The School

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Jul 2, 1908

Schools of the Early Church

The tender solicitude of the early Christians for the religious instruction of their children is one of their most beautiful characteristics. They taught them even at the earliest dawn of intelligence the sacred names of God and the Saviour. They sought to lead the infant minds of their children up to God by familiar narratives from Scripture, of Joseph, of young Samuel, of Josiah, and of the holy child Jesus. The history of the patriarchs and prophets, apostles and holy men, whose lives are narrated in the Sacred Volume, were the nursery tales with which they sought to form the tender minds of their children. As the mind of the child expanded, the parents made it their sacred duty and delightful task daily to exercise him in the recital of select passages of Scripture relating to the doctrines and duties of religion. The Bible was the entertainment of the fireside. It was the first, the last, almost the only school-book of the child; the sacred psalmody, the only song with which his infant cry was hushed as he was lulled to rest on his mother's arm. The sacred song and the rude melody of its music were, from the earliest periods of Christian antiquity, an important means of impressing the infant heart with sentiments of piety, and of imbuing the susceptible minds of the young with the knowledge and faith of the Scriptures. . . .

The purpose of these early Christian parents, as of the ancient Jews, was to train up their children in the fear of God. In order that the children might be exposed as little as possible to the corrupting influence of heathen association, their education was conducted within the healthful precincts of the home. As a result, they grew up without a taste for debasing pleasures; they acquired domestic tastes; and, when the time came, they took their place as consistent and earnest workers in the church. . . .

The beauty of this character made its impression upon an age notorious for its vice. It extorted unwilling praises from the enemies of Christianity. A celebrated heathen orator exclaimed, “What wives these Christians have!” “A noble testimony,” says a writer of note, “to the refining power of women, and the most beautiful tribute to the gentle, persuasive influence of her piety, which all antiquity, heathen or Christian, furnishes.” —Coleman.