Training of Children

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"The Training of Children" by William Booth

Or "How to make the children into saints and soldiers of Jesus Christ, by the general of the Salvation army"

Preface To The Second Edition.

I AM thankful to God that the demand for this book continues and increases all round the world; and I am especially glad of this because I know that such demand arises chiefly from the steadily increasing number of parents who are determined, not only to train their children in the knowledge of God, and the practice of righteousness, but who are seeking with all their might to qualify them to efficiently take part in the great enterprise of conquering the world for God.

Seeing that the Salvation Army is now considerably more than twice the size it was when, three years ago, this book was issued, I feel more than ever the responsibility of sending forth this directory for the heads of its families. Still, I am greatly encouraged in doing so by the experience of past years, all of which goes slowly to confirm every conviction which is herein expressed.

Every parent, who in the strength of God carries out the teachings of this book, may confidently expect that their children will become what so many thousand Salvationists' children already are - holy devotees to God and the world's salvation; and yet who, whilst spending their whole lives to extend His kingdom, are not only free from the gloom of stiffness too often associated in the past with " a strictly religious education," but full of the joy and love of the great Father of us all.

WILLIAM BOOTH.

INTERNATIONAL HEADQUARTERS OF THE SALVATION ARMY,
101, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, LONDON, E.C.,
January, 1888.



Chapter 1: The Duty Of Parents.



1. What is the supreme duty of parents with regard to their children?

The duty of parents to their children is so to govern, influence, and inspire them, that they shall love, serve, and enjoy God, and in consequence grow up to be good, holy, and useful men and women. "The father to the children shall make known thy truth."-Is. xxxviii. 19.
2. Can such a course of conduct be followed with children as may be reasonably expected to make them good and Christ-like?
We think so; nay, we go further. We maintain that such early training is the God-appointed and only method which can be reckoned upon with certainty to develop children into godly men and women. As surely as the child makes the man, so surely does training make both child and man. Let the child develop and strengthen that which is mean, selfish and devilish in him, and you will have a bad man; whereas' if you prune, subdue, and eradicate the evil, and develop, strengthen, and encourage the good, inspiring him with the love of all truth, holiness, and benevolence, he will grow up to be a good, godly, and benevolent man.
3. But do not many who have not been thus trained get converted In mature life, and become both good and useful?
Yes, thank God, they do. It is not uncommon for a child who has been allowed to grow up selfish and wilful, with his evil propensities unsubdued, and who has gone off to a prodigal's life, to be stopped on the highway to Hell by The Salvation Army, or some other Divine agency, converted, and made ever afterwards godly and useful; but for every one thus saved, it is to be feared a hundred perish. Surely you don't want your children to go after " the prodigal," and run such a risk of damnation. God's way for the Salvation of the children of His saints is not that they are to be trained in sin and their converted, but that they are to be converted in being trained in His fear and grace.
But even if you were sure that your children would be converted in mature life, after a childhood and youth of sinful indulgence, how dishonouring to God and injurious to your child and others would be such a career I Why not save your boy from so miserable an experience by moulding him in childhood for a holy life, thus leading him to give himself to God in his youth, with every faculty and force of body, mind, and soul trained, instructed, and all on fire for suffering or sacrifice in the service of his generation and of his God? Surely this must be the idea of being trained up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."


Chapter 2: The Possibility Of Giving A Successful Training.



1. Do I understand you then to say positively that if children are rightly trained, it may with certainty be expected that they will become such Christians as have been described?
Yes, we do, and we are prepared to maintain the correctness of the statement. Is it not possible so to curb and train the spirit of the wild animals of the forest that they shall become your willing servants I Can you not so train the wild trees of the wood that they shall yield flowers and fruit to meet your fancy and please your taste? Can you not master and control the stormy wind and destructive lightning, making them willing ministers to help you in your earthly and heavenly enterprises? If you can do all this, surely the beautiful children whom Christ has redeemed with His precious Blood, and whom God has placed under your charge, and whom the Holy Spirit is waiting to influence, can be moulded and fashioned, and trained up in such purity, simplicity, and love, that morally and spiritually they shall be the admiration of God, angels, and good men--thus qualified to answer all those benevolent purposes for which they have been created, and ready to do the will of God on earth as it is done in Heaven. Oh, yes, it can be done, without a doubt, and it can be done with certainty.
2. Do not the Scriptures teach that right training will make right--that is, "righteous" children?
Yes, they do, but like many other important truths, this one is assumed in the Bible as a matter of course rather than stated in any particular form, or with any great frequency. There are, however, some remarkable passages to this effect; and one plain declaration, if not qualified by any other statement in the Holy Book, is as sufficient for our purpose as fifty. I will give one or two.
God says, concerning Abraham,

For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord.-Gen. xviii. 19.
It is here implied that there is a way of commanding children which will assuredly result in their keeping the commandments of God, and so ultimately coming to the Tree of Life. Solomon reiterates this truth still more clearly when he says,
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old he will not depart from it. - Prov. xxii. 6.
It is here positively affirmed that if the path be shown to the child, and he be taught to walk in it, he shall not only do so when he reaches the years of manhood, but he shall become permanently good.
Again, this truth is taught by the Holy Spirit through Paul, when he tells the Ephesians that they are to bring up their children
In the nurture and admonition of the Lord.-Eph. vi. 4.
There is plainly some kind of nurture, training, admonition or guidance, which is of the Lord, not only because ordered by Him, but having some Divine Power specially connected with it, which, if imparted faithfully, will 'be effective, seeing that the children are not only to have it given, but they are to be brought up, that is, they are to grow up in it. They are not to receive it, and then depart from it, as is ordinarily expected. But they are to grow up on it as a house does on its foundations, and in the power of it, as a branch does in the nurture and life-giving properties of the sap which flows from the tree into which it is grafted.
There seems, further, to be an illustration of this effectual training given us in Paul's description of the spiritual life of Timothy, when he says,
I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.-2 Tim. i. 5.
Here the Apostle connects the godly training of godly ancestors for two or three generations with the godly results to be found in Timothy's faith and devotion. The Apostle evidently did not look upon religious training as a mere speculation-as that sort of chance work which many persons regard their religious dealings with their children to be. Given such a grandmother, and such a mother, the Apostle clearly would have reckoned upon such a son and grandson as the natural, or rather, the Divine, outcome. How could it be otherwise?
3. But do facts support this statement? That is, do the children of Christian parents always turn out devoted saints?
Alas, no! We are ashamed to confess that it is often just the opposite, and were it not only too well known already, we would blush to publish the fact that there is no necessary connexion between a Christian father and a Christian son. Indeed, so uncommon is it for the children of Christians to follow in the track of their parents, that there is little expectation-if any at all-of any youth turning out to be a saint in his school, or workshop, or college, because his father occupies some high position in the Christian church. Nay, it is a still more painful fact that some of the most notorious infidels, abandoned profligates, and bitter enemies of God and righteousness all over the world are the children of professing Christians.
4. Then what becomes of the statement that Christian training will make Christians?
Simply this, that if the children of Christian parents do not turn out Christian it only proves that the right training has not been given in some important particulars. God says, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old he will not depart from it." If appearances seem to contradict this, the appearances must be at fault; God must be true, and that which contradicts Him must be a lie.
5. Can you show in what respect the religious training is likely to have been at fault in the instances of failure referred to?
The most serious lack in the religious training of children, and that which is the cause of frequent failure, is THE RELIANCE ON TEACHING ONLY. Multitudes of children are instructed in religious notions and their memories crammed with the facts of ancient religious history, whilst their hearts are left unchanged, uncultivated, and uninspired by the Holy Spirit. In other words, the children are made to believe themselves Christians, and are described to others as "loving Jesus," although unconverted, carnal, and worldly; having nothing more than an outward intellectual acquaintance with the facts and teaching of the Bible. They have just the same kind of acquaintance with Christianity that they have with geography and history. They believe in Christ and all the wonderful things He did, in Palestine, just as they believe in Julius Caesar and all the wonderful things he did in Italy and elsewhere. But so far from their religious belief making them any stronger to resist the evil forces of their unchanged nature or raising up any barrier against the attacks of their outward enemies, it. is about as helpful as their faith in Julius Caesar. When temptation comes, whether it be from the world, the flesh, or the devil, the flimsey barriers of their intellectual faith give way, and down come the poor children, causing scandal and reproach to those whose names they bear, and whose hope and treasure in all sincerity they have doubtless been. The Master's words apply equally to the children, "Ye must be born again."-John iii. 16.
6. Can you name any other cause of the failure of such supposed religious training?
Yes; alas I perhaps the most fatal cause is the absence of the spirit of the teaching that is given. Hence they are not only destitute, as we have already shewn, of genuine godliness, hut also ignorant of its real nature-as ignorant as I should be of the true idea of a living man had I never seen anything more like a man than a corpse from which the spirit had fled. Life is essential to the right exhibition of godliness. The teacher must be the living illustration of the lesson he sets forth. Mind you set the right pattern before your children; they will work to the pattern, so you can have a good guess what the imitation will be,
7. Is there any other cause for the deplorable breakdowns to which reference has been made?
Yes, the withholding of that training which enables children to reduce to practice in their own hearts and lives the lessons which they receive. They are taught, but not trained.
But we are anticipating what will be better said further on. As we go forward with our task, the careful reader will be able to judge for himself as to any defect in any training within the sphere of his own observation. Far be the wish from us to condemn anyone who in sincerity has striven or is striving to nurture his children for God and Salvation; nothing can be more foreign to our purpose.
The painful facts we have stated cannot be denied, and in noting some of the causes which lead to them both here and hereafter, we only wish to prevent their being charged back upon God, as though the fault lay at His door. It is our privilege to justify the ways of God to men, and in doing so we have no doubt, that though the statement that children trained in the Divine method will maintain a holy walk may painfully reflect upon the action of some parents in the past, yet we shall thereby secure some more wise and holy training in future, leading to the desired result.
8. Do you maintain, then, that if a suitable training be given to children, they will, if spared, always grow up to be holy men and women?
We reply that where the conditions are complied with, the desired results will be realised. That is, if parents win fearlessly and faithfully carry out such methods as are suggested directly to their hearts by the Holy Spirit, the teaching of the Bible, and their own common sense, their children will all become true servants and Soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
If we plant an acorn, an oak tree will be the result; if we carefully cultivate our ground, good crops will follow; and this law of a like cause always producing a like effect in the natural world, applies equally to the world of mind and spirit. Neglect to teach your child his letters, and he will never read. Teach him imperfectly, and he will read imperfectly. Teach him carefully, and he will read perfectly. Just so; give him a careful training in goodness and in God, and he will grow up good and godly. A good tree must bring forth good fruit. "He that soweth [here or elsewhere] to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."---Gal. vi. 8
9. This is a most important subject, then, to all who are charged with the care of children?
Certainly it is, and if it had received the attention and care which it deserves, the world would long ago have been peopled with the children of God, and all its forces, high And low, would have come into the possession of the King of kings.
10. But is not this task of training children very difficult and troublesome?
Yes, we doubt not it is. But so are many other tasks on which men set themselves, and which they accomplish successfully, in spite of the trouble and difficulty. Men are at endless trouble in training plants, trees, and animals, in managing business, in devising political schemes, and a million other things-all of which are of comparatively trifling importance when placed alongside this duty. Plants, animals, business, and politics are things of an hour, and perish almost in the very using. But the children that are playing about your feet or lying in your bosom will live for ever in happiness or misery--happiness or misery which will be increased, if not actually brought about by the training you give them. Not only so, but in the Hell or Heaven they will ultimately reach, there will sink or rise with them multitudes of others whom they have influenced one way or the other. Oh, what a trust is yours!
11. Ought not parents earnestly to seek that guidance and strength from God, which will enable them to give their children the training that will qualify them to fulfil the high purpose He has formed concerning them?
Most certainly they ought. On no subject ought parents more regularly, importunately, and believingly to seek help from God, than in all that concerns the deepest interests of their children. God has promised parents as well as others, "all sufficiency in all things," and if any of them "lack wisdom," they have only to ask it of Him. The children should not only be trained for God, but in God. When some celebrated Frenchman was asked, " What is the religion of the child?" he replied, "The religion of its mother! " The parent is its great high priest, through whom, humanly speaking, all the wisdom and grace it receives must come. How carefully then should parents seek Divine help, and how fully ought they to rely on the co-operation of God, to enable them to rightly live before their children and to be unto them all they need in order to their Salvation!



Chapter 3: Conditions Of Successful Training.


1. In the last Chapter you say there are certain conditions of successful training. What do you mean?
I mean that if there are certain things in you as a parent, -in your character and conduct, and in the teaching and management of your children,-you may safely reckon they will be saved and grow up to be good.
2. Will you please name what these conditions are? I want very carefully to consider them.
I will name them here, and afterwards try to explain them more fully:-
1. A godly parentage.
2. The parents must see clearly their responsibility to give this training, and must resolve to impart it.
3. The definite dedication of their children to God.
4. The blessing of a holy example.
5. The benefit of a wise and godly home government.
6. Correct teaching with regard to the relations and duties of the children.
7. A careful training in the personal practice of all that Is taught the children. by precept and example.



Chapter 4: Godly Parentage.


1. You say that a godly parentage is the first condition of that training which will be successful in making the children true servants and good Soldiers of Jesus Christ. Will you explain what you mean?
We mean that the parents should both be converted and wholly devoted to God before the birth of the children, in which case there is little doubt that the children will come into the world with tendencies in favour of goodness. Just as we see children inherit the bad tendencies and passions of bad parents, so the children of godly parents must inherit dispositions, tempers and appetites favourable to lives of goodness and self-sacrifice.
There is nothing with which we are more familiar than the transmission from parent to child of physical qualities, such as peculiarity of features, tones of voice, colour of hair, eyes, and the like; also physical appetites, such as tastes for particular kinds of food, for strong drink, unnatural tendencies to uncleanness, and a hundred other things.
We are also familiar with the fact that mental qualities descend from parents to children. For instance, clever parents will be likely to have children, not only clever, but gifted in the same direction as themselves.
We know also that parents transmit their peculiar temperaments to their children. Thus you will find them sanguine, nervous, bilious, or melancholy, after the fashion of father or mother, or both conjoined.
And it is equally certain that moral qualities are transmitted-such as tendencies to truth or falsehood, generosity or selfishness, honesty or dishonesty., and the like.
2. Does not this notion contradict the doctrine of inbred depravity, or the indwelling sinfulness of children?
Certainly not. The children of godly parents, in common with the children of wicked parents, notwithstanding all the advantages of the former over the latter to which we have referred, are nevertheless born into the world with tendencies which, if left to themselves, will invariably lead them into a life of selfishness and rebellion against God. Nevertheless, in the degree of evil inclination with which children come into existence, there is manifestly a very great difference. The children of holy parents must have a far better chance in the race for the heavenly goal than the children of sensual, drunken, unclean, selfish worldlings, or of unprincipled cheats and thieves.
3. Is there anything in the Bible which seems to teach that the children of godly parents have any special advantage over the children of the ungodly?
Yes! God is set forth from the beginning as delighting to show himself strong and gracious on behalf of the children of those who have loved Him and kept His commandments and stood by His people.
Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.-Deut. vii. 9
And the Lord appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father; fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed, FOR MY SERVANT ABRAHAM'S SAKE.-Gen. xxvi. 47.
For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground; I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.-Is. xliv. 3.
And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed.-Is. lxi. 9.
4. Is it absolutely necessary, then, that children should be born of holy parentage, in order to their becoming holy?
Oh! dear no. It is doubtless, as we have remarked, a very great advantage; but God is very merciful, and when parents are converted after the birth of their children, they must at once give themselves right up, without reservation, and set about complying with the conditions hereafter named. If they then enter on the business of the training with all their might, they may count with certainty upon His loving co-operation, and consequently upon success.
5. Should not the consideration of the advantages flowing from a godly parentage be a great encouragement to young people to serve God early in life, and then, if in The Army, only to enter into marriage relationships with Salvationists, whose whole souls, like their own, are filled with the love of God and man?
Of course it should. This is God's royal method of multiplying His people, and making a hardy race of saints and Soldiers, equal to the task of conquering the world.



Chapter 5: The Responsibility Of Parents.


1. What is the second condition of successful training?
That there shall be on the part of the parents a clear idea of the nature and value of the godly life desired for their children, of the training necessary to secure it, and of their own responsibility for imparting it.
2. Why are parents held responsible for this training, more than any other persons?
Because children are entrusted to them for this very purpose-this is the parents' special duty. They are stewards before God, and responsible to Him for the discharge of it.
Every father and mother ought to look upon their child as a sacred trust from Jehovah, as much so as though sent to their arms by an angel direct from Heaven, with the same command which Pharaoh's daughter gave with the infant Moses, when she placed him in the charge of his mother, "Take this child away and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages."-Exodus ii. 9.
Indeed, this is exactly what the King of kings has done. He has entrusted you with that boy or girl in order that you may lead it to the Saviour, train it in holy living, instruct it as to the nature of the foul rebellion raging against His authority, and inspire it with undying devotion to His cause. In other words, that you may mould and shape it into a holy, loving saint, fit for the worship of God and the companionship of angels in Heaven, and into a courageous, self-sacrificing, skilful warrior, able to war a good warfare on His behalf on earth. How will you deal with your trust?
3. Are these the feelings with which parents ordinarily regard their children?
We are afraid not. By many -- even professing Christians -- children seem to be regarded as a necessary evil, to be avoided, if possible, as being in the way of their comfort and ease, and involving a great deal of trouble and expense. By others children are looked upon simply as a means of selfish gratification, welcomed and regarded with no higher feelings than those with which the animals regard their offspring. Parents calculate about their children with favour or disfavour just as they seem likely to minister to their own Pleasure, gratify their family pride, assist in their worldly business, or help them in carrying out some personal ambitious aims or projects.
4. But do not all professedly Christian parents desire that their children shall be really religious?
They say so when first their babe is placed in their arms. You would think so as you hear them pray when kneeling by its little cot; they declare it at the baptismal font, and elsewhere, when in the most solemn manner they promise to train it for God, and on its behalf renounce the world and all its pomps, and the devil and all his works.
Parents do a great deal of sentimental talking and praying about their dear children being nurtured for the Lord, but we fear that in the hearts of very few is there any definite purpose that their sons and daughters shall be trained to follow the Lord Jesus Christ in such hardships and persecutions, self-denial, and toil, as the following Of Christ really signifies.
Alas! how few professedly Christian fathers and mothers plan anything higher for their children than that they should be so educated and brought up as to secure comfortable earthly positions! Is not this made only too evident by their being just as anxious as the rest of the world that their children shall be comfortable or rich, or learned, or famous? And do not these purposes determine, in the main, the training and education that they give them?
5. But do not such parents in all their plans desire that their children shall grow up to be the servants of God?
Yes, they desire all this after a fashion, and if anyone were to prophesy to them that these children would grow up godless, and at last die in their sins, and go to Hell, and also propose that they should train their children for this end, they would be very much shocked, and indignantly refuse to educate them after such an inhuman manner. But the poor children would have a far better chance of finding out the truth were they to do so; for as it is, while praying and talking about their anxiety that their children should be Christians, they are all the time training them as closely as possible for a life of worldliness and selfishness. AR the blessing such parents want from the Lord is that the children may have success down here, and that when living on earth any longer is impossible, they may be taken to Heaven. They seem to have no higher idea or nobler purpose for them than that they should spend their time and strength either in promoting the interests of the parents or in the gratification of their own selfishness. And then they call it being religious, because they ask and expect that God is going to prosper them in it here, and acknowledge them hereafter.
6. Then you think those parents are wrong who regard their children with these interested and selfish feelings?
Most assuredly I do I Parents have no more right to train their children for the gratification of their own selfish interests and fancies than a steward has to use his master's property for his own personal advantage, or a nurse to train the children entrusted to her care to advance her own particular views or interests. Let every parent carefully consider this, and be prepared to give account how he deals with this precious trust.
7. Can you give any other reason why parents are held responsible for giving this training?
Yes, the superior information which the parent possesses concerning the child's welfare shows him to be positively cruel if he refuse to impart it. What would be thought of a parent who, seeing the dangers, difficulties, and enemies scattered through the coming life of his child, should refuse to warn, counsel, and strengthen it to the utmost of his ability as to the best way to meet, resist, and overcome them; or, who, seeing the happiness and usefulness possible to his child, should fail to do all in his power to instruct, guide, and inspire it to attain to them?
8. Is there any further reason why the parents should be held responsible for this training?
Yes. The natural instincts which lead the parent, mother or father, to yearn with indescribable and irrepressible desire for the supreme good of the child, show that the parent is responsible for the employment of every possible method for promoting his present and future welfare. However far the parents themselves may be from righteousness, there are instincts in them which lead them to desire-and that very strongly-that their children should be good and happy. Do not all parents, at times at least, feel how easy it would be for them to make any sacrifice for the real well-being of their children? It would not be difficult-nay, it would be easy-for them to die to save them from any terrible woe, or to secure for them any great good. Why did God implant these instincts if not to lead parents to do all that is possible for the good of their children? A bear will die to save her cubs from death; and the parental instinct was implanted for a more glorious Salvation than that of the body only.
9. What further can be said to show that parents are held responsible for giving that training which is calculated to secure the Salvation of their children?
The solemn religious dedicatory vows taken upon them in multitudes of instances, bind them in the most sacred manner to give their children the best possible training with a view to making them good, holy, and Christ-like.
The fact that large numbers of parents stand up with their children in dedicatory, baptismal, and other religious ceremonies and declare their desire that their children should truly serve God and also their full intention to train them for this purpose, shows in the consciences of the parents a recognition of this solemn obligation.
10. Do parents sometimes admit their responsibility for thus training their children for God?
Parents confess it in the little religious teaching they do give their children. They show it in the prayers they offer for them; in the hymns they teach them to sing themselves, and the hymns they sing about them. Also in their anxiety about them if they die young, and in all their imaginings concerning them after death. If any of their children die, they always approve of their being very religious, of their serving God with all their strength, and being fully consecrated-in the next world. They are quite willing for them to be as holy as possible in Heaven. They can wear uniform, and play music, and march about in procession through the golden streets, of the New Jerusalem, week-days and Sundays, to any extent-nay, they like the idea of their doing so. They would be disgusted at the thought of their departed darlings growing up to live selfish, unruly, proud, vain, conceited lives in the Holy City. They would be a-shamed of their setting up their interests against those of Christ in a second Paradise. Indeed, they would condemn the very thought of the children who have gone away to Heaven living just such lives in spirit and in manner there, as they are quite content for the children whom God has not taken, to live down here.
All of which goes to show not only that in their consciences parents ordinarily recognise the justness of God's claims to the whole-hearted service of their children, but at the same time bears testimony to their responsibility for securing it.
11. In what other way is the responsibility of parents for the training of their children made manifest?
By the fact that God has given them such a remarkable opportunity for imparting it. For the first few years-in the most impressionable period of their existence-they are left unavoidably in the society of their parents, chiefly of the mother. Their minds and hearts are really and truly as much in the power of the parents to be moulded and shaped to whatever form they choose, as is the soft clay in the bands of the potter; that is, if they, the said parents, think it worth their while to be at the trouble to make them any shape at all.
But whether the opportunity be used wisely and well or not, there it is. God has given it, and the parent has the field all to himself. He can give here a little and there a little. No need for him to be in haste; if he seem not to succeed one day there is another, and another, and another after that. For weeks and months, and even years, be can go plodding on, Whatever opposition there may be, little or much-as opposition there will be some-whether from disposition, or temper, or waywardness, or the devil, it can be fought with and surmounted. Father, mother, God has given you abundance of time, and therefore He naturally expects that you will do the work. If you do it not, you will certainly have to tell Him the reason why it is not done. So do it, and do it thoroughly, and never fear the result, because it is your high privilege not to work alone and unaided, but to be "labourers together with God." I Cor. iii. 9.
12. Is there any other argument which goes to show the responsibility of parents for imparting this training?
Yes; this responsibility is shown in the remarkable influence which God has given the parent over the child during the first years of its life.
Parents are usually worshipped by their children. The mother, and often the father, during the period of infant life, and frequently far into childhood, stand in the place of God to their children. This mighty influence might be continued, and is continued in the after years of childhood and maturity to a degree which it is difficult to measure, unless destroyed by the painful discovery on the part of the children that their parents are not the good, true, and honourable beings that they have imagined them to be.
Consider this, you fathers and mothers! Think of the irresistible influence YOU wield over the children-an influence which must increase, if only you are careful to maintain and use it as God intends you should.
There YOU are then, by your own fireside, absolutely supreme, with none to say you nay; able to hut out all opposing influences, not only having the ability-which I hope you have, and if you have not, I Pray you get it immediately-but the wonderful opportunity to make these children such as your Heavenly Father can honour and bless on earth, and receive, exalt, and crown in Heaven.
13. Are parents the only persons responsible for giving this training?
Ordinarily it is so. But in the case of the children of parents who refuse the performance of this duty, and in that of orphans, the work devolves upon others, and with the opportunity for doing the work there comes a measure of the responsibility. This applies to the guardians of children, governesses in private families, Captains and Sergeants of Little Soldiers, teachers in schools, and to all servants who are brought into contact with children. These People, in some of the instances named,, stand before God in the relation of fathers and mothers. A solemn responsibility devolves upon all such to make up to the poor bereaved ones-bereaved whether by death or misfortune - for the loss of the watchful eye and kindly hand and tender heart of the parent. All such ought to feel this responsibility, to thank God for the opportunity, and to discharge their duty as those who must give an account.



Chapter 6: Dedication.


1. What is the third condition of successful training?
The definite dedication or setting apart of the children to be the servants and Soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. What is to be understood by this?
That there shall not only be a clear understanding of the duty you owe to your children, and a set resolve to discharge it; but that there shall be the actual presentation of them to Him to possess and fashion for His purposes, so that while you are training them with all your might from without, He shall be co-operating by the might of His Holy Spirit within, for the same end.
3. Do you recommend that this presentation should take any definite, outward form?
Yes. We advise that, at a fixed period, one or both parents-if both be agreed on the matter-shall bring the child before the Lord, and in the most definite and solemn manner possible present it to God. If you are a Salvationist, of course this will take place in your own Barracks, surrounded by your comrades and in the presence of your neighbours and friends.
ACCOUNT OF THE DEDICATION OF THE DAUGHTER OF THE CHIEF-OF-STAFF, OCTOBER 22, 1883, AT EXETER HALL.
[From the "Daily Telegraph," October 23.]

The evening assembly [at Exeter Hall, on the evening of 22nd October, 1883] was varied by an incident which calls for special mention. Last winter we recorded the marriage, at the Congress Hall, Clapton, of General Booth's son, Mr. W. Bramwell Booth, to a lady Salvationist. Last night, after speeches from The General, and a number of songs, prayers, and addresses, enlivened by the accompaniments characteristic of The Army, Mrs. Bramwell Booth brought to the front of the platform her newly-born child. The General, thereupon addressing the audience, said:-
" Now, it is the principle of The Salvation Army that everything we have or possess belongs to God. We believe the misery of the world commenced with rebellion against God, and in thinking, that man could manage better for himself than God could manage for him. We hold it to be a principle of true godliness that we should go back to God and give Him our hearts, our lives, and all we possess. This father and mother, who are here to-night, in the carrying out of that principle, and in the presence of this congregation, and before the holy angels, bring the dearest, choicest treasure with which God has entrusted them, and offer this dear, precious child up to Him, and engage that they will train, and nurture, and strengthen it to be not only a child but a servant of the living, God, and a good Soldier of Jesus Christ, to fight His battles and take His lot.
"I will ask them, after I have explained it thus, if they are willing so to do. . . . We do it thus publicly to encourage all other saints to do the same, and to show that our hope for the Christian future of mankind is in our children being trained up thus to serve God, to fight for Him, and live for His glory.
"(Turning to the father of the child:) My son, twenty-seven years ago your father and mother thus, in the presence of a great multitude, consecrated you to God, and we have-very imperfectly at times-with His help, kept you for Him, and we rejoice to think to-night that you are fully His now, as then. Are you willing that this dear child of yours should be thus consecrated to God, and will you engage to train it for His service?
Mr. Bramwell Booth replied: " My dear General and my dear friends, I am willing that my dear child should be thus given up to God and His service, and I do this night desire to consecrate it to His work and The Salvation Army, that His name may be glorified by it."
General Booth, addressing himself to his daughter-in-law, then said:-" Are you willing, my dear girl, that your child shall be consecrated to the service of the living God after the fashion I have described, and will you join with your dear husband in keeping from it everything in the shape of strong drink, or tobacco, or finery, or wealth, or hurtful reading, or dangerous acquaintance, or any other thing that would be likely to interfere with the effect of such training and such education? "
The lady replied, "Yes, I promise with joy to train it for The Salvation Army and God alone, and to do my very utmost to make her understand from the very commencement that this is the life she should live, and that God will be sufficient for her."
Upon this General Booth took the infant from its mother, and proceeded to say," Then, my dear children, in the name of The Salvation Army, in the name of. the God of The Salvation Army, I take this child and present it to Him. I rejoice to hear this declaration, which I believe to be the expression of the conviction and feeling of your deepest hearts.
"I thus interpret them, and in His name I receive the child for Him, and for The Salvation Army; and I pray, and your comrades here, I am sure, pray that Catherine Booth may be a true saint, a real servant, and a bold ad courageous Soldier in The Salvation Army, having grace not only to make her own title and election sure, but to rescue a great multitude of other people from misery and sorrow here and everlasting death hereafter. Take it, mother; take it; and the father will help you to train it for God and for The Salvation Army. Let us pray."
Mrs. General Booth then engaged in prayer, seconding the dedication of her little granddaughter to God and The Army.
Some parents have no doubt carried out the same purpose in connexion with the ceremony of "infant baptism." We avoid any remarks on that vexed question, wishing to keep attention fixed on the main point-the real giving up of the child to God.
4. Will you name some of the advantages likely to result from such a Ceremony?
(1.) It will be likely to make a profound impression on the hearts of the parents themselves. Neither mother or father will ever forget it. They will be able to speak of it, in days to come, to their child, to whom they can repeat the sacred promises and vows then made with regard to it.
(2.) Such a ceremony will be highly calculated to draw out the sympathies and prayers of your comrades for the descent of the Holy Ghost on parent and child. These prayers, there is every reason to believe, will be heard and answered, both at the time and in the future.
(3.) Such a ceremony will encourage others to engage in a similar definite dedication of their children to God. It is only natural that the fathers and mothers present should, by such a service, be led to desire that their children should be as much the Lord's as you are presenting yours to be.
(4.) It will draw attention to the sacred claims Which God has upon all children, and will press home upon the hearts Of parents and others, the important duty they owe to their families. In this respect, there are few services which can be made more important and profitable. The children are in the greatest danger of being neglected; and any service of any kind which makes parents and other people think about the possibility of rescuing them from going into the dreadful vortex of worldliness and sin, or of the desirability of leading them to Christ, and getting them into some Salvation Army, is of the greatest importance and ought to be improved to the uttermost.
(5.) Such a service will not only encourage saved parents to dedicate their children, but unsaved parents to dedicate themselves. It will be perfectly easy to make them see that their children are given wholly into their power, that they will have life or death, as they faithfully teach them and set before them a good example. To those who are not doing this, the consciousness of neglect will come home with great power at such times, and will be very likely to lead them to give themselves to God, not only for their own sakes, but for the sake of their children-proving again the truth of the Scripture which says, "A little child shall lead them."Is. xi. 6.
5. Is there any scriptural justification for such a ceremony?
Yes; there is a description of a presentation of children made to the Saviour Himself when on the earth, and we have a direct command made by Him in connexion with it. We read that the mothers took their children and presented them to Him to be His disciples, in the same way that we exhort mothers and fathers to do here, and that He took them in His arms and blessed them. His proud, consequential disciples objected to the ceremony, thinking it beneath the Master's dignity, spoiling the meeting, and interfering with the opportunity of speaking to the important people about-in short, a trouble and a nuisance. But the Saviour looked upon the tearful, yearning mothers crowding about Him with very different eyes, and rebuked His disciples, going on to say, for their edification and for the comfort of the mothers,
Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not: for of such is the Kingdom of God.-Mark x. 14.
Mothers, fathers, guardians, and all others who have little ones under your control, take your children to Him, give them away to Him, let them be for ever His, and then train them to carry out His wishes.
6. Can you name any form by which strangers to the ways of The Salvation Army can be guided in carrying out the ceremony in public?
The following is the ceremony, or form, used in The Salvation Army.

GIVING CHILDREN TO THE LORD: EXPLANATORY REMARKS.

Any Salvation Army Soldier who wishes to present a child to the Lord publicly, may do so at any service, by arrangement with the Captain.
The parents of the child should be seated on the first row of the platform, or else immediately in front of it.
The parents should be told to dress the children, if possible, in The Army's uniform, or something like it, or at the least to put on them a red band of some kind, and certainly not to put on them any showy robes or dress.
This Regulation will help the Captain to make parents understand what presentation to the Lord means; and no child must be presented unless its parents, or one of them, at any rate, is thoroughly resolved to allow it to be used for the service of God in The Army, in any way or place He may choose.
Let all parents have the following, statement read to them privately when they propose to present a child, so as to make sure that they mean it.
Let the presentation be made during the after part of the morning or afternoon service, or immediately at the beginning of the prayer-meeting on a week-night, so that it may be used to keep the people right through from the first hour to the second, and to lead adults to surrender themselves.
When the time comes the parents of the child will stand to the left of the Captain. The Colour Sergeant will hold up the Flag over the Captain's head.
The Captain will then read the following statement and, explaining what the gift of a child means, and the meaning, of the ceremony which is about to take place, in doing so may call attention to any evidence the parents have shown that they understand and give themselves and their child to the War.
The Captain will then address the parents as follows:-
If you wish the Lord to take possession of the soul and body of this child, so that it shall only and always do His will, you must be willing that it should spend all its life in Salvation War, wherever God may choose to send it; that it should be despised, hated, cursed, beaten, kicked, imprisoned, or killed for Christ's sake; you must let it see in you an example of what a Salvation Army Soldier ought to be, and you must teach and train it to the best of your ability, to be a faithful Soldier, giving all the time, strength, ability, and money possible to help, on the War.
You must keep as far from the child as you can all intoxicating drink, tobacco, finery, wealth, hurtful reading, worldly acquaintance, and every influence likely to injure soul or body; and must carry out, to the best of your ability the will of God, and the wishes of your superior Officers as to the child.
The Captain will then ask the parents:-
" Do you wish to give up this your child to the Lord and to this Army in the way I have explained?"
" We do."
Should there be any other children in the family at the service he may ask them:-
"Will you do all you can to help your brother [or sister] to get saved, be good, and go to Heaven?"
"We will."
The Captain will then hold out his hands to take the child, and, having received it, will call upon the Corps to witness, and to join in the presentation of the child to the Lord.
THE CORPS WILL STAND.
The Captain, when there is perfect silence, will raise the child in his arms, and say:-
"Oh, Lord God of Hosts, take this child to be Thine own."
After this he will add such other words of prayer as the Lord shall prompt him to say.
He will hand the child back to the parents, the Corps standing whilst he says:-
"In the name of the Lord and of the ___________ Corps of The Salvation Army, I have taken this child, who has been fully given up by his parents for the Salvation of the world.
"God save, bless, and keep this child I Amen!
"I charge you, the parents of this child, before God and this Corps of The Salvation Army, that you fulfil the promises you have made as to this, our child, this day."
Here the Captain will add anything he thinks proper, to enforce this duty, and then, turning to the Corps, he will say:-
"Those who will pray for these parents and for this child, and will, in every way they can, help them to carry out the promises made this day-BAYONETS, FIX! "God bless these parents! Amen!
"God bless this child! Amen!
"God bless The Salvation Army! Amen!
[Let all the Soldiers say, "Amen!"]
"Soldiers! Kneel!"
The Captain and others will then pray, and invitations will be given to come out to the mercy-seat as usual.

A REGISTER of the children of the Corps will be kept, in which the parents will sign, at the end of the line, a declaration that they have given the child to God and The Salvation Army.
No water is to be used upon or about the child in this presentation.
NOTE.-It will be clear to everyone that this Service can be of no use unless at least one parent is a Soldier.
Should other parents at any time wish to present their children to the Lord, the Captain will be perfectly at liberty to make a presentation such as he thinks will truly express what the parents really wish and mean.
No Soldier should be allowed to make this presentation who does not express the intention to fully carry out every word of it.
7. Ought not such a ceremony to be regarded as very solemn and important
Most assuredly it ought; and it will be so if rightly esteemed and properly understood. To this end-
(1.) Let the parents carefully prepare their own hearts beforehand, by reading the Bible and by prayer for grace to enable them to vow acceptably, and to keep their vows when made.
(2.) Let the gift be regarded as a sacred reality. Be sure you do not go through any mocking form. Do not tell the Lord He shall have your child if you do not fully intend that it shall be so; in fact, let it all be as real as though you were giving the child away to be adopted into some other person's family. Be as simple in the matter as was Hannah, when she brought Samuel unto the Lord and left him in the temple. Give your Samuel, give your Mary, to God in the same way; only instead of leaving him in the Barracks, as Hannah left Samuel, take him back to nurse and train for God at home. If you do this, depend upon it your Father in Heaven will look to the interests of the child that is now His own, and pay you your wages.
(3.) Let the child be enrolled in your heart and in the history of your household as a Salvation Soldier. Let this be done whether its name can be on the roll of a Salvation Army Corps or not.
(4.) Keep the date of the transaction. If spared, as the years go by, remind yourself and the child of the event that transpired on that day. Explain the nature of the vows that were made, and ask yourself and the child also, if old enough to understand you, if these vows are being paid. Remember the angels in Heaven will make note of the transaction, and do you from that hour always regard, the child as no longer your own, but as belonging to God, and yourself as God's schoolmaster, whose business it is to give it such a direction and training as will please Him, and qualify it for the business He has for it to do, both on earth and in Heaven. May God help you to do it with all your might!



Chapter 7: Parental Example.


1. What is the fourth I condition of successful training?
That the actual, everyday lives of parents should be formed after the pattern and in the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the great model whom they wish their children to imitate, and how can they with any hope of success press their children to walk as he walked, and make their whole lives on the model of His, unless they do the same?
For a parent to set a good example before his children, therefore, involves-
(1.) Consistency.-Everything must be in keeping with the profession made, the whole force of the example depending upon its being truthful. If the children once get the idea into their little heads that the religiousness of their parents is a cloak or a pretence only, no good impression will be possible on their hearts until that idea is removed.
If they see one spirit at the breakfast table, and another at family prayers; one spirit in everyday affairs, and another in the Barracks or the Church; if the religious exercises are not the natural outcome of what is in the parents' hearts, they will put the whole affair down, with their quick and merciless instincts, as a mere performance, and the example will, of course, lose all its weight. But if, on the other hand, they are made to feel--however imperfect the prayers and other religious utterances may be-that the ruling purpose of the soul of father and mother is to please God, keep His commandments, and shape their daily life according to the good pleasure of His will, such example cannot but have the most blessed effect upon the children.
(2.) To be the most effective, the example set before the children should be that of the whole family. Father, mother, and servants (if servants are kept), and everybody about, should all speak, act, and move under the influence of one spirit.
If the whole working, and eating, and dressing of everybody in the house are shaped and fashioned by this one spirit, and that is the spirit of love to God and man, the influence of such an example will be almost overwhelming. Seeing one member of a house doing one thing, another doing another, is distracting to children. They say, "Who is right? Mother says this, father says that, and the elder brother is doing something different still. Who is right I How can I tell?"
Children under such unfortunate circumstances are like rudderless boats floating where various currents meet-one hour driven in one direction, and another hour driven in another; now making towards the green shore, and now drifting out away towards the trackless ocean.
So these little ones one moment think there is a God whom they ought to love and serve with all their hearts, kneeling down and saying so by their mother's knee. Then at the breakfast table the next morning, when they see their father in a violent passion, taking the very name of the mother's God in vain, their heavenly emotions all change, and the good resolutions formed are all forgotten. And then when the big brother, as he departs to his daily business, laughs at the mother's wish that he would come to the religious meeting at night, the poor little souls vaguely follow out, not knowing what they do, in the direction of the bleak surging seas of infidelity.
2. In view of what has been said about the evil of parents professing religion without the power of it, is it not better to have no form at all than to have forms without corresponding power?
This is a question difficult to answer, and I hardly feel called to attempt it, but I contend that if you are to train children to be good and godly, and to meet you at last at the right hand of the Throne, you must not only have the form, but the spirit in the form. "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life."-2 Cor. iii. 6.
3. Wherein does the importance of this example consist?
A holy parental example is of inestimable value, because-
(1.) Example explains more directly and clearly to the child what religion is, than any other method that can be employed. Men and women learn more from what they see than by what is taught them. Example with them is more instructive than precept. This is infinitely more so with children. It requires a cultivated intellect to be able to form a correct judgment of things from mere verbal instruction.
Who amongst us, if we had never seen a locomotive engine, would have as good an idea of what it was by reading a volume or hearing a course of lectures, as we should have by seeing it at work, especially if the exhibition were accompanied by a spoken explanation on the spot?
Just so, father and mother, if you want your children to understand what practical godliness is, let them see it exemplified and illustrated in your own life and in your own home.
I do not object to your lecturing the children. I am going to show you how to do it, further on. I do say, however, that no amount of talking, reading, or sermon-hearing, will make them understand the nature and value of religion as clearly as they will if you yourselves are living epistles, descriptive of the same. Nay, it will be very difficult, if not impossible, for them to comprehend it in any other way. Did you ever stop to consider what those words of Paul's, "living epistles," signified? They meant that he, the Apostle, expected the lives of the saints to whom he wrote to be as a written communication, expressing the wishes and feelings of God towards men about their lives and work and warfare.
Your children are young, and perhaps cannot read their Bibles at present; but now, and as they grow older and all the way up to manhood, they ought to be able to read the will of God expressed in your life. So be sure you write it plainly, and in large letters. You will always be in sight, and they can read you by night and by day all the year round. Be sure, therefore, that your example truly explains to them what the nature of true religion is.
(2.) A good example is of untold value, because it impresses the minds of children with the importance and necessity of a life of godliness.
The great infidelity of the present age, and perhaps of all past ages, is not so much, it seems to us, scepticism with regard to the existence of God, as it is UNBELIEF IN THE EXISTENCE OF GODLY PEOPLE. But if children see before their eyes their own parents acting from godly motives and godly principles, supported by Divine power, experiencing Divine consolations, revelations, and joys, such unbelief to such children is at once and for ever made impossible. When tempted by books, atheists, and devils in after days to doubt and question the reality of supernatural and Divine things, the sainted form of such a departed parent will rise before them, and the exclamation will unconsciously rise to their lips, " The example of my glorified father, or sainted mother, utterly forbids."
We solemnly believe in the impossibility of anyone who has ever been closely brought into association with a truly godly man or woman ever being at heart an infidel. How much more impossible will this infidelity be if the example has been that of a father or a mother!
What shall we say of the reverse of this? How shall we describe the disastrous effects flowing from the example of parents whose daily lives contradict all that God affirms or good men believe about truth and holiness, Heaven and Hell? Such examples stand like an impassable wall between the little ones and Salvation, a wall not only too high for them to climb, but difficult for anyone else to drag them over. The example of a holy father or mother makes it easy for the children to be saved and almost impossible for them to be damned, while a worldly, godless parent smooths the pathway down to perdition, and makes the road to Heaven all but inaccessible. We relate sometimes a parable which illustrates our meaning here:-
It is well known that crabs and small shell-fish of the same class walk after what the children would call a " sideways " fashion. Once upon a time this, it is said, greatly disgusted the fishes, and after due consideration they resolved to teach these mistaken fellow-inhabitants of the great deep the proper mode of locomotion, namely, to go forward. Accordingly they started a Sunday school and collected all the little crabs of the neighbourhood to receive instruction. At the close of the first day it is reported that the teachers were delighted at the progress made, and dismissed their scholars after obtaining the promise that they would come again on the following Sunday. Accordingly when the day came they were all in their places, but, to the great surprise of the fishes, their pupils were all going "sideways," as before. However, not disheartened, they set to work with a will to do the business over again, and by the end of the day not only was the error rectified, but the teachers were filled with the hope that their scholars were established in the habit of "going forward," and so they dismissed them a second time. Sunday came round again, and the crabs were once more in their places, but, to the utter dismay and disappointment of the benevolently-disposed fishes, the crabs were all going "sideways " as badly as ever. There was a complete return to their former bad habits. A teachers' meeting was immediately called to consider what was best to be done, and to enquire into cause of this backsliding The problem was soon solved the and the reason of their failure readily explained by an elderly fish, who made a short speech to this effect:-
"You see, my brothers and sisters, that we have these crabs under our control for one day only, whereas they return and watch their fathers and mothers the other six days, and the influence of their example in the wrong direction in the six days more than destroys any good we may be able to effect in the right direction in only one."
Even so, Teachers, or Ministers, Captains of Little Soldiers, or anyone else who may wish well to the children and desire to mould and shape them for goodness and Heaven, often have a very poor chance, however prayerful and persevering they may be. What lasting good can they do if there is set over against their toils and tears the overwhelming and almost almighty influence proceeding from the inconsistent or openly ungodly example of the parents themselves, exhibited before the gaze of their children every day of their lives?
"Do as I say, but not as I do," was the poor piece of counsel some minister once gave to his flock, a member of which had been complaining that his life did not square with what he taught from the pulpit. It was a very useless piece of advice for a minister to give to his people, but it would be still more useless and less likely to be followed if given by a parent to his children, for, far more than grown-up people, they work to pattern and write from copy.
A good and holy example lives for ever in the memory of the child. How is it possible that the beloved face and form, the sayings, and doings, and plans, and purposes of father or mother should ever be forgotten? True, in the first rush and whirl of man and womanhood life, there may be some sort of waning of interest in the home of childhood and the memory of those who filled the largest measure of space in it. New scenes and associations and employments for a time create new interests, which occupy and absorb the attention. But as the journey of life goes forward, memory reasserts itself, and the influence of the holy example of good and godly parents is felt again with perhaps greater power than ever, giving additional meaning and force and feeling to the operations of the Divine Spirit, and in a majority of cases having a particularly powerful influence in the great work of personal Salvation.
We have heard hundreds of people, from youth to hoary age, when publicly narrating the means by which they were led to the Saviour, connect their conversion with the recollections of a sainted mother or father. Consequently it seems to us that no means or agencies employed by God are of equal force, or can be calculated upon with such certainty for accomplishing the Salvation of the children as the example of godly parents. Father, mother, mind how you live!
4. Can you account for the enormous influence for good or evil which the example of parents has over children?
You see, parents are everything to their children. The father and mother of a little child are like God and king, and Lords and Commons, and schoolmaster and mistress, and companion, and lover, and friend all in one. Parents axe all the universe to children-for the first part of their lives at least. In their estimation parents are actually infallible, and a long way on for being almighty. Only think of this! What a reverential looking up! What an admiration! What a feeling there is that the parents must be right whoever says they are wrong! And what a preparedness all this creates in the children to follow in their track! The children begin life by loving their parents with all their hearts, admiring them with all their powers, and consequently, imitating them all their time.
5. Does this love and reverence and admiration for parents continue as the children grow in years?
Yes; we believe it does. When parents continue to deserve it, we are sure it does; that is, the measure of it which is suitable to the altered intelligence of the children and their power to think and act for themselves. In those instances where children wake up to find that their parents have not deserved their generous love or their unquestioning admiration, there will no doubt be a revulsion of feeling somewhat in proportion to the attraction felt before. Especially will this be the case where children make the melancholy discovery that the religious professions and zeal and formalities of their parents have been nothing more than a hollow sham. In such painful circumstances there is in deed and of a truth a danger that instead of the parental example being ever afterwards a force to draw the children God-wards, it will become a repellent power, driving them off in the opposite direction-to the world, to atheism, to Hell I But on the contrary, if a holy, self-denying life is lived before the children, when the years of reason are reached, the children will become acquainted not only with the outer life but with the inner motives of their parents. They will then discover that they are really as true and good and disinterested as they seemed to be in their childhood's eyes, and they will find, moreover, that to the instinctive affection and childish reverence of their early days there is now to be added the obligation under which they are laid by the sacrifice, and watchings, and labours, undergone in their behalf. And so this influence, strengthened by this sense of indebtedness, will become a still greater power to mould and fashion the character of the children's maturer years.
6. Should not the sight of their children daily stir every parent's heart to see to it that theirs is a thoroughly God-like example?
Certainly; and woe to the father or mother who, after reading this, shall be content to live a half-hearted, inconsistent life before the keen eyes of their little ones!
7. If a holy example, then, exerts so great an influence over the hearts of children, why is it that so many who have had this great advantage are not saved in childhood?
It is simply because that training is not given which is quite as intimately connected with Salvation as a holy example. You might as well row a boat with one oar and expect it to go straight forward, as look for a full blessing on your children in the separation of good example from right training. Or again, though the example be excellent, if the training is the reverse, it is like rowing forward with one hand and backward with the other. Or, to take a Scripture illustration, it is like the man of whom the prophet speaks, who " earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes." (Hag. i. 6.) What is gained on one side is lost on the other. There can be no question that the training given by many parents who are themselves good and sincere is, through ignorance or mistaken notions very imperfect. Such parents may long with unutterable desire for the conversion of their children, and in many instances would no doubt be willing to lay down their lives to gain this end. But the training they give is calculated to have just the opposite effect, positively tending to keep the children away from Salvation rather than lead them into it, long years of discipline being often required to undo all its ill effects, even when the children are saved through some other agencies.
8. Is it not a great calamity when parents are divided in example, purpose, and effort, with regard to the training of their children?
Yes; it is a great calamity indeed-too great to be described in words; for when one parent is not in the enjoyment of a full salvation, and is walking inconsistently before the children, the influence of that one must of necessity tend to destroy that of the other.
9. What is best to be done in the painful event of one parent being saved and fully given up to God, and the other not?
(1.) The saved parent should impress on his or her own heart the responsibility of making their children good, and attempt the, task, no matter what it may cost. If it be the mother who is converted she has an enormous advantage, the children, especially when young in life, being almost exclusively in her hands; and she must use this advantage to the uttermost.
(2.) The saved parent must 'pray earnestly for and with the children, and must speak to them in the name of Cod, making them understand that lie or she is on the side of Jehovah. This will greatly increase the authority of the parent with the children.
(3.) Every means must be taken in public that seems likely to help forward the Salvation of the children, such as taking them to Salvation services as frequently as possible.
(4.) The saved parent must set aside the wishes and authority of the other, if absolutely necessary in the interests of the everlasting welfare of the children. A bold stand for God and goodness will often overawe the unconverted partner, and so make the attainment of the end in view possible.
(5.) The saved parent should get the children as early as possible openly pledged to the service of God. If the conversion of only one can be secured, the saved parent will obtain a very effective ally, and may then go forward with more confidence, determination, and enthusiasm to the rescue of the remainder.
(6.) Under these most trying circumstances, the saved parent should encourage himself with all holy confidence in the fact that the Lord Jesus is on his side, co-working with him, and sure, sooner or later, to fulfil His promises, and to do "exceedingly abundantly above all" that such a parent can ask or think.
(7.) There should be the constant maintenance of a meek, patient spirit before the unsaved partner. It should be made plain, so far as possible, that the Salvationist is not actuated by any selfish feelings in thus acting contrary to the wishes and feelings of the other parent. Every consideration consistent with the duty owed to God and the children should be shown to the wishes and feelings of the opposing parent. The cherishing of this spirit will go far towards winning over the unconverted husband or wife.