Chapter 23—Our Youth and Children Demand Our
Care
There has been altogether too little attention paid to our children
and youth, and they have failed to develop as they should in the Chris-
tian life because the church-members have not looked upon them with
tenderness and sympathy, desiring that they might be advanced in the
divine life. In our large churches very much might be done for the
youth; and shall they have less special labor? Shall less inducements
be held out to them to become full-grown Christians—men and women
in Christ Jesus—than was afforded them in the denominations which
they have left for the truth’s sake? Shall they be left to drift hither and
thither, to become discouraged, and to fall into temptations that are
lurking everywhere to catch their unwary feet? If they err and fall from
the steadfastness of their integrity, do the members of the church who
have neglected to care for the lambs, censure and blame them, and
magnify their failures? Are their shortcomings talked of and exposed
to others, and are they left in discouragement and despair?
The work that lies next to our church-members is to become inter-
ested in our youth; for they need kindness, patience, tenderness, line
upon line, precept upon precept. O, where are the fathers and mothers
in Israel? We ought to have a large number of them who would be
stewards of the grace of Christ, who would feel not merely a casual
interest, but a special interest, in the young. We ought to have those
whose hearts are touched by the pitiable situation in which our youth
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are placed, who realize that Satan is working by every conceivable
device to draw them into his net. God requires that the church rouse
from its lethargy, and see what is the manner of service demanded of
them at this time of peril. The lambs of the flock must be fed. The eyes
of our brethren and sisters should be anointed with heavenly eyesalve,
that they may discern the necessities of the time. We must be aroused
to see what needs to be done in Christ’s spiritual vineyard, and go to
work. The Lord of heaven is looking on to see who is doing the work
he would have done for the youth and the children.
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