“AND, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath; but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” Eph. 6:4. Nurture signifies, “The act of nourishing or nursing, tender care, education, instruction.” Admonition signifies, “Gentle or friendly reproof; counsel against a fault or error; instruction in duties.”
This shows that the Lord has given directions for the training, the bringing up, of children. This is only to be expected, because God has given one of the ten commandments especially to children, and whenever the Lord has given commandment, he has also given directions how to fulfill the requirements of it. But, as shown last week, the first duty toward the fulfillment of the fifth commandment devolves upon the parents. The above text shows the same thing. But this is evidently true from the very nature of the case, because it is the duty of every responsible being to honor God above all. But for a considerable length of time the child is irresponsible and incapable of knowing God, or of knowing of him. If, therefore, the child is to know of God, and his one obligation and relationship to him, it is evident that he must be taught. But there is no one to teach him but his parents. Consequently the first steps taken by a child toward the fulfillment of his duty toward God, or his duty toward man in obedience to God, must be taken under the guidance of his parents. In other words, the parents must stand virtually in the place of God to the child until he reaches the age of responsibility himself. And it is the duty of the parents to see that when the child reaches the age of responsibility, he shall be prepared to fulfill the obligations that devolve upon him, in the fear of God.
This is what is involved in the words, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it;” and also in the text which stands at the head of this article, “Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” The way in which he should go is in the way of the commandments of God; for saith the Lord: “I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.” Isa. 48:17, 18. The way of the commandments of God is the way of peace for, “Great peace have they that love thy law; and nothing shall offend them.” Ps. 119:165. And, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee.” Isa. 26:3. Therefore it is certain that “the way” in which the child is to be trained up so that he may not depart from it when he is old, is the way of the commandments of God: the “nurture and admonition of the Lord” in which the parents are to bring up the children, is that which is found in following the directions of the word of God. What these directions are, we shall now endeavor to set forth.
There is given us in the Scripture a notable instance in illustration of the point which we here wish to develop. Paul wrote to Timothy: “I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.” Now unfeigned faith is one of the very graces that is connected with the great aim of the law of God. For, “Now the end [the purpose] of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned.” 1 Tim. 1:5. And here we find this great grace in a straight line to the third generation, and that too in a country and in an age that was as corrupt as any since the flood, and his father a Gentile too. How did it ever come about that this unfeigned faith was found in Timothy? It was not born in him, that is certain, for says the Scripture, “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child.” Prov. 22:15. How then happened it. Here is how: “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.” 2 Tim. 3:15. There is the whole secret revealed. “From a child he had known the Scriptures.” He had been trained up in the way that he should go. He had been brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
What then says the Scripture about this? If we can find the course that was followed by which Timothy was brought to the grace of unfeigned faith, we may know what to do with our children that theirs may be the same happy experience. “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 sons’ sons; specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.” Deut. 4:9, 10. Of all the times, therefore, which that people were to remember, they were specially to remember the day that they stood before Sinai and heard the words of God. And of all the things which they were diligently to remember, and to teach their children, they were specially to remember and teach the words which they heard from the voice of God, the day when they stood before Sinai. And those words which above all were to be specially remembered and taught, were the ten commandments. These were the specialty therefore in Timothy’s instruction.
Further, the instructions are: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine 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 shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sitest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” Deut. 6:5-7. “Thou shalt teach them diligently.” The margin reads, Hebrew, “Thou shalt whet or sharpen them diligently,” etc. On this word Dr. Clarke remarks that it signifies “to repeat, iterate, or do a thing again and again; hence to whet or sharpen any instrument, which is done by reiterated friction or grinding.” There is the secret of the successful teaching of the commandments of God. To do it over and over, again and again. Not however in the way of having the child learn them by rote, and then stop at that. A parrot can be taught that much, and a child may be taught these things in such a way that he will learn them in about such a way as a parrot would, and with not much more of an intelligent understanding than a parrot might have to repeat them. But that is not the idea of these directions. It is, by constant instruction and watching to instill the principles of the law of God into the mind of the child and cause them to become a part of the very texture of his being and conduct; that his conduct even though a child may be regulated by these principles in the fear of God.
Of course this will not be accomplished by only a word now and then, nor by an hour’s exercise in Sabbath-school on the Sabbath. No man thinks of8sharpening a dull axe by a few turns of the grindstone once a week, but, as many a boy can testify, that is a task that is accomplished by steady and persistent application until the angle of the axe edge is so evenly drawn that a few circles of the whetstone will refine the edge to an almost perfect keenness. Now this is precisely what the Lord directs that the parents shall do to the minds and hearts of their children by the application of the words and principles of the commandments of God. It is that the minds of the children shall be so keenly sharpened by the application of the principles of the word of God that they shall be able instantly to discern, to choose, and to do the right. But thousands of fathers will take more pains to sharpen an old rusty axe than they will to sharpen the minds of their own children to know and do the right.
Nor is this so hard a thing to do as is often imagined, if only it be done in the right way. That which makes it so hard for many is that they attempt to do it by set tasks rather than by making it a part of life itself. They attempt to do the teaching by set lessons apart from the regular conduct of life, rather than by making the lessons and the principles a part of the practical conduct of the daily life itself. Many a mother will teach her little daughter the first commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” and the child can learn it by rote in a few minutes, and by repeating it a few days can recollect it at any time; and then just as likely as not while the child is repeating the commandment, the mother is dressing her up in all the frills and ruffles and ribbons that the latest and loudest demands of fashion may demand, and just because it is the fashion. At the very moment when the child is repeating the commandment the mother perhaps is preparing to pierce the child’s ears like an Ishmaelite, or “bang” her hair like a savage, and all because it is fashionable and because everybody else does so. That is to say, the child is taught to say, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” and at the same time is taught to do as the world does, and to seek to please the world, to do as others do, because they do it, to make and keep fast friendship with the world. But all such teaching of the commandments of God is vain. “Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” James 4:4. To teach the child to say, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” and then teach the child to do the ways of the world and to seek to please the world, is only to teach him to put “the god of this world” above the true God; to obey the god of this world instead of the God of Heaven; and to seek to please the god of this world rather than the God of love, of truth, and of righteousness.
Such a way of doing is not by any means to teach the commandments of God diligently unto the children; it is not to train up the children in the way they should go; nor is it to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. When the children are taught to say the commandments of God, it is equally the parents’ duty to teach them to do the commandments which they have been taught. But to do this successfully the principle of obedience to God, and the love of his commandments, must be woven into the texture of the daily life of the parents. The fear of God must be before the parents, and his honor that which they shall seek above all and endeavor to promote. If our teaching shall not be sustained by our daily practice, we cannot expect that our teaching shall be sustained by the practice of our children. “Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, . . . and ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. . . . That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.” Deut. 11:18-21. J.
MR. MOODY'S "BIBLE" SCHOOL.
By J.
A SHORT time ago we gave a specimen of the teaching that is given in Mr. Moody's Bible school. Since writing that another specimen has come to hand. If these two specimens form any criterion at all we are justified in concluding that the Northfield Summer School is anything but a Bible school. The following is from an official report of one of Mr. Moody's addresses to the Bible students at his school:—
'If you had gone into Sodom, and asked about Lot they would have told you he was the most prosperous man in all Sodom; he owned the best property in Sodom—he owned the best corner lots. His family moved in the very highest circles—at the very top. He wasn't too religious. He wasn't like his uncle, Abraham. They thought Abraham a very narrow-minded man. But Lot was a noble man—he was just the kind of a man the Sodomites liked. They liked that kind of Christianity. He was their style of a man. If there had been a railroad running from Sodom to Jerusalem, he would have been a prominent director in it. He believed in all modern improvements. He was getting along amazingly well. Bear in mind, Lot is a typical character. He represents the professing Christians of to-day who don't want to be too religious. They just want to get into Heaven. They keep their religion as a sort of fire-escape. They don't want to be too religious—peculiar—narrow-minded. Lot wasn't too religious. He didn't belong to that class. He was 'a noble man.' But God knew about him; and when he came to investigate him, he found a rotten state of things. Lot had been there twenty years and hadn't any family altar—been there twenty years and hadn't got a convert—been there twenty years and not one man had been made better in all Sodom. I have no doubt when Abraham was pleading with God he said: 'Lot has been there twenty years. Certainly he has got some converts.' But there wasn't a convert, and all Sodom suffered one fate. Young men say: 'Let us make the best of both worlds.' That is what you hear now. Well; Lot tried that, and he came to a miserable end.'
Now as this was an address to Bible students, in a school professedly devoted particularly to Bible study, it is but natural to suppose that the ideas and instruction of the chief instructor would be almost entirely biblical. It is therefore but fair to inquire whereabouts in the Bible did Mr. Moody learn all these particulars in relation to Lot? Here he has given a long series of statements, all given in a tone of supercilious criticism, in regard to a person named several times in the Bible, and there is hardly one statement in the whole account that is according to the truth of the Bible, and not one of the criticisms that is justified by the word of God. The tone of the whole tirade is such, and only such, as to set forth Lot as a man who used the profession of godliness only as a cloak, and only as a stepping-stone to worldly prosperity—in short to show him up as a systematic hypocrite, only keeping 'his religion as a sort of fire-escape.' And, by the way, if Mr. Moody be right, that is certainly a most excellent thing to do, for it is certain that God sent his angels personally to see that Lot should escape the fire that destroyed Sodom. If it be indeed that Lot, as described by Mr. Moody, was 'a typical character,' then those who pattern after him most assuredly have all the encouragement that could be given to continue in their pernicious ways, seeing that, hypocrite though he was, God sent his angels to deliver him from the destruction of the place where he dwelt.
But the truth is, the Bible truth too, that Lot was no such person at all as is here set forth in this display of Mr. Moody's extra-biblical wisdom. The word of God calls him 'just Lot,' and 'that righteous man.' But in the character drawn by Mr. Moody there is no element of righteousness. The word of God says of Lot and of his conduct in Sodom, that God 'delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds' (2 Peter 2:7, 8); while Mr. Moody's whole sketch conveys the idea that he was a familiar associate, and a hail fellow well met, among the Sodomites.
Mr. Moody says, 'He was not like his uncle, Abraham.' True, Lot was not altogether such a man as Abraham, and for that matter, neither is Mr. Moody.
But the same angels who condescended to associate with Abraham, and to share his hospitality, also associated with Lot and shared his hospitality. The same holy beings who counted Abraham worthy to entertain them, also counted Lot worthy to entertain them. Abraham sat in his tent door, and when he saw the angels 'he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, and said, My Lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant; let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree; and I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on . . . And they said, So do, as thou hast said. . . . And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.' Lot sat in the gate of Sodom, and when two of the same angels came to Sodom at even, 'Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; and he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.' Gen. 18:1-8:19:1-3. Now when the angels of God treated these two men so nearly alike, and when the word of God shows them so nearly alike in their hospitality to the angels; we question Mr. Moody's right to draw so wide a distinction between them as he has done here, and we seriously question both the propriety, and the reverence of Mr. Moody's laying such hypocrisy to the charge of God's elect.
Mr. Moody says, 'Lot had been there twenty years, and hadn't any family altar.' How does he know? God calls Lot a 'righteous man,' and the Lord is not in the habit of calling men righteous who are not pious. More than this God delivered Lot and his family from his fury poured out upon Sodom. But instead of so delivering the families that call not upon his name, the Word is 'Pour out thy fury upon the families that call not on thy name.' Jer. 10:25. Therefore we are free to say that we think the idea that he had a family altar is a good deal nearer in harmony with the word of God, than is Mr. Moody's statement that he 'hadn't.'
Mr. Moody says, Lot had 'been there twenty years and hadn't got a convert.' And 'I have no doubt when Abraham was pleading with God he said: 'Lot has been there twenty years. Certainly he has got some converts.' But there wasn't a convert, and all Sodom suffered one fate.' Well Noah was there a hundred and twenty years, and he didn't get a convert in all the world. There 'wasn't a convert,' and all the world 'suffered one fate'—drowned by the flood. And yet God has not laid this to the charge of either Lot or Noah. It has remained for Mr. Moody to go beyond the Lord and usurp the authority to perform that extra-judicial service. It is altogether likely however that both 'just Lot' and 'righteous' Noah were more concerned in getting men to live righteous lives before God, than they were in getting 'converts.'
Then at last, this extra-biblical teacher says: 'Young men say, 'Let us make the best of both worlds.' That is what we hear now. Well, Lot tried that, and he came to a miserable end.' Lot did not try that Mr. Moody. For 'whosoever will be the friend of the world, is the enemy of God' (James 4:4), and 'just Lot' 'that righteous man' was not the enemy of God. But the fitting climax to this whole piece of Bible (?) teaching is the statement that Lot 'came to a miserable end'! To what miserable end did Lot come? Does Mr. Moody think that Lot came to the same miserable end that Sodom did? Is that a part of his Bible teaching? How does Mr. Moody know to what end Lot came, whether miserable or otherwise? The Bible nowhere tells. We may therefore very properly suppose that Mr. Moody got this remarkable piece of information, where he got all the rest of this intelligence that he617has given us about Lot—that is, outside of the Bible.
And that is the sort of Bible study and Bible teaching, that they have at Mr. Moody's Bible school! We most devoutly wish that that Bible school may become a Bible school indeed, and that at last both teachers and students may come to the same 'miserable end' that 'that righteous man,' 'just Lot,' will. Amen.
The Missionary.
By Alonzo T. Jones
NEW ZEALAND.
ALTHOUGH it has been some time since we have reported to the Signs, we have not been idle, and the cause in this Colony has not been standing still. Our new church is completed and we are holding meetings in it the most of the time. We have carefully re-examined the principal points of our faith, which has established more firmly the most of those who accepted it during the tent effort. A few proved to be "stony ground" hearers, and have given up, but others have come in and joined us, so that there are even more keeping the Sabbath now than there were when we took down the tent.
Since the organization of our tract and missionary society, some earnest efforts have been made to spread the truth by the circulation of our publications. Already we get encouraging news. In one town, many miles south, such a stir has been made that one minister has preached on the Sabbath question. A lady teacher in one of the schools in another city has, after reading "History of the Sabbath," "Great Controversy," Vol. 4, etc., accepted the truth. This of course causes great commotion in the church of which she is a member. One of our canvassers has gone to that part of the Colony to sell "Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation," and "Great Controversy," Vol. 4, and to circulate our publications. We are in hopes that the seeds of truth will find congenial soil in all parts of the Colony, and spring up and bear fruit unto life eternal.
The majority of the people in New Zealand are reading people. There being but little prejudice as yet, our works are carefully read. When this is done a deep impression is made on the heart. The first impulse is to step right out and obey, but the ministers begin to interfere by telling them that they are imposing a cross from which Christ delivered them by his death and resurrection, etc. These things confuse them, and trouble follows. What a pity those who take the position of shepherds of the people will thus turn their minds away from the plain truth of God.
One encouraging feature that has manifested itself in no small degree of late is the readiness with which the people adopt our views of true temperance. But little attention has been paid to this important phase of the Christian religion. The idea is far too prevalent that religion consists in attending church and working for a happy flight of feeling. The body is considered as only so much flesh and bones, and it is thought it makes but little difference how we treat it, just so the "soul is kept happy." But we have been endeavoring to disabuse the minds of the people on this point, pointing out the relation of the body to the mind. We have tried to show that whatever in any way impairs the body does the same to the mind, and hence affects one's spirituality. This important truth is recognized by most professed Christians when applied to the use of intoxicating liquors, but, strange to say, that is about as far as it is usually carried. Tobacco, tea, coffee, rich foods, eating at unseasonable hours, etc., receive but little consideration.
The colonial people are particularly fond of smoking, and of very strong tea. Some weeks ago I gave a few lectures on hygiene and health from Dr. Kellogg's excellent physiological charts. To my surprise this subject created much interest and comment. It was spoken of in the papers and the church was nearly filled with people eager to ascertain some of the causes of that dread disease, dyspepsia, and how to cure it. Not only have nearly all our Sabbath-keepers abandoned those stimulants and injurious articles of diet, but many not of our number have discarded them. We are charged with having injured the tea trade. The united testimony of those who have discarded tobacco, tea, and stimulants, is to the effect that they feel better physically, their minds are clearer, and the religious experience is more satisfactory. So it will ever be with those who thus endeavor to honor God.
During the last two weeks we have been holding revival meetings. All the members have made an effort to attend and seek the Lord for a deeper experience in heavenly things. The Lord has heard the prayers offered, and has come near and given many a new experience. The older ones have humbled their hearts and confessed their sins, while many of the younger ones have made a start for the first time. This has brought us near together and united hearts more closely than at any previous time. We are anxious to start right, so that God can use us in the work in New Zealand. The people are reading, thinking, and inquiring. A few days ago I received an invitation from the trustees of a church in a village thirty miles from Auckland, to hold a few meetings in their place, and explain some of the prophecies of Daniel to them. Of course I shall go and do what I can. There are hundreds of places in this Colony where the truth could be preached with good results, if we only had the men to do it. We are very anxious to see what the coming General Conference will do for us. We trust the Macedonian cry will be heard and responded to as it was by the great apostle Paul eighteen hundred years ago. In the meantime we shall labor on the best we can, for "the night is far spent and the day is at hand." A. G. DANIELLS.
Auckland, September 12, 1887.
REPORT FROM AFRICA.
By C. L. Boyd
As our ship neared the docks, our attention was arrested by the great diversity of color and countenance of the men on the shore. They are about as numerous, diverse, and as nearly approaching each other, as the leaves of autumn. There were to be seen but few of the black, thick-lipped, and wooly-haired race which are found in the Southern States of America, but those of a lighter complexion, more intelligent countenance, and more athletic form.
Until the year 1865, no correct census of Cape Colony had been taken. Since then ample provision has been made to insure accuracy and completeness in this work. The following is collected from reliable sources: Cape Colony covers an area of about 200,000 square miles. It has of white population, 240,000; Hottentot, 99,000; all other tribes and nations combined, 390,000. Of the whites who can neither read nor write, there are about 80,000; of others who can neither read nor write, 440,000. The white population consists first, and most largely, of the Dutch and those who with them first settled in Cape Colony. Next the English race, the Germans, the descendants of the French Refugees, who were driven from their homes by religious persecutions, Portuguese and others. But these different classes are so intermingled that it is impossible to draw a definite line between them. There are about 214,000 Kaffirs, nearly one-half of all the colored population. They are of a dark brown color, well formed, and active. The most of the carriage-drivers, working men, servants, etc., are of this race. Some of them are merchants and business men. The most of the provision stands, lesser markets, etc., are kept by them. The Hottentots are of a light olive complexion, indolent, "easy-go-lucky" people. Of other native tribes may be mentioned the Fingoes, Bushmen, Malays, and others.
Almost every system of religion both of Christendom and heathendom is to be found here. The most of the Protestant denominations, the Roman Catholic, the Mohammedan, and the pagans, are represented more or less largely. The Dutch Reformed Church is the largest. Its form of government is Presbyterian, as is also its creed. Both Scotch and Dutch clergymen preside. The principles of liberalism have been largely received by both ministers and laity. The Malays are for the most part Mohammedan, and worship in mosques. Friday is their holy day. Labor is not altogether suspended, but on that day the voice of the priest may be heard as he walks around the cupola of the mosque calling up "the faithful." Many of the mixed races of the Hottentots are nominally Christians; but the large part of the Kaffirs and other native tribes are virtually heathen. A good many, however, have been hopefully converted to Christianity, and missionaries of the various denominations are laboring for their enlightenment and conversion; very much has been done by their devoted efforts. Where but a few years ago only huts and the lowest types of humanity were to be seen, a wonderful change has taken place. "Now the missionary proudly points to churches and schools that have risen chiefly from the self-reliant efforts of Christianized natives. Neatly dressed and well-behaved congregations of colored races throng churchward at the call of the bell, and the voice of thousands rise to God in devotional hymns, where superstition and debasing rites had encrusted the particles of unborn truth."
I look for the time to come when the glorious light of the Third Angel's Message will shine upon some of these native tribes. It looks as if the special providence of God has been preparing the way for his truth to be proclaimed here in Southern Africa. I believe that a blessed work could be accomplished by some of our American brethren, who without reserve would consecrate their life to the Master and come here, learn the language, and go among the natives. Are there not some men of means who would esteem it a privilege to meet the expenses attending such a holy work? Our missionary work will surely soon end, and then it will be realized that a soul which has been saved is of more value than all the treasures of this world.
Next to the Dutch Reformed Church is the Church of England. Difficulties have somewhat separated this church from the church of this name in England. They are very closely bound together here in South Africa. "Every person admitted to holy orders, and every clergyman admitted to any office of the church in the province, agrees to be bound by all the laws of the province, and undertakes to accept and immediately submit to any sentence which may be passed in due form by the tribunal authorized by the provincial synod." And the bishop's bonds, to which they subscribe on their election, are of a very positive nature.10
The Wesleyan Methodists are probably doing more among the natives than any other denomination. They are also well represented and popular among the white population in the cities throughout the Colony. We might also mention the Congregationalists, Baptists of different orders, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Moravians, French Reformed Church, Apostolic Union, Brethren, etc. Some of these mentioned have also a large number of subdivisions. Roman Catholics and Jews are well represented. Last but not least, there are a few scattered throughout South Africa who are keeping the Lord's Sabbath and "looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." To teach these "the way of God more perfectly," and to gather others out of the world and out of Babylon, and with them to stand "unblamable and unreprovable in His sight" when He comes, we are laboring. To this end we ask the prayers and the cooperation of all who love Jesus.