Blessing the Children
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truth, which in after years would spring up, and bear fruit unto eternal
life.
It is still true that children are the most susceptible to the teachings
of the gospel; their hearts are open to divine influences, and strong
to retain the lessons received. The little children may be Christians,
having an experience in accordance with their years. They need to
be educated in spiritual things, and parents should give them every
advantage, that they may form characters after the similitude of the
character of Christ.
Fathers and mothers should look upon their children as younger
members of the Lord’s family, committed to them to educate for
heaven. The lessons that we ourselves learn from Christ we should
give to our children, as the young minds can receive them, little by
little opening to them the beauty of the principles of heaven. Thus
the Christian home becomes a school, where the parents serve as
underteachers, while Christ Himself is the chief instructor.
In working for the conversion of our children, we should not look
for violent emotion as the essential evidence of conviction of sin. Nor
is it necessary to know the exact time when they are converted. We
should teach them to bring their sins to Jesus, asking His forgiveness,
and believing that He pardons and receives them as He received the
children when He was personally on earth.
As the mother teaches her children to obey her because they love
her, she is teaching them the first lessons in the Christian life. The
mother’s love represents to the child the love of Christ, and the little
ones who trust and obey their mother are learning to trust and obey the
Saviour.
Jesus was the pattern for children, and He was also the father’s
example. He spoke as one having authority, and His word was with
power; yet in all His intercourse with rude and violent men He did
not use one unkind or discourteous expression. The grace of Christ in
the heart will impart a heaven-born dignity and sense of propriety. It
will soften whatever is harsh, and subdue all that is coarse and unkind.
It will lead fathers and mothers to treat their children as intelligent
beings, as they themselves would like to be treated.
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Parents, in the training of your children, study the lessons that God
has given in nature. If you would train a pink, or rose, or lily, how
would you do it? Ask the gardener by what process he makes every