THE sons of a Christian farmer were very anxious to visit a large fair in their neighborhood, and their godly parent, fearing the influence of such an assemblage upon them, advised and argued with them not to go, but in vain.
At length, the day before the fair was to be held, finding that his sons really meant to go, he was greatly troubled; whereupon he went, as he was wont when in any anxiety, to his bible, praying God for guidance. The old man opened on Gen. 18, and his eye rested on the verse, “I know Abraham, that he will command his children and household after him.” “Ah!” said he, “that’s where I was wrong, I advised them; I should have come Abraham over them, and have commanded them.”
The next morning at family prayers, be read this chapter, and explained how that it was the parent’s duty to command his sons to keep out of harm’s way, and theirs to obey; and he accordingly forbade his sons going to the fair. They all obeyed; and from that day, the old man told a friend, “I never had any trouble after I learned to come Abraham over them.”
We commend this little story to Christian parents.
E.