelligent, reading woman.
She will talk of books, of what they contain interest-
ing and strange, and thus stimulate the curiosity of
her children to know more of these books and their say-
ings. On the other hand, if the mother is ignorant
and frivolous, given to idle talk, to current slander,
and to vanity, the children will almost certainly par-
take of her mental and moral habits of thought and
conversation. The mother, then, must be a reading and
thinking woman — one whose bosom glows with every
noble emotion ; who loves all that is true and beautiful
and good ; who sees truth and beauty and goodness
everywhere, and in everything; who has no narrow
and selfish views and aims, but whose heart burns with
a charity as comprehensive as humanity. With such
a mother for a companion and a guide, the child is
ever in the presence and under the influence of the
highest manifestation of humanity, and day by day
will be shaped into its rnore perfect image, and its mind
become filled with higher and nobler and purer
thoughts. Such a mother is indeed a blessing, nay,
a benediction to her children ; and when she is old,
they shall rise up and call her blessed. But I must
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THE FAMILY, THE MEDIUM. 53
not carry this discussion further here, as my sole ob-
ject now is to enforce the simple duty that home must
be made attractive, and that this can be done only by
the cultivation of habits of reading in the young.
The condition of the family is then an essential ele-
ment in its beneficial action upon the child. If the
family, if home is what God in His providence provided
it should be, its influence can not fail to be powerful
and happy upon the development and character of the
child ; its spiritual powers will be drawn out under this
influence, while the animal nature will be repressed
and held in proper subordination ; the habit of self-
denial will be formed, whereby the animal will be con-
trolled by the law of the spirit within. It here receives
such a training, ere intellect and reason are developed —
such a direction that, when reason comes to grasp spir-
itual truth, the child has already his habits shaped to
that life which reason declares it ought to pursue. Its
passions and appetites have been held in check, instead
of being unnaturally intensified ; its spiritual emotions
have been brought into action, instead of hate. Such
a training, such a development, is an immense advan-
tage to the young immortal just entering on the conflict
of life ; the battle has almost been won, and little more
remains to be done but to gather up the fruits of this
victory of the spiritual over the animal, the carnal.
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54 CRIME AND THE FAMILY.
CHAPTER VII.
PARENTS THEIR POSITION.
The first duty of parents is to prepare the family for
their offspring. We have seen what the family should
be in order that it may exert a happy influence upon
the child. To organize the family, marriage has been
instituted, and as love must be the living spirit of the
family, the union of husband and wife must and should
never take place unless that mutual love exists between
them which alone can bind them together and make
home their paradise. A union formed in the absence
of this mutual love is one formed in violation of the
divine appointment, and can be productive only of dis-
cord, hate, and misery. Their influence will not, can
not tend to develop love in the child, unless its flame
burns warmly in their own bosoms ; if they do not love
each other, their children will not love them ; if they
hate each other, their children will hate them and each
other. There is then a solemn preparation to be made
on the part of the new married pair in order properly
to receive the new comer which God may bestow upon
them. The happiness or misery of this new comer to
a great extent depends upon this preparation, upon
the action and the influence of the family, of which
by their union they have laid the foundation. Do par-
ents well consider this fearful truth ? Do those who
seek by marriage to found the family, fully appreciate,
fully comprehend their awful responsibilities, the
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PARENTS — THEIR POSITION, 55
solemn duties which they assume ? It is to be feared
that they do not ; it is to be feared that self-gratifica-
tion too often limits the extent of their views, and ren-
ders them reckless of the future in the fruition of the
present.
The duty of the parent to the child is apparent from
the condition in which it comes into the world. It is
born an animal, and if left to the teachings of nature,
to its self-development, it will remain only an animal.
Its animal powers and capacities will be developed,
while its spiritual will remain dormant.
That this assertion that we are born animals is true,
is apparent to every one thoroughly acquainted with
human psychology ; nor is it less true according to the
teaching of the BiWe. Christ said to Nicodemus :
''That which is born of the flesh is flesh, but that
which is born of the spirit is spirit." Here the fact of
a double birth is clearly taught ; and this second birth
is a spiritual one, to be experienced after that of our
natural birth. Christ said also to Nicodemus, that
he must be born again — ^be born from above, be born
of the spirit, or he could not enter into the kingdom
of God, which is a spiritual kingdom. Here, then, is
taught the doctrine that the birth of the spirit takes
place after our natural birth, upon which our animal
life depends. So in i Corinthians xv. 46, the like
doctrine is asserted. The spiritual is not first, but
first the natural, the animal, and after that the spir-
itual. Our spiritual birth, then, comes after our nat-
ural birth. By the one our animal life is begun, and
by the other our spiritual life. Birth is that event
which indicates or develops the first activities of life.
Our spiritual birth, then, takes place whenever we
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56 CRIME AND THE FAMILY.
experience within our spirits the development of its
powers and the commencement of its activities. These