Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-06-10
uBAI 4 Child
OUGHT 70 KNOW. =
gHE SUBJECT OF AN INTERESTING
CHILDREN'S DAY SERMON
PREACHED ny
REV. D. A. CUNNINGHAM
CHURCH YESTERDAY MORNING.
THE BAPTISM OF INFANTS.

Cunningham, the pastor, preached an
interesting sermon on the text what
q Child Ought to Know" At this SER
vice the sacrament OF baptism was adj
ministered. The Rev. Cunningham took
as his text: II Tim. 3:15, And that
from a child thou hast known the Holy
Scriptures, which are able to make thee
wise unto salvation through faith, which
Is In Jesus Christ"
q My subject is What Child Ought to
Know" This is an old text, but it never
grows threadbare. It is as good for
the twentieth century as for the first
It introduces us to one of those home
scenes not infrequent in the New Tes-
lament, and shows us home hallowed
and made happy by the Gospel. 1t is
the homo In which was reared Tim
othy, the young evangelist, Pauls son
in the gospel, who enjoyed SO large a
share Of the venerable apostles affec-
ton, who was favored more than any
other Individual with his inspired cor
respondence, and who almost seems to
have received the last breath Of the
man of God. We are led back to the
time when he was yet child, and when
his character obtained that form and
direction which so eminently fitted
him for future usefulness From a child
thou hast known the Holy Scriptures,
which are able to make thee wise unto
salvation through faith, which is in
Christ Jesus"
to Timothys instructions. These are
not expressly named in the text, but
they are obviously referred to, and the
remembrance of them would no doubt
be wildly rected in Timothy's mind
as he read the apostles words. We have
only to turn back to an earlier passage
in this epistle in order to have our in
terest in the matter set at rest. At the
fifth verse of the first chapter we meet
with the following words: When call
to remembrance the unfeigned faith
that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy
grandmother, Lois, and thy mother,
Eunice, and am persuaded that in thee
also" We may look also at Acts 1911,
which supplies us with few additional
particulars: "Then came he (Paul) to
Derbe and Lystra; and, behold, GER
tain disciple was there, named Timo-
theus, the son of certain woman, who
was a Jewess, and believed but his
father was a Greek" When We place
these two citations in connection with
our text, they supply us with the fol-
lowing facts, viz: That Timothy was a
native of Derbe or Lystra-most prob
ably of the latter place; that his father
was Gentle, but that his mother and
grandmother were Of the race of Abra-
ham; and that, whatever may have been
the religious character of his father,
his mother, Eunice, and his grand
mother, Lois, were persons of unfeigned
piety and sterling excellence. On them,
there is reason to think. there developed
the principal charge of Timothys early
instruction; and they had most faith
fully and assidiously discharged their
stewardship; for from child he had
known the Holy Scriptures. The fact
leads us to notice the parental obliga-
ton and the divine wisdom and benign
ity shown in the formation Of it. The
duty of the parent to care for his child
Ito privide for his sustenance-to train
his intellect to seek the renovation and
guidance of his moral nature-this is
a duty growing out Of the very consti-
tuition of families, and which Christian
ity cannot so much be said to create as
to confirm by new sanctions, and to
regulate by new laws. To attempt escap-
ing such an obligation would not only
be to divest ourselves of the Christian,
but to become the Atheist; it would
be to deny faith, and be worse than an
infidel The charge is not matter of
mere choice, but Of imperative duty; it
is charge which, in common circum-
stances, cannot, without blame, ever be
transferred. The moment that God puts
living child into parents hands, He
conveys along with it the most weighty
responsibilities responsibilities, the
neglect or faithful discharge OF which
will be followed by an eternity of cor
responding results. When the Bible
says: Train UP child in the way in
which he should go" it does but utter,
in more distinct, and solemn voice,
what nature had said before it.
Seeond-The season of Timothy's in
struot'on This religious education was
begun in very early life. From a child
he had known the Holy Scriptures If
l were asked to fix the time for en-
tering on the culture of the child's spir-
itual nature, l would answer Begin as
soon as he is capable of receiving spir-
itual impressions" When are you to
teach your child to love truth, and to