History Happened Here . . .
SAMUEL W. DOAK SERMON
Samuel Witherspoon Doak was a Presbyterian minister, teacher, and president of the college who assisted his father, Samuel Doak, in founding Tusculum Academy, now situated adjacent to the Doak House Museum. After his father passed away, Samuel W. Doak built the Doak House in 1830. He chartered Tusculum College in 1841 when the number of students outgrew the size of Tusculum Academy in the building now known as “Old College.”
Rev. Doak commenced his sermon with the following: “Proverbs 22.6. Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. This direction is applicable to parents, guardians, teachers and all those on whom the care or education of children has devolved… The proper education of children contributes greatly to the promotion of God’s glory and the melioration [sic] of the present condition of man…”
Highlighting the benefits of family cooperation, he insisted: ​“Happy indeed is that family, the different members of which are all cemented as one body by sincere mutual affection and confidence and who by common sympathy participate and share each other’s joys and sorrows and who take delight in promoting each other’s comfort and reciprocating each other’s kindness!”
Rev. Doak also reminded his audience that failing to teach children to obey authority would result in catastrophe for them as well as society:​“As a consequence of the neglect of rule how are our streets and highways crowded with vagrants and beggars, our charity houses with the destitute and miserable, and our jails and penitentiaries with miscreants.”
The following excerpts are from one of Samuel W. Doak's sermons in which he outlines the Biblical tenets for raising children.
Doak's sermon demonstrates his faith in Biblical teachings as well as his commitment to instilling character and discipline in children and young adults. These principles are still a part of Tusculum University’s mission nearly two centuries after the delivery of this sermon.
Site contributor: Samantha Nelson, Student, Tusculum University