Who can wonder?
(John Angell James, "Religious Education of Children" 1846)
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"You should be an example to the believers
in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith,
in purity." 1 Timothy 4:12
Look into some families of professors--
follow them through the history of only
one week, and see . . .
their worldly-mindedness,
their gaiety,
their frivolity,
their unsanctified tempers,
their worldly reading,
their amusements,
their homage to talent,
their low esteem of holiness,
their negligence of family prayer,
their neglect of godly instruction to their children--
and who can wonder that young people brought
up amidst such scenes, do not become pious--
but go off into the world or into sin?
Too often the children are like their parents,
and bring into the church no higher or
better kind of religion than what they
have learned at home!
And thus a low tone of piety,
a lukewarm Laodicean spirit--
is extended and perpetuated.
There must be a revival of piety
in the parents! It is vain to expect
that a worldly-minded father, whose
spirituality, if he ever had any, has been
utterly evaporated by the exclusiveness
of concern about business and politics.
Or a frivolous, pleasure-loving mother, who
thinks far more about adorning the bodies
of her children, than about saving their souls--
should be at all concerned about the pious
education of their children.
Recollect what a solemn thing
it is to be a parent!
What a weighty responsibility attaches
to those who have the immortal souls
of their children committed to their care!
"You fathers, don't provoke your children
to wrath, but nurture them in the discipline
and instruction of the LORD." Ephesians 6:4
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