RELIGIOUS DUTIES OF CHILDREN.
It is now well understood in the religious world, that before infants
arrive at years of moral accountability, their eternal welfare is not
endangered. The Savior regarded all such as already accepted by God,
and similar in character to those who compose the heavenly kingdom.
Even those theologians whose theory of man requires them to regard
all infants as totally depraved, have in late years provided a supplement
to the theory, by which those who die in their infancy are regenerated
by the Holy Spirit in the act of dying, and thereby saved.
Whatever the theory, then, it is well settled that at this tender age
children are safe.
There is another proposition almost as well settled; that at a subsequent
period, every child must yield positive obedience to the requirements
of the gospel, in order to make its salvation sure. At what
exact age this change is fully consummated, it is somewhat difficult
to determine, and the question is often a very perplexing one to conscientious
parents. The best way to determine it is by the religious
knowledge and moral development of the child, rather than by its
number of years. A child who cannot ‘understand the design of
immersion and the Lord’s Supper; or who cannot appreciate the obligations
imposed by them; or who has not yet acquired strength of
purpose sufficient to maintain a religious course of conduct with some
consistency, is certainly not prepared to become a member of the
church. The last of these three conditions, requires more maturity
than either of the former.
To accurately define the point of maturity at which a child should
be taught to confess the Savior and be immersed, would meet a great
want of this generation. The perplexity which parents often feel
upon the subject, and the appeal so often made by preachers more
zealous than thoughtful, to little children, that they are not too young
to die, and, therefore not too young to obey the gospel, sufficiently
indicate the extent of this want. But it is not for this purpose particularly
that I now write. I desire to fix more especial attention on
that period lying between the time of infantile purity, and the time at
which it is proper to be immersed for the remission of sins. Within
that period, are there any religious duties for them to perform? Or
should they lead an entirely irreligious life? These are primary
questions. We need not dwell upon them very long; for if any
Christian should hesitate to answer the first in the affirmative, he
certainly will not hesitate to answer the latter in the negative. But
if our children, during this period, do not lead entirely irreligious
lives, they must perform some religious duties: for they now have
some knowledge of right and wrong as respects the will of God, and
when they do wrong they feel guilty. They must either bear that
sense of guilt, and feel that for the time there is no relief, while they
go on adding to it every day; or there must be some way for them to
find comfort. They must either know God and Christ, yet never by
word or deed do homage to them, or there must be some way in which
they can offer worship. The only escape from this alternative is to
assume that they ought to be kept totally ignorant of God, and thus be
reared in atheistical darkness,—a conclusion abhorrent to the soul of
every Christian.
From these reflections we are prepared for the conclusion that there
something that children should know and do in the way of religion, before
they are old enough to be immersed. This conclusion is sustained
by the word of God: for Paul says, “Fathers, do not provoke
your children to anger; but bring them up in the instruction and
discipline of the Lord.” This is the reading of Eph. 6: 4, as rendered
correctly by Bro. Anderson. If it required us to bring them up
only in the instruction of the Lord, the question would arise, why give
them a knowledge of the Lord’s will except that they may do it.
Evidently, that we may do the will of God is the great object for
which it is made known to us. But the apostle does not stop here;
he adds, that we must bring them up in the discipline of the Lord.
Discipline has specific reference to the conduct. It forbids some things
and enjoins others. The discipline of the Lord requires obedience to
his commandments.
Now this apostolic command has no expressed limit; hence we
have no right to limit it except by the possibilities of the case. It
specifies no particular age at which the instruction shall begin, and by
this very omission requires us to begin as early as we can. It specifies
no particular portion of the Lord’s discipline to which we should
subject them, and therefore leaves us to impose all that they can
intelligently observe. The capacity of the child to learn and to do, is
the only limit to their instruction and discipline.
Is not this, indeed, the universal law of God’s government? The
parable of the talents, and that of the pounds, show that God holds
men accountable according to their capacity; and Paul lays down,
upon the subject of giving, the law that ” O n e is accepted according
to what he has, not according to what he has not.” When a man or a
child has done all that he can, there is no principle known to the
human mind which can require more; yet, in the service of God neither
conscience nor the Bible is satisfied with any less.
With this fixed principle as our guide, we can no great difficulty in
determining the religious duties of children. There are three conditions
of pardon in the gospel scheme, faith, repentance, and immersion.
Of these three, children too young to comply with the last, can comply
With the former two. As soon as the little mind can learn the
story of the cross, it can, and it does believe it. There is no room
for the question whether it ought to believe; for ere you ask the
question, it believes already. Again, it no sooner discovers that
certain things are sinful in the sight of God, than it finds itself guilty;
and in its unimpassioned moments, without waiting to be commanded,
it repents. If, then, the child can believe with all its little heart, and
repent of all its known sins, who shall say that this is not its duty?
But there are several things necessary to holy living, besides these
three. We must, in addition to the observance of ordinances, love
God; thank him for his goodness; supplicate his mercy; pray for
what we need; and minister to the wants of the poor. Can the
little children of whom we speak do these things’ They certainly
can love God and the Savior, and every well instructed child does love
them. If poorly instructed, it may simply fear God, and tremble at
his name; but if informed of his real character, the little heart responds
with affection as instinctive as that for its own father, or some
indulgent relative. Moreover, to learn that he is the giver of all good
is to thank him at once for all his kindness, and to ask him for protection
in the future. The child, conscious of sin, and sorrowing over
it, can pray for mercy, and for all needed good: and if it can do so,
honestly and intelligently, who will say that it ought not? Who,
rather, will not insist that it shall? The child can also be benevolent;
and every one to whom it is even suggested, will be ready, with a little
tea: of sympathy in its eye, to part with some of its own good things
for the benefit of the suffering.
To sum up the result of these reflections, I conclude with all confidence,
that the child who is yet too young to be immersed, should
believe in and love the Lord; should repent of all its known transgressions;
should render thanksgiving, supplication, and prayer to
God; and should practice benevolence as a religious duty. If these
are all it can yet do, the Lord requires of it no more. If it fails to
do these, then either the child or the parent is at fault, and it is
almost certain not to be the child. Christian patents, think of this.
Ponder solemnly the duty you owe that little child whom God has
committed to your care. It has a God to glorify; but it cannot glorify
him or know him without your aid. It may be snatched from your
embrace by the icy hand of death, and O how bitter will be your
thoughts, if you send it into the presence of a God it has not learned
to love, defiled with little sins of which it has not repented. We are
sending many of the little lambs into the presence of the great Shepherd;
let us be able to say, of them all, Lord, they know what they
were able to learn, they have done all that they were able to do. It
has been my lot to have one such little one torn from the very centre
of my heart, and borne to the silent land; but her dying lips bore
witness that she loved the Savior; and for years before, her nightly
prayers and the tear of penitence which sometimes glistened in her
eye, bore witness that she was being brought up in the instruction
and discipline of the Lord. I have had no higher honor, though I
have had no deeper sorrow, such is the weakness of my soul, than
to commit such a child to the keeping of him whom she knew and
loved so well. J. W. MCGARVEY.
MH 1864, Series 5 , vol 7, pgs 536-539