p. 26 | EDUCATION by Jos. Clarke

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 15, 1859

EDUCATION.

By Jos. Clarke

THAT they may teach their children. Deut. iv, 10. And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. Deut. vi, 7 and xi 19.

A fearful responsibility lies upon parents and guardians, a responsibility which can by no means be shifted nor evaded. The plea of inability, want of time, forgetfulness, and other pleas, will all be swept away before the unerring word of the Lord.

If a parent is obliged to be absent for a time he is obliged to leave his charge in such hands, as will see that their duties are performed (to the best of his ability), and when he returns he will resume his own duty where he left off if he would be a faithful steward over his Lord's property. But the excuse must be a very good one indeed which would excuse the parent from being present with his children, and leaving them in the care of others, or in any way neglecting to oversee and personally inspect their conduct.

This is evidently the meaning of the passage, that children are expected to be under the immediate inspection of one or both parents at all times, and every opportunity is to be embraced to instruct them in the way of the Lord.

When the child rises at morn, or lies down at night, when he walks by the way, or sits quietly at the family hearth, his parent's eye is supposed to be upon him in parental watchfulness and love, and at all these times is instruction to be conveyed to his pliant mind, dropping like the sunshine or the dew upon the flowers and causing his mental powers to be developed under a system of religious training, which if sanctified by the spirit of God, would result in the formation of a character pleasing in the sight of God.

A parent occupies a place, a relationship to his child next to God. For several of the first years of the life of the child, he is seemingly at the mercy of his parents. His life, his health, his bent of mind, his first impressions of God and of truth, he learns at his parent's knee; he waits his parent's nod, and all the hell he knows is his parent's frown; all the heaven he knows is his parent's smile. Oh ye parents, would you, could you all realize your tremendous responsibility as you travel on in life with your little ones around you, how much their present and future happiness rests upon you, how much their eternal well being and immortality depends upon your instruction and example, how and with what earnestness would you pray and labor!

You are busy perhaps, too busy, to think of giving instructions so constant as is here enjoined; but I ask, Are you too busy to eat, to sleep, to dress, to cook; too busy to plant and sow, too busy to reap or plough? and is not the command here imperative as either? You forget perhaps. Do you forget to breathe? What would you do if God should forget to send your heart's blood through your system at every pulse? What if he should forget to keep the world in motion? forget to send us sunshine and rain? forget! can a mother forget her sucking child? and can a parent forget to cultivate the mind of his child? can a parent forget to instruct his own flesh and blood in the way of righteousness? Can a parent lie in dumb, sluggish forgetfulness, while the mind of his darling child is a garden full of noxious weeds, a garden of thistles and thorns? Can a parent lie quiet and easy, while his child grows up into life a dull stupid ignorant servant of sin, and yet flatter himself that he is a christian? I would not give anything for the hope of one who can thus neglect the education of the precious ones entrusted to his care.

This world is no place for ease; it is Satan's field of death, and he who would serve another master, must be a worker, a soldier, selfdenying and intrepid; and he who faints at the sight of war may as well lay down his arms. He who dreads work may as well desert the field at once or make up his mind to take hold in good earnest and do every duty, however humble and laborious and constant. Duty once taken in hand, the cross once upon the shoulders, is lightened by the hand of mercy, and sustained by heavenly power, and becomes when habitually performed and taken up, a buoy, a source of purest enjoyment, a light, a barrier to ward off temptation, a means of enduring happiness.

But says one, I have no skill in such things. I ask if skill was ever attained without practice? Have you brought up a family of children and not yet attained any skill in teaching them the way of the Lord? But let us see how it can be done.

A parent or teacher should first know that to tell a child that he must love his Bible, or must love God, without giving a reason why, will meet with but little success in teaching. A child reasons by short concise methods; remember this, and respect his intellect, and teach him with systematic reasoning, plain and to the point, and he will reciprocate. You wish him to be saved, to be changed in heart, to be renewed, sanctified; now begin with the alphabet.

First what is sin? Here a full explanation is needed, and much instruction on the commandments, interspersed with remarks about the goodness, justice and mercy of God, with a care that each term is understood; and if interest flags, the beauties of heaven, of the new earth may win; and it is better often to speak of these things, than to weary with long lectures. But system must be observed or the subject will be confused in his mind.

Here is the main point to establish well in his mind, the unbending justice, the unsoiled purity of God. Without this sense of God's character, the child cannot by any means appreciate his mercy and benevolence.

When the child has learned the true distinction between right and wrong, and its true bearings, he has learned the alphabet of holiness, he has learned what many a D. D. has yet to become acquainted with. This knowledge is necessary to the existence of that moral sense which he must have before he can in any degree appreciate the truths of the Bible.

Having the best evidence that he knows what sin is he must be made conscious of its existence in himself. Is his conscience tender? Does sin and disobedience to God give him pain? Let him be candid, and get his real feelings. Do you find him stupid? Now is the time to show him kindly his danger, the awful doom of the wicked, and the reward of the righteous. Advise him to pray for a heart to feel, for a tender heart like the heart of Josiah whose heart was tender towards God and towards his law. Teach him how good men and women have hated sin, and advise him to pray for this tenderness of conscience. Does he manifest by tears and acts that his heart is melted? Now follow it up by showing him that to stop here is death; this is only conviction; he must repent and be converted (turned about). Show him what it is to turn about, turn away from sin.

Next he must not only be tender at heart repent and be converted, but he must be sanctified. This he must believe that God will do for him, in answer to the prayer of faith and his constant endeavor. Keep the system, the plan in your mind, and instil it by short lessons and easy gradations into the mind of your child. Work, oh work! Make your child obedient. Are you well? then you have no excuse. Are you sick? you can call him to your bedside and teach him the alphabet of right ere you die.

Jos. CLARKE.