Part 6 (1/2)

If we mistake not, there is very wide-spread failure in this respect, for which we have to judge ourselves before G.o.d. Whether through a false tenderness, or indolence, we suffer our children to walk according to their own will and pleasure, and the strides which they make along this road are alarmingly rapid. They pa.s.s from stage to stage with great speed, until, at length, they reach the terrible goal of despising their parents altogether, throwing their authority entirely overboard, and trampling beneath their feet the holy order of G.o.d, and turning the domestic circle into a scene of G.o.dless misrule and confusion.

How dreadful this is we need not say, or how utterly opposed to the mind of G.o.d, as revealed in His holy word. But have we not ourselves to blame for it? G.o.d has put into the parents' hands the reins of government, and the rod of authority, but if parents, through indolence, suffer the reins to drop from their hands; and if through false tenderness or moral weakness, the rod of authority is not applied, need we marvel if the children grow up in utter lawlessness?

How could it be otherwise? Children are, as a rule, very much what we make them. If they are made to be obedient, they will be so; and if they are allowed to have their own way, the result will be accordingly.

Are we then to be continually chucking the reins and brandis.h.i.+ng the rod? By no means. This would be to break the spirit of the child, instead of subduing his will. Where parental authority is thoroughly established, the reins may lie gently on the neck, and the rod be allowed to stand in the corner. The child should be taught, from his earliest hour, that the parent only wills his good, but the parent's will must be supreme. Nothing is simpler. A look is enough for a properly trained child. There is no need whatever to be continually hawking our authority; indeed nothing is more contemptible whether in a husband, a father, or a master. There is a quiet dignity about one who really possesses authority; whereas the spasmodic efforts of weakness only draw out contempt.

We have found, through many years of experience and careful observation, that the real secret of successful training lies in the proper adjustment of firmness and tenderness. If the parent, from the very beginning, establishes his authority, he may exercise as much tenderness as the most loving heart can desire or display. When the child is really made to feel that the reins and rod are under the direct control of sound judgment and true affection, and not of a sour temper and an arbitrary will, there will be little difficulty in training him.

In a word, firmness and tenderness are the two essential ingredients in all sound education; a firmness which the child will not dare to question; a tenderness which takes account of the child's every real want and right desire. It is sad indeed if the idea which a child forms of parental authority be that of an arbitrary interference with, or a cold indifference to, his little wishes and wants. It is not thus that our heavenly Father deals with us; and He is to be our model in this as in all beside. If it be written, and it is written, ”Children, obey your parents in all things;” it is also, in beautiful adjusting power, written, ”Fathers, provoke not your children, lest they be discouraged.” Again, if it be said, ”Children, obey your parents in the Lord; for this is right;” it is also said, ”Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath; but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” In short, the child must be taught to obey; but the obedient child must be allowed to breathe an atmosphere of tenderness, and to walk up and down in the suns.h.i.+ne of parental affection. This is the spirit of Christian education.[9]

[9] For further remarks on the deeply important subject of domestic government, the reader is referred to a small pamphlet ent.i.tled, ”Thou and Thy House; or, The Christian at Home.”

Also an excellent little paper, ”The Training of Children,” by a Mother. Price of the first is 10 cts; the last is 4 cts.

Most gladly would we dwell further on this great practical subject; but we trust sufficient has been said to rouse the hearts and consciences of all Christian parents to a sense of their high and holy responsibilities in reference to their beloved offspring; and also to shew that there is a great deal more involved in bringing our children out of Egypt, and taking G.o.d's ground for them, than many of us are aware of. And if the reading of the foregoing lines be used of G.o.d to lead any parent into prayerful exercise in this most weighty matter, we shall not have penned them in vain.

4. We shall close this paper with the briefest possible reference to the enemy's fourth and last objection, which is embodied in the following words, ”And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve the Lord; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed: let your little ones also go with you.” He would let them go, but without resources to serve the Lord. If he could not keep them in Egypt, he would send them away crippled and shorn. Such is the enemy's last demurrer.

But mark the n.o.ble reply of a devoted heart. It is morally grand. ”And Moses said, Thou must give us also sacrifices and burnt-offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the Lord our G.o.d. Our cattle also shall go with us; there shall not a hoof be left behind: for thereof must we take to serve the Lord our G.o.d; and”--ponder these suggestive words--”_We know not with what we must serve the Lord until we come thither._”

We must be fully and clearly on G.o.d's ground and at His stand-point, before ever we can form any true idea of the nature and extent of His claims. It is utterly impossible, while surrounded by a worldly atmosphere, and governed by a worldly spirit, worldly principles, and worldly objects, to have any just sense of what is due to G.o.d. We must stand on the lofty ground of accomplished redemption--in the full-orbed light of the new creation--apart from this present evil world, ere we can properly serve Christ. It is only when, in the power of an indwelling Spirit, we see where we are brought by the death and resurrection of Christ--”three days' journey”--that we can at all understand what true Christian service is; and then we shall clearly see and fully own, that ”all we are, and all we have, belong to Him.”

”We know not with what we must serve the Lord until we come thither.”

Precious words! May we better understand their force, meaning, and practical application! Moses, the man of G.o.d, meets all Satan's objections by a simple but decided adherence to Jehovah's demand, ”Let My people go, that they hold a feast unto Me in the wilderness.”

This is the true principle we are called to maintain spite of all objections. If that standard be lowered, ever so little, the enemy gains his point, and Christian service and testimony are undermined--if not made impossible.

”THYSELF AND THE DOCTRINE”

(_A Word for the Workman._)

”Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine (or teaching); continue in them: for in doing this thou shall both save thyself, and them that hear thee.”--1 Tim. iv. 16.

These are solemn and weighty words for all those who labor in the word and doctrine. They were addressed by the inspired apostle to his beloved son Timothy, and contain most precious instruction for every one who is called of G.o.d to minister in the a.s.sembly, or to preach the gospel. It is a.s.suredly a very high and holy privilege to be permitted to take part in such a ministry; but it involves a most serious responsibility; and the pa.s.sage just quoted sets before the workman two deeply important duties--yea, absolutely essential duties, to which he must give his diligent, constant, prayerful attention, if he would be an efficient workman in the Church of G.o.d--”a good minister of Jesus Christ.” He must take heed to himself; and he must take heed to the teaching.

1. And first, then, let us consider the solemn clause, ”_Take heed to thyself_.” We cannot adequately set forth the moral importance of this. It is, of course, important for all Christians; but for the workman preeminently so; for to such it is here particularly addressed. He, above all, will need to take heed to himself. He must guard the state of his heart, the state of his conscience, his whole inward man. He must keep himself pure. His thoughts, his affections, his spirit, his temper, his tongue, must all be kept under the holy control of the Spirit and word of G.o.d. He must wear the girdle of truth and the breastplate of righteousness. His moral condition and his practical walk must answer to the truth ministered, else the enemy will most a.s.suredly get an advantage over him.

The teacher ought to be the living exponent of what he teaches. At least this should be his honest, earnest, constant aim. He should ever keep this holy standard before ”the eyes of his heart.” Alas, the best will fail and come short; but where the heart is true, the conscience tender, and the fear of G.o.d and the love of Christ have their due place, the workman will never be satisfied with anything short of the divine standard for his inward state and his outward walk. It will ever be his earnest desire to exhibit the practical effect of his teaching, and to be ”an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity” (1 Tim. iv.

12). With this he should ever remember that ”we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants, for Jesus'

sake.”

We must never for a moment lose sight of the weighty moral fact that the teacher ought to _live_ the truth which he teaches. It is morally dangerous, in the extreme, for a man to teach in public what he does not live in private--dangerous for himself, most damaging to the testimony, and injurious to those with whom he has to do. What can be more deplorable or humiliating than for a man to be characterized by contradicting in his personal history and in his domestic life the truth which he utters in the public a.s.sembly? It is simply fearful, and must inevitably lead to the most disastrous results.

Hence, then, may it be the deep-seated, earnest purpose and aim of all those who minister in the Word and doctrine to feed upon the precious truth of G.o.d; to make it their own; to live and move and have their being in the very atmosphere of it; to have the inward man strengthened and formed by it; to have it dwelling richly in them, that thus it may flow out in living power, savor, unction and fulness to others.

It is a very poor, yea, a very dangerous thing to sit down to the word of G.o.d as a mere student, for the purpose of preparing lectures or sermons for other people. Nothing can be more deadening or withering to the soul. Mere intellectual traffic in the truth of G.o.d, storing up certain doctrines, views and principles in the memory, and giving them out with a certain fluency of speech, is at once deluding and demoralizing. We may be drawing water for other people, and all the while be like rusty pipes ourselves. How miserable this is! ”If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and _drink_,” said our blessed Lord.

He did not say ”_draw_.” The true spring and power of all ministry in the Church will ever be found in drinking for our own souls, not in drawing for others. ”He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” We must abide close to the eternal fountain, the heart of Christ; drink deeply, drink continually. Thus our own souls shall be refreshed and enriched; rivers shall flow for the refreshment of others, and streams of praise ascend to the throne and to the heart of G.o.d by Jesus Christ. This is Christian ministry--yea, this is Christianity; all else is utterly worthless.