The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1913-06-13

When Jesus was here among men,
How he called little children as lambs 10
His fold,
1 should like to have been with Him
then"
In this chapter of Matthew he takes
q little child and sets him in the
midst of his disciples, not merely 10
teach those disciples a lesson In
humility, but for the child's sake as
well as their sake. He has something
to teach them concerning the child
which they never knew, and could not
have known except for him. He tells
them such little ones are not to be
despised or set at naught. for the
most transcendent of reasons, name.
ly, that the Son of Man came into
the world to save them, and that 1t
is not the will of his Father that one
of them should be lost.
Christianity and the Child.
The world cared nothing for little
children before Jesus came and was
Graded in a manger. In splendid
Rome, childhood had no rights other
than those which the sentiment of
the father might fitfully concede to
it. He might abandon his child or
murder it as he chose. Greece BET
the example to Rome in this respect,
since Spartan children were some
times beaten at the altar Of Diana
until their life-blood ran out upon its
steps 1t was not until Christianity
had begun to affect the Roman empire
that love for little children found ex-
preston in literature, or that care for
them became the custom of the great.
There is great encouragement to US
Christian parents in the fact that the
soul of a little child is as precious
In the sight of God as that of its par
ent. 1t was Jesus who taught US this
and to his holy name should be the
praise. Let us act on this encourage
ment and bring our children to the
Lord that they may be saved.
Let us remember that our children
need salvation, for they were shapen
in iniquity and conceived in sin. The
Fifty-first Psalm teaches us this. 1t
was not personal disobedience on
their part that thus exposed them to
divine judgment, but that which pre-
coded it, that which was hereditary
and common to all the race. That
such sin is in their being from their
very birth is proven by the lives they
live when they come to moral con-
seriousness. Are they not selfish from
a very early age, and is not selfish
ness sin? Are they not disobedient,
and is not disobedience sin? Do they
not take things which belong to 9TH
ers? And is not this theft? Do they
not covet and falsify? Do they not
show wrath and hatred? And is not
this the spirit of murde There is
need of the regeneration of the Holy
Spirit in the child as trl ly as in the
parent of the child. Of course we are
not speaking of very little infants
about whom the word nf God says
nothing specifically. We hope and be-
lieve that they are not excluded from
the application of the atonement of
Christ when they die before the pc
riod of moral consciousness But
when they know the difference be-
tween tight and wrong and are cap
able of apprehending the elementary
principles of the Gospel the case Is
different. In other words, ] cannot
believe that. a child had gone TO
Heaven just because he Is a child,
but there should be seen in him or
her the evidence of the new life
through faith in Jesus Christ.
The Responsibility of Parents
We parents have very much to do
with the salvation of our children.
First of all we can set guard about
them, on the principle that IAN ounce
of prevention is better than pound
of cure" We can keep our children
innocent of many things by warding
off the approach of evil. 1t should
not be necessary for the state to
make such encroachments upon the
functions of the home as 1t is now
doing
In the second place, we can set an
example to our children, an example
of self-denial and piety and obedience
to divine law. Will a child reverence
a God who is never worshiped in its
own home? Can God be exalted in the
esteem of little children when his
name is profanely used by their par
ents? VIII children be likely to 20
to church or Sunday school whose
elders seldom do SO? Will they love
purity where the opposite is before
them in the amusements and read
ing matter of the household? WEI
they be honest, who hear money and
gain continually exalted around the
family table and at the Preside? VIII
they speak the truth who witness ex-
aggeration and falsehood in those
hey are supposed to honor? In the
their children to Christ. they did not
send them. and we, by example, must
do the same.
In the third place we can preach
the gospel to our children and low
ingly and faithfully talk with them
who died to take away their sin. We
can urge them to confess Christ and
pray for them, and bett ,r yet, pray
with them that they m;y be saved,
This is the period of the year in
which cur churches keep what is call
ed childrens day, and when decisions
are urged for Christ But why wait
for that decision to be urged IN
church or Sunday school? Why not
let it be urged at home? Let us re-
member that parents and not the
church or Sunday school are respond.
bic to God fer their children. As we
hope TO meet our little ones above
and also give an account Of our
stew ardship with joy to God. let us be
faithful in all those ways that are
open to US that they whom God hath
givar MS, uay be recpnciled to him.