NOTHING perhaps presses itself more upon the Christian parents. We are living in “perilous times.” Many Christians do not realize this enough. Apostasy in a multitude of forms is advancing with rapid strides under cover of Christianity, making it more necessary than ever that our children be well instructed in the Word of God. Nothing is so effective for this as the home, where the Christian father daily gathers his household for reading the Word and infusing it into their minds and lives. They may afterward depart from it in practice yet, as a hook in the mouth of the fish, will abide in them, and compel them, sooner or later, to yield to the blessed hand of God. The Sunday School is a blessed adjunct to this. Other witnesses will there add their testimony to that of the home, and we know the power of “two or three witnesses.” Then there are the various meetings of the people of God, where the Scriptures are in constant use. How we should value all these means of instruction, and have our children with us! All this is illustrated in the frequent gatherings and feasts of the people of Israel.
If we think we can do without these helps we will surely find ourselves and our children the losers. “Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His Name” (Mal. 3:16)
We are also living in days of great pride, when not only are men subject to God no more, but are not even subject to rulers, nor to parents—days of socialism and rising anarchy. The more careful therefore should we be to instil obedience in our children’s minds—not tyrannize over them, not “provoke them,” but see to it that they obey, and obey cheerfully. Obedience is the very first principle, and at the root of all godliness. Many think that because we “are not under law, but under grace,” therefore to command and to govern are unworthy of a Christian. It is all wrong. Grace in no way destroys government—government in the assembly or in the family. An assembly without godly government is a ruin, and so also a family. We have seen many a time a row of children sit quietly by their mother through a long meeting without a move from one of them. They were no less active than others when free, but they were under government, and knew where and when to be quiet and reverent. Will this be the exception? or will it be the rule? Beloved fathers and mothers, this will depend on how well we fulfill our responsibilities as such.
How encouraging it is to find in various places that many of the young recruits in the assemblies are from godly families, and from the Sunday Schools! May the Lord increase still the labor and the fruit of both!
—Paul J. Loizeaux