Parental Desire, Duty, & Encouragement 5

Next Part Parental Desire, Duty, & Encouragement 6

III. Exhibit the ENCOURAGEMENT which the Scriptures afford, that such exertion will be blessed to the accomplishment of their desired end.

How frequently is it the case, that when we admonish you to the use of such means as I have mentioned, you turn away and exclaim, "Ah! but we cannot give grace to our children." Sometimes this is the excuse of indolence and cruel indifference. You do not act thus with respect to their bodies, although it is as much beyond your power to make their food nourishing as it is to make the means of salvation useful; and no one could stand acquitted of the charge of murder, who starved his child, because he could not bless his food.

But this exclamation is sometimes the result of ignorance and error; and thus, through mistaken views of divine truth, many go with a forlorn hope to that work which affords the greatest encouragement to success. One would be led to suppose from such people that education, carried on with a view to real religion, were an experiment upon the human mind altogether beyond the directions of Scripture; and the success of which was not only doubtful, but very unlikely. What then, does the Word of God give us no encouragement to attempt the salvation of our children? Has Jehovah, ever attentive in other things to the happiness of his people, passed over in profound silence a subject which involves so much of their comfort? Has he given us no ground to hope that our exertions will be blessed? Has he left our hearts to be tossed about upon an ocean of doubt and agitation without a rudder or a compass? Certainly not. His Word is full of encouragement. Everything warrants the expectation that an affectionate, diligent, scriptural system of education will be blessed to the salvation of our offspring. The Divine Command and the Divine Conduct, both encourage such a hope.

1. The DIVINE COMMAND warrants this expectation. We certainly have some ground to expect the possession of a blessing, which is to be obtained, in the use of certain means, when we are really using the very means which God himself has appointed for that purpose. For while he leaves ample room for the exercise of his own wise sovereignty, he certainly does not mean to mock us by setting us upon the performance of certain actions, which have no tendency, no connection, no end. It is the property of folly, and not of consummate wisdom, to act without rule and without design.

Indeed, the expectation which I am endeavoring to excite, you indulge with respect to almost all other ordinances. Why, when your eyes look round upon a crowded auditory, sitting under the sound of the Gospel, why thrills your heart with this delightful sentiment, "Surely some wanderers from God and bliss will be gathered into the fold of Christ tonight?" Is it not for these two reasons, that God has appointed the preaching of the Gospel for the conversion of sinners, and that there is a fitness between the means and the end? Is it not for the same reasons that you expect to be edified by prayer, reading the Scriptures, sitting down at the table of the Lord, hearing sermons? Why then should the religious education of children be the only ordinance which fails to produce expectation of success. That it is an ordinance of God, is evident from his Word; for was it not under the spirit of inspiration that Solomon exhorted you "to train up a child in the way he should go," and that Paul said, "You fathers, bring up your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord?" And that the means are suited to the end needs no proof. Take heed, then, of dishonoring God, by thinking lightly of his institutions.

2. This expectation is strengthened by a review of the DIVINE CONDUCT. Look at the church of God. Of whom is it chiefly composed? Do we not find that a very large proportion of its members are the seed of the righteous? For while the curse of God, like the air of a pestilence, enters invisibly into the families of the wicked; the blessing of God, like the light of heaven, silently descends into the habitation of the just. As the oil poured on the head of Aaron, which flowed down to the skirts of his garment, so have we often seen the blessing of God flowing from the parent down to the youngest branch of the household. I acknowledge that, frequently, Jehovah "calls those to be a people who were not a people; for he has mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardens;" but, generally, he raises up the son in the stead of the father. The church, like the fabled phoenix, seems to grow old, expire, and from its own ashes send forth a successor.

The instances of conversion in advanced age, compared with those which take place in early life, are rare; and, indeed, many of those which do occur, seem to be only the resurrection of impressions long buried under a heap of youthful passions and worldly cares. How often have we heard the rapturous exclamation of the Christian father, "Rejoice with me, for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." The prodigal left his father's house, but could not leave altogether his parent's instructions; these, although apparently lost to him, were still in the keeping of his conscience. The sun of prosperity shone out its day, and then sunk down behind the hills of dissipation, and the night of affliction, dreary and tempestuous, followed. And this was the time for conscience to do its work—then, amidst the surrounding darkness, rose in rapid succession the long forgotten counsels of parental solicitude; and the very instructions which he once shunned as his enemies, were embraced by him as his guides, to lead him to his father and his God.

These observations, of course, apply only to those places where Christianity is known and professed; for when the Gospel comes to a people who have long sat in darkness, we may expect numerous converts of all ages; but when it has been long preached in purity and plenty, when ordinances have been regularly kept up, few, comparatively speaking, but those who are called in early life, are ever called at all. Mr. Baxter, in some part of his works, has this opinion, that if family instruction were properly and generally maintained, preaching would soon cease to be the common method of conversion. Thus sentiment, although it be certainly rather hyperbolical, deserves regard. And it is corroborative of all that I have said, that most of those who are recorded on the page of inspiration as eminent for piety, were called by God in early life; such, for instance, as Abraham, Moses, Samuel, David, Solomon, Josiah, Jeremiah, Obadiah, Daniel, John the Baptist, Timothy; and no other reason, says the judicious Witherspoon, has ever yet been given for our Savior's distinguishing John the apostle by particular marks of affection, except that he was the youngest of the twelve. (See Witherspoon's Sermons, vol. 4.)

And here it will not be amiss to observe, that the very expectation itself which I am now encouraging, has considerable influence in attaining the desired end. Is it not one of those means which God frequently uses in the salvation of the children of his people? In a thousand instances we perceive that, when God intends to bestow a great and signal benefit, he first excites a cheerful expectation and desire. Do we not learn from his Word that the chief qualification, if so it may be called, for receiving many of his favors, is the earnestness of our desire, and the firmness of our expectation of them? Generally speaking, the most hopeful parent will be the most successful one. A mind paralyzed with despair, or even benumbed with despondency, is likely to do very little in the way of beneficial exertion.

It is an old, but it is a very true proverb, "He that thinks he works for a song, is not very likely to sing at his work;" and it may be said concerning religion, as well as of everything else, that hopelessness and lifenessness are a wedded pair. Hence, when the bosom of the Christian parent beats high with the pleasing expectation of seeing his efforts crowned with the salvation of his child, what fervor does such a hope impart to his prayers! what delight, what animation, what patience, to all his exertions! On the other hand, how dull, laborious, and irksome are those endeavors which are carried on with a fearful despondency of success!

But now, what shall I answer to the objection which some, perhaps, may oppose to all that I have said, by asking, "Is not this reasoning against fact; for do we not see the children of many eminent believers living 'without God and without hope in the world?' Do we not read of such instances in Scripture? Was it not the case with the very child for whom the prayer which forms the text was uttered?"

It is painful to force the wounded spirits of those who are conscious of sinful neglect, to bring sufficient arguments to confute this objection. Many, I am persuaded, are feeling all the agony of a bleeding heart, in seeing their children walking in the broad road to destruction; to whom it may seem an unnecessary and wanton renewal of their anguish, to hear it said that the dagger which wounded them was their own neglect. But, for the instruction of others it must be declared, that many, very many of the instances alluded to, may be traced to parental delinquency.

Look into the practice of Christian parents in general, and you will not search long without finding various obstacles to the success of religious education. By how many are the means of instruction totally neglected, with how many more is it nothing else than a lifeless form; a part of the employment which is destined to fill up the hours of the Sabbath not devoted to public worship! The relaxation of domestic discipline with some; the opposite extreme of undue severity in others; the limitation of instruction to principles, while their influence on the heart and character is disregarded; the unsuitable temper and conduct of many who impart the best instructions; the neglect of choosing proper companions, schools, and situations in life for children; these, and various other sinful defects are sufficient to account for a very large proportion of the cases, to which I have been directed by the objection.

And if you refer to the examples produced from Scripture, in which the children of the righteous knew not the God of their fathers, you will find some glaring impropriety in parental conduct. Who can wonder to read of the crimes committed by Hophni and Phinehas, when he recollects the want of discipline in Eli's family? Who is surprised to hear the sorrowful accents of David's confession, "My house is not so with God," when he considers the awful backslidings of that great man, and reads, besides this, "that he had never displeased the wicked Adonijah, by saying, why have you done so?" Did not a wicked Esau descend from a partial father, and Simeon and Levi from an indulgent one? And with respect to Ishmael, his circumstances were so peculiar that his future conduct forms no objection whatever to the principle which I have endeavored to establish.

Still, however, it must be admitted that there are not a few instances in which the most judicious system of education has been quite unsuccessful. The most affectionate discipline, the most scriptural instructions, the most holy example, the most fervent prayer, have sometimes proved no obstacles, or at least but ineffectual ones, in the career of a profligate child. And where this is unhappily the case, we can only recommend to such afflicted parents the consolation of David, who, even upon this dark and dismal cloud, saw as it were the beauteous colors of the rainbow, the emblem of the covenant, and exclaimed, "Although my house be not so with God, yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure; for this is my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow." Such cases only prove that God is a sovereign in the distribution of his favors, but do not at all destroy the connection which he himself has established between the means and the end—they do not disprove the sentiment as a general principle, but only prove that it is not an invariable rule—they excite just so much fear as is sufficient to preserve our hope from degenerating into unwarrantable presumption.

Next Part Parental Desire, Duty, & Encouragement 6

Back to John Angell James