Love & Teach The Children
Psalm 78:4-5 (NLT)
We will not hide these truths from our children;
we will tell the next generation
about the glorious deeds of the Lord,
about his power and his mighty wonders.
He...commanded our forefathers
to teach the children...
The Whole Works of John Flavel, Volume 4. “Divine Conduct” (or, “The Mystery of Providence”), Adapted in Voices From The Past – Puritan Devotional Readings
Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
The providence of God designates the family out of which we should rise. This affects both our temporal and eternal good. If your family feared God, and took care to train you up in the nurture of the Lord, you can reckon this among your chief mercies to spring from such parents. What a mercy to have parents that prayed for us before they had us, as well as in our infancy when we could not pray for ourselves! At the throne of grace they poured out their souls so affectionately for you, carrying all your concerns, especially your eternal ones before the Lord. They prayed weeping with their heartstrings breaking for you. O put a value upon such mercies for they are precious!
To have parents that nipped in the bud the outbreak of your corruptions by their pious and careful discipline. They carefully instilled the knowledge of God into your souls in your tender years. As no pain, care, or cost was too much for our bodies to feed and clothe us, so they considered no prayer, counsel, or tears too much for our souls that we might be saved. They knew that a parting time would come, and strove to make it as easy and comfortable to them as possible by leaving us in Christ. They were not satisfied with mere physical health, but desired that we were in grace.
There was nothing more desirable than to be able to say in the great day, ‘Lord, here I am, and the children which you have given me!” How many children are drawn headlong to hell by their ungodly parents who teach them to curse and swear as soon as they can speak! Ah, my friends! Let me beg you to take special note upon this divine providence to have parents as a pattern of holiness that beat the path to heaven for us by their example. Let your hearts become thoroughly warmed in the sense of it.
How many families are there, though not profane, who yet train up their children vainly and sensually, and take no care for their souls? It is no matter to them that the devil seeks their souls. If they can but leave them lands or money, they think they have fully discharged their duty. O with what language will such parents and children greet each other in hell!
Parents, I beseech you to consider your duty. Consider your close relationship and concern for their happiness. They give you joy and you highly value them. You sympathize in all their troubles, and sorrow at parting with them. Shall all of this be to no purpose? You value them, yet in the meantime shall you take no care of them for eternity? God has entrusted their souls to you as well as their bodies. What can comfort you if they die without Christ though your neglect? O this grievous consideration; my child is in hell, and I did nothing to prevent it, and I helped him there!
If you neglect to instruct them in the way of holiness, the devil will not neglect to instruct them in wickedness. If you do not teach them to pray, the devil will teach them to curse and lie. You are an instrumental cause of all their spiritual misery. By nature they lie spiritually dead before you, and by imitation they will follow your example. No one is as likely to do good to them as you. You have their natural affection, and daily opportunity. You know their temperaments. If you neglect, who shall help them?
O remember that text: ‘And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne’ (Revelation 20:12) What a sad thing it will be to see your dear children at Christ’s left hand! O friends, do your utmost to prevent this misery!
George Swinnock, The Christian Man’s Calling, “How Christians may exercise themselves to godliness (as) parents.”
It is no mean mercy that thy children are born in the days of the gospel, and in a valley of vision, a land of light, where they may be instructed in Christianity. Oh, do not fail, therefore, to acquaint thy children with the nature of God, the natures and offices of Christ, their own natural sinfulness and misery, the way and means of their recovery, the end an errand for which they were sent into the world, the necessity of regeneration and a holy life. Alas! How is it possible they should ever arrive at heaven if they know not the way thither?
John Rogers Pitman Practical lectures upon the six first chapters of the Gospel of St. John, "Lecture on John 6:14-21"
Carnal parents that pamper their children's bodies and store great portions for them but let their souls welter in sin and die and perish for want of instruction, admonition, prayer, and holy example - is this to be called love?
C.H. Spurgeon
I am more and more persuaded that the study of a good Scriptural catechism is of infinite value to our children. Even if the youngsters do not understand all the questions and the answers in the “Westminster Assembly’s Catechism,” yet, abiding in their memories, it will be of infinite service when the time of understanding comes, to have known those very excellent, wise, and judicious definitions of the things of God. If we would maintain orthodoxy in our midst, and see good old Calvinistic doctrines handed down from father to son, I think we must use the method of catechising, and endeavour with all our might to impregnate their minds with the things of God. It will be a blessing to them—the greatest of all blessings—a blessing in life and death, in time and eternity, the best of blessings God himself can give.
Come Ye Children "A Book for Parents and Teachers on the Christian Training of Children"
"Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord" (Psalm 34:11)
Thomas Guthrie D.D., Free Church of Scotland, founder of the “Ragged Schools”
G. Campbell Morgan
"The Children's Playground In The City of God" wp01-20.docx (live.com)
"The Training of Our Children" wp02-09.docx (live.com)
Our first business is to bring the child into a recognition of its actual relationship to Christ, and a personal yielding thereto.
Christian F. Reisner, April 5, in God’s Minute, A Book of 365 Daily Prayers Sixty Seconds Long for Home Worship
We bless Thee for little children. We thank Thee for their prattle and laughter, their trust and purity. Freshen us with sweetening lessons from their fragrant happiness. Bless the little ones touched by our influence. Foreguard against making crooked pathways, lest they follow. Enable us to enforce all instructions with a flesh-clothed example. Deliver us from impatient speech and angry action before or to them. Fill our heart with love until it overflows, and mellows and moulds the little folk. Check arbitrary commands; hold back harsh penalties. May patient tenderness have the mastership in our lives. Saturate us with sympathy, grace us with gentleness, control us with considerateness, and honor us with the beauty of holiness. Give us an obedience as prompt and as confident as that of a love-led child. Command us until we shall conform to the image of our Elder Brother, and so be worthy disciples and helpers of humanity everywhere.