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"...The church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."
I Timothy 3:15
Let Every Christian Mother Look to the Christian Education of Her Own Child
Jabez Burns
From Mothers of the Wise and Good, 1860
The professed followers of Christ receive the Word of God as the only rule of life, and do, in some important cases, so modify their interpretations of it, by the customs and maxims of a world lying in wickedness, that they actually follow the dictates of a depraved heart. Their confidence is placed, partly in their own worldly wisdom, and partly in the power arid faithfulness of God.
It is to be feared that the Bible system of education is strangely perverted by worldly wisdom. “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Prov. 22:6)
The family circle was appointed by Infinite Wisdom, as a nursery of all those principles which assimilate man to his Creator. How should we ever be able to form any adequate conception of our Father who is in heaven, or of the endearing relation in which we stand to Him, if we had never known the bond which unites the earthly parent and child?
Let a child be properly taught his duty to his earthly parent that he may comprehend the higher one which he owes to our Father in heaven.
The religious instruction of children, given by the parents in the family, enforced by a consistent example, and accompanied with fervent prayer, furnishes fathers and mothers with the only well-grounded hope that their children will be prepared to meet the temptations of the world.
How exalted the privilege, and how lofty the destiny of the rising generation! And how momentous the responsibilities resting upon Christian parents! Christian mothers, weigh well the truth that the most solemn obligations are pressing upon you to attend personally, faithfully, and prayerfully, to the religious education of your children. If you would save your child from infidelity, trust not the moulding of his young mind to unhallowed hands. A child acquires a perfect confidence in its mother - hence her influence is greater than any other.
Who can so well discover the unfolding intellect of a child as the mother? Who can so well apply seasonable instruction as the watchful mother?
The first impressions are fixed principles, and your example may make them either good or bad. Children are ever watching for something new from their mother, and, through the corrupt propensities of human nature, they will be far more ready to catch the evil than the good. How important, then, that your every act be consistent and correct, that the first impressions made upon the mind of your child be salutary!
Christian mother, consider how far your own conduct will tell upon the future weal or woe of your child's soul in eternity. By your apathy and negligence your child may be lost; by your prayerful, persevering watchfulness, care, and instruction, through Christ, your child may be saved.
Let your grand object be, to make your child, while yet a child, a believer in the Bible. Thoroughly explain to him its doctrines, precepts, and promises. Teach him the Gospel, prayerfully submitting the whole to God, believing the Holy Spirit will do his office-work upon the heart. But above all, beware how you encourage your child to hope his little heart is regenerated, merely because he has learned and knows it to be necessary. Close discrimination is necessary, that you do not deceive your child, and lead him to believe his heart is changed, when in fact it is not. Rest not satisfied until the fruits of the Spirit are manifested by the works of repentance and faith.
Even little children may be converted; and when you are satisfied, by Scriptural evidence, of the conversion of your child, be not satisfied with yourself, and think your work is done. It remains your duty, and your privilege, by the grace of God assisting you, to guide his young feet in the footsteps of our Saviour, the pathway to God, and eternal life. Mother, is it of small moment that you have in solemn charge the disposal of intelligence and immortality, on which hangs the issue of eternity? Does not your heart respond to this awful responsibility? Then ever be found with a prayerful spirit, which is a Mother's panoply.
“Pray without ceasing.” (I Thess. 5:17)