Page:Great importance of parental instruction.pdf/7

 The neglect of early instruction, it has been farther observed, is an evil to the child which spreads increasingly through life. Thorns and thistles undisturbed will rapidly enlarge. See how the uncultivated field is overgrown with rank, pernicious, weeds!—how fast they multiply,—how thick they stand together, and intertwine their numerous arms! They usurp the whole surface; and should a single grain of useful seed chance to drop upon it, there is no vacant soil to receive it; or should it be permitted to shoot a green leaf into view, how feebly, how imperfectly does it rise, and how soon does it perish for want of vegetable food! Such is the condition of the neglected mind. The dawn of reason, which is the signal for commencing a rational education, has been suffered to pass away unimproved, and vice obtains an easy and early possession of the heart. At first, it breaks out in a few venial offences, and just discovers its presence, But it is an insidious foe. If not crushed on its first appearance, it gains increasingly upon the soul, and, shaping into innumerable varieties, seizes on all its powers. Vice is naturally despotic; it aspires to universal dominion; and where motives to virtue are never presented, it will most assuredly obtain it. Untaught in moral distinctions, the judgment will be involved in darkness,