We learn that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. A great part of Scripture is devoted to enforcing the practical duties of Christianity, one of which is the duty of religiously training the rising generation. One of the chief objects of the Scriptures is to increase the happiness of the human family, and elevate us in the scale of moral worth. The duty of zealously caring for the morals and religion of children belongs to parents, to Christians, and to churches as a body. Parents are admonished to "bring up their children in the nurture and admonistion of the Lord."Paul in writing to the church at Rome, says concerning the Jews, "That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart, for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ, for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." The apostle felt an especial interest for those who were united to him by the affinities of blood. Solomon says "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it," while at the same time children are encouraged to "Remember their Creator in the days of their youth," with the assurance that they "who seek early shall find." The Old Testament as well as the New teaches the duty of religiously training the rising generation; "only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life, but teach them thy sons, and thy son's sons." Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might, and these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart, and thou shall teach them diligently unto thy children, and shall talk of them when thou sitteth in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down and when thou risest up.
Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart, and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children. The above passages were addressed to the peculiar people of God collectively to whom he committed the living oracles. Certainly the moral obligations laid upon the natural seed of Abraham, can be no less binding upon the true Israel now. The same principles requiring Christians, individually and collectively to send the gospel to those who have it not, require it to be taught at home. The principles requiring Christians to meet together for the purpose of receiving instruction and worshipping God, require children to meet together for the same purposes. Indeed the relation that we sustain to each other as members of the same family, and the increased influence that we exert over each other, increases the obligation to labor for their best interest. God hath set the solitary in families doubtless for the wisest and best of purposes. No one enjoys the confidence of children equal to parents, hence the special duty devolving on Christian parents to take a deep interest in imparting religious instruction to them. The best interests of immortal souls are committed to the care of Christians. They are the light of the world.The time for imparting religious instruction is when the heart is susceptible of the deepest and most lasting impressions. That time is certainly in the days of youth. The hope and future prosperity of our churches looks to the young. A church without any young members belonging to her, however circumstanced she may be in other respects is in a sad condition. For the duties and responsibilities now resting on the older members, must fall on the shoulders of others, or else the church will become extinct. The efficiency of our churches are [is] vastly increased by the young members. A great majority of our most active and efficient members are those who received early religious instructions, and were early in life converted to God. Your committee have long observed that our prayer meetings and other devotional exercises are usually more promptly attended by the young, the infirmities incident to age often preventing others. We feel deeply impressed with the conviction that our churches have too long slept beneath this solemn responsibility resting on them.
Said an infidel "give me the training of children and I will rule the world." It was true, truly "the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light." It is high time for our churches to awake. The seeds of infidelity, of every grade and description suited to the carnal nature of the children of men, are being sown broadcast over the land. The minds of the young have been poisoned in every age with principles destructive to the immortal interest of the soul, especially so in this age. Hence it becomes us to arise and cultivate a deeper interest for the eternal well being of others, and watch with a zealous eye, the hope of our churches.There is no labor in which a church can engage, better calculated to advance her spirituality, than the Sabbath School. Even admitting that not a single child should be converted through the instrumentality of the sabbath school, yet it is a place where we impart religious instruction, and we must necessarily receive instruction ourselves from the word of God, thus enabling us to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is one of the means of sanctification; for we are sanctified through the truth, and as new truth is presented to the mind through the instrumentality of the Sabbath school, so we receive a greater measure of the sanctifying influence of the truth upon our hearts. If we labor for the good of others, without even thinking that we shall be blessed by it, we shall not lose our reward, for God has so constituted things, that in seeking another's good we shall find our own. The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be watered also himself. The widow of Zarephath divided her little morsel, that little doubtless became more sweet and was blessed until the return of plenty. The sabbath school is the place where all the members of the church may find work to do. It is astonishing that Christian parents who are anxious about the physical, social and intellectual wants of their own children and others, should so utterly disregard their spiritual wants. To mothers especially are committed the moral and religious training of children. Mothers generally possess higher moral and religious attainments than fathers, they have the guardianship of children in early life committed to them, and to them should we look for encouragement in sustaining the sabbath school.
Finally, brethren, we urge on you the duty of feeling more deeply the responsibility of early using every means blessed of God to lead souls to Christ, and for the furtherance of the Redeemer's kingdom.======= [From Campbell County (KY) Baptist Association Minutes, 1864, pp. 11-14. The document is from the Campbell County Historical Society Library. Transcribed and formatted by Jim Duvall]
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