Thou and Thy House
That we are to bring our children up for the Lord, is
plainly the teaching of this word, "But bring them up in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord". To do this rightly, we must ourselves be daily
walking, before our children, in the practical exhibition of His character, and
counting much on the sympathies and grace of His heart: remembering that He
says to us, "Without me ye can do nothing".It is also our duty to teach our
children, in due time, some useful occupation for "necessary uses". "And let
ours also learn to maintain good works (or, profess honest trades, margin), for
necessary uses". Compare Ephesians 6: 4; Titus 3: 14. These are the points
which do severely test our practical Christianity. If the first and
all-important duty has not been faithfully discharged, before it is needful to
press the second, deep trial must come in, and who can tell how long we may
have to endure it, before the Lord Himself appears for our help? May the "God
of all grace" lead us all to know more fully, and value more highly, our
blessed privileges, and be more faithful to our great responsibilities as His
servants in connection with our families at home.
Two Houses
There are two houses which occupy a
very prominent place on the page of inspiration, and these are, the house of
God, and the house of God's servant.
God attaches immense importance
to His house; and justly so, because it is His.
His truth, His honour, His
character, His glory, are all involved in the character of His house; and hence
it is His desire that the impress of what He is should plainly appear on that
which belongs to Him.
If God has a house, it assuredly should be a
godly house, a holy house, a spiritual house, an elevated house, a pure and
heavenly house.
It should be all this, not merely in abstract position
and principle, but practically and characteristically.
Its abstract
position is founded upon what God has made it, and where He has set it; but its
practical character is founded upon the actual walk of those who form its
constituent parts down here upon this earth. Now, while many minds may be
prepared to enter into the truth and importance of all the principles connected
with God's house, there may be but few, comparatively, who are disposed to give
a due measure of attention to those connected with the house of God's servant;
although, if one were asked the question, What house stands next in order to
the house of God? he should, undoubtedly, reply, The house of His servant.
However, as there is nothing like bringing the holy authority of God's
word to bear upon the conscience, I shall quote a few passages of scripture,
which will tend to show, in a clear and forcible point of view, what are God's
thoughts about the house of one holding connection with Him.
Noah
When the iniquity of the antediluvian world
had risen to a head, and the end of all flesh had come before a righteous God,
who was about to roll the heavy tide of judgement over the corrupted scene,
these sweet words fell upon Noah's ear,
"Come thou and all thy house
into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation",
Genesis 7: 1.
Now, it will be said, that Noah was a type of Christ
the righteous head of a saved family saved in virtue of their
association with him. All this is fully granted: but Noah's typical character
does not, in any wise, interfere with the principle which I seek to deduce from
this and kindred passages which principle, I shall here, at the outset,
distinctly lay down: it is this the house of every servant of God is, in
virtue of its connection with him, brought into a position of privilege and
consequent responsibility.
The reader will not, I trust, imagine that
the necessity for the work of the Holy Ghost, in the regeneration of the
children of Christian parents, is denied or interfered with. God forbid.
"Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God". This is as true
of a Christian's child as of every one else. Grace is not hereditary.The sum of
what I would press upon Christian parents is, that scripture inseparably links
a man with his house, and that the Christian parent is warranted in counting
upon God for his children, and responsible to train his children for God. Let
any one who denies this interpret Ephesians 6: 4.
That this is a
principle involving vast practical consequences, we shall, with God's blessing
and grace, see, ere we close this paper; but we must first seek to establish
its truth from the word of God.
Were we merely left to argue from
analogy, our thesis might be easily proved; for it could never be supposed, by
any mind at all acquainted with the character and ways of God, that He would
attach such unspeakable importance to His own house, and attach none at all, or
almost none, to that of His servant.
This were impossible; it would be
utterly unlike God; and God must always act like Himself. But we are not left
to analogy on this most important and deeply practical question; and the
passage just quoted forms one of the first of a series of direct and positive
proofs.
In it we find those immensely significant words, "Thou and thy
house," inseparably linked together.
God did not reveal a salvation
for Noah which was of no avail to Noah's house. He never contemplated such a
thing. The same ark that lay open to him lay open to them also. Why? Was it
because they had faith? No; but because he had, and they were connected with
him.
God gave him a blank cheque for himself and his family, and it
devolved upon him to fill it up by bringing them in along with him.
I
repeat it, this does not in the least interfere with Noah's typical character.
I look at him typically; but I look at him personally also. Nor can I, under
any circumstances separate a man from his house.
The house of God is
brought into blessing and responsibility because of its connection with Him;
and the house of the servant of God is brought into blessing and responsibility
because of its connection with him. This is our thesis.
Abraham
The next passage to which I shall refer occurs in the life of Abraham.
"And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do? For I know
him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they
shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgement; that the Lord may
bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him", Genesis 18: 17-19.
Here it is not a question of salvation, but of communion with the mind
and purposes of God; and let the Christian parent note and solemnly ponder the
fact, that when God was seeking out a man to whom He could disclose His secret
counsels, He selected one possessing the simple characteristic of "commanding
his children and his household". This, to a tender conscience, cannot fail to
prove a most pungent principle.
If there is one point above another in
which Christians have failed, it is in this very point of commanding their
children and household.
They surely have not set God before them in
this particular; for, if I look at the entire record of God's dealings with His
house, I find them invariably characterised by the exercise of power on the
principle of righteousness.
He has firmly established and
unflinchingly carried out His holy authority. It matters not what the outward
aspect or character of His house may be, the essential principle of His dealing
with it is immutable.
"Thy testimonies are very sure, holiness
becometh thy house, O Lord, for ever".
Now, the servant must ever take his
Master as his model; and if God rules His house with power exercised in
righteousness, so must I; for if I am, in any one particular of my conduct,
different from Him, I must, in that particular, be wrong. This is plain. But
not only does God so rule His house: He likewise loves, approves of, and treats
with His marked and honoured confidence, those who do the same.
In the
above passage, we find Him saying, "I cannot hide my purposes from Abraham".
Why? Is it because of his personal grace or faith? No; but simply because "he
will command his children and his household".
A man who knows how to
command his house is worthy of God's confidence. This is a stupendous truth,
the edge of which should pierce the conscience of many a Christian parent.
Many of us, alas! with our eye resting on Genesis 18: 19, may well
prostrate ourselves before the One who uttered and penned that word, and cry
out Failure! failure! shameful, humiliating failure!
And why is this?
Why have we failed to meet the solemn responsibility devolving upon us in
reference to the due command of our households? I believe there is but one
reply, viz., because we have failed to realise, by faith, the privilege
conferred upon those households, in virtue of their association with us.
It is remarkable that our two earliest proofs should present to our
view, with such accuracy, the two grand divisions of our question, namely,
privilege and responsibility.
In Noah's case, the word was, "Thou and
thy house" in the place of salvation.
In Abraham's case, it was "Thou and
thy house," in the place of moral government.
The connection is at once
marked and beautiful, and the man who fails in faith to appropriate the
privilege will fail in moral power to answer the responsibility.
God
looks upon a man's house as part of himself, and he cannot, in the smallest
degree, whether in principle or practice, disregard the connection without
suffering serious damage, and also marring the testimony. Now, the question for
the Christian parent's conscience really is, "am I counting upon God for my
house, and ruling my house for God?"
A solemn question, surely; yet,
it is to be feared, very few feel its magnitude and power. And here, perhaps,
my reader may feel disposed to demand fuller scripture proof than has yet been
adduced, as to our warrant for counting upon God for our houses.
I
shall, therefore, proceed with the scripture quotations. I give one from the
history of Jacob. "And God said to Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel".
This would seem to have been addressed to Jacob personally; but he never
thought, for a moment, of disconnecting himself from his family, either as to
privilege or responsibility; wherefore it is immediately added:
"Jacob
said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange
gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments; and let us
arise, and go up to Bethel", Genesis. 35; 1-3.
Here we see that a call
to Jacob put Jacob's house under responsibility. He was called to go up to
God's house, and the question immediately suggested itself to his conscience
whether his own house were it a fit condition to respond to such a call.
Exodus
We now turn to the
opening chapters of the book of Exodus, where we find that one of Pharaoh's
four objections to the full deliverance and separation of Israel, had specific
reference to "the little ones".
"And Moses and Aaron were brought
again unto Pharaoh; and he said unto them, Go, serve the Lord your God; but who
are they that shall go?
"And Moses said, We will go with our young,
and with our old, with our sons, and with our daughters, with our flocks, and
with our herds will we go; for we must hold a feast unto the Lord", Exodus 10:
8-9. The reason why they should take the little ones and all with them, was
because they were going to hold a feast unto the Lord.
Nature might
say, Oh! what can these little creatures know about a feast unto the Lord? Are
you not afraid of making them formalists?
The reply of Moses is simple
and decisive, "we will go with our young
for we must hold a feast unto
the Lord". They had no idea of seeking one thing for themselves, and another
for their children. They dreamed not of Canaan for themselves and Egypt for
their children.
How could they taste the manna of the wilderness, or
the old corn of the land, while their children were feeding upon the leeks, the
onions, and the garlic of Egypt? Impossible.
Moses and Aaron
understood not such acting. They felt that God's call to them was a call to
their little ones; and, moreover, were it not fully carried out, they would no
sooner have gone forth from Egypt by one road than their children would draw
them back by another.
That such would have been the case, Satan was
but too well aware, and hence appears the reason of the objection, "Not so, go
now, ye that are men".
This is the very thing which so many professing
Christians are doing or attempting rather to do at this present
time. They profess to go forth themselves to serve the Lord, but their little
ones are in Egypt. They profess to have taken "three days' journey into the
wilderness;" in other words, they profess to have left the world, they profess
to be dead to it, and risen with Christ, as the possessors of a heavenly life,
and the heirs and expectants of a heavenly glory; but they leave their little
ones behind, in the hands of Pharaoh, or rather of Satan.
It will be
said that there cannot be any analogy between the actual removal of people from
one country to another, and the training of our children. I reply, the analogy
only applies in principle. It is perfectly evident that we cannot take our
children to heaven, in the sense in which the Israelites took theirs to Canaan.
God alone can fit our children for heaven, by implanting in them the life of
His own Son; and He alone can bring them to heaven, in His own time.But, then,
although we can neither fit our children for, nor bring them to, heaven, we
can, nevertheless, by faith, train them for it; and it is not merely our duty
a poor, cold, and unworthy expression but our high and holy
privilege so to do. Hence, therefore, if the principle on which, and the object
with which, we train our children are manifestly worldly, we do, virtually, and
so far as in us lies, leave them in the world.And, on the other hand, if our
principle and object are, unequivocally, heavenly, then do we, so far as in us
lies, train them for heaven. This, my beloved reader, is all that is meant, in
this tract, by leaving our children in Egypt or taking them to Canaan. We are
responsible to train our children, though we cannot convert them; and God will
assuredly bless the faithful training of those whom He has graciously given us.
They have given up the world for themselves, but they cannot do so for
their children.
Hence, on Lord's-day, the professed position of strangers
and pilgrims is taken; hymns are sung, prayers uttered, and principles taught,
which bespeak a people far advanced in the heavenly life, and just on the
borders of Canaan, in actual experience in spirit, of course, they are
already there but alas! on Monday morning, every act, every habit, every
pursuit, every object, contradicts all this.
The little ones are
trained for the world. The scope, aim, object, and entire character of their
education is worldly, in the truest and strictest sense of the word.
Moses and Aaron would not have understood such actings; and neither indeed
should any morally honest heart, or upright mind, understand them.
I
should have no other principle, portion, or prospect, for my children, but what
I have for myself; nor should I train them with a view to any other.
If Christ and heavenly glory are sufficient for me, they are sufficient for
them likewise; but then the proof that they are really sufficient for me,
should be unequivocal.
The tone of the parent's character should be
such as to afford not a shadow of a doubt as to the real deep-seated purpose
and object of his soul. But what shall my child say to me, if I tell him that I
am earnestly seeking Christ and heaven for him while, at the same time, I am
educating him for the world?
Which will he believe? Which will exert
the more powerful practical influence on his heart and life my words, or
my acts? Let conscience reply; and oh! let it be an honest reply, a reply
emanating from its deepest depths, a reply which will unanswerably demonstrate
that the question is understood in all its pungency and power.
I
verily believe the time is come for plain dealing with one another's
conscience.
It must be apparent to every prayerful and attentive
observer of the Christianity of the present day, that it wears a most sickly
aspect; that the tone is miserably low; and, in a word, that there must be
something radically wrong.
As to testimony for the Son of God, it is
rarely alas, how rarely! thought of. Personal salvation seems to
form the very highest object with ninety-nine out of every hundred professing
Christians, as if we were left here to be saved; and not, as saved ones, to
glorify Christ. Now, I would affectionately, yet faithfully, suggest the
question, whether much of the failure in practical testimony for Christ is not
justly traceable to the neglect of the principle involved in the expression,
"Thou and thy house".
I cannot but think it has much to do with it.
One thing is certain, that a quantity of worldliness, confusion, and moral evil
has crept in amongst us, through our little ones having been left in Egypt.
We see many who, it may be, ten, fifteen, or twenty years ago, took a
prominent place in testimony and service, and seemed to have their hearts much
in the work, are now gone back lamentably, not having power to keep their own
heads above water, much less to help any one else.
All this utters a
warning voice for Christian parents having rising families; and the utterance
is, "Beware of leaving your little ones in Egypt".
Many a heart-broken
father, at the present moment, is left to weep and groan over his fatal
mistake, in reference to his household.
He left them in Egypt, in an
evil hour, and under a gross delusion, and now when he ventures, it may he in
real faithfulness and earnest affection, to drop a word into the ear of those
who have grown up around him, they meet it with a deaf ear, and an indifferent
heart, while they cling with vigour and decision to that Egypt in which he
faithlessly and inconsistently left them.
This is a stern fact, the
statement of which may send a pang to many a heart; but truth must be told, in
order that, though it wounds some, it may prove a salutary warning to others.
But I must proceed with the proofs.
There is, I should say, a very
serious error involved in a Christian parent's committing the training of his
children to unconverted persons, or even to those whose hearts are not one with
him as to separation from the world. It is natural that a child should look up
to, and follow the example of, one who has the training and management of him.
Now, what can a teacher make of a child, save what he is himself? Whither can
he lead him but to where he is himself? What principles can he instil save
those which govern his own mind, and form the basis of his own character?Well,
if I see a man governed by worldly principles if I see plainly, from his
whole course and character, that he is an unconverted persons shall I commit to
him the training or instruction of my children, or the formation of their
characters? It would be the height of folly and inconsistency so to do. As well
might a man who desired to make an oval-shaped bullet cast the melted lead into
a circular mould.The same principle applies to the reading of books. A book is
decidedly a silent teacher and former of the mind and character; and if I am
called to look well to the character and principles of the living teacher, I am
equally so to look to those of a silent teacher. I am quite convinced that, in
reference both to books and teachers, we need to have our consciences stirred
and instructed.
Numbers
In
the book of Numbers "the little ones" are again introduced to our notice. We
have just seen that the real purpose of a soul in communion with God was to go
up with the little ones out of Egypt.
They must be brought forth from
thence at all cost; but neither faith nor faithfulness will rest here.
We must not only count upon God to bring them up out of Egypt, but also to
bring them on into Canaan. Here Israel signally failed.
After the
return of the spies, the congregation, on hearing their discouraging report,
gave utterance to these fatal accents, "Wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto
this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a
prey? Were it not better for us to return into Egypt?", Numbers 14.
This was terrible. It was, in reality, so far as in them lay, verifying
Pharaoh's wily prediction in reference to these very little ones, "Look to it
now, for evil is before you".
Unbelief always justifies Satan, and
makes God a liar, while faith always justifies God, and proves Satan a liar;
and as it is invariably true, that according to your faith so shall it be unto
you; so we find, on the other hand, that unbelief reaps as it sows. Thus it was
with unhappy, because unbelieving, Israel.
"As truly as I live, saith
the Lord, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you. Your carcasses
shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to
your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured
against me, doubtless ye shall not come into the land concerning which I sware
to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son
of Nun. "But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I
bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. But as for you,
your carcasses, they shall fall in the wilderness", Verses 28-32.
"They limited the Holy One of Israel," as to their little ones. This was a
grievous sin, and it has been recorded for our admonition.
How
constantly does the heart of the Christian parent reason, in reference to the
mode of dealing with children, instead of simply taking God's ground about
them.
It may be said, We cannot make Christians of our children. This
is not the question. We are not called to "make" anything of them. This is
God's work, and His only; but if He says, "Bring your little ones with you,"
shall we refuse?
I would not make a formalist of my child, and I could
not make him a real Christian; but if God, in infinite grace, says to me, "I
look upon your house as part of yourself, and, in blessing you, I bless it",
shall I, in gross unbelief of heart, refuse this blessing, lest I should
minister to formalism, or because I cannot impart reality? God forbid.
Yea, rather, let me rejoice with deep unfeigned joy, that God has blessed me
with a blessing so divinely rich and full that it extends not only to me, but
also to all who belong to me; and, seeing that grace has given me the blessing,
let faith take it up and appropriate it.
Very many content themselves
with the assurance that, at some time or other, their children will be
converted. But this is not taking God's ground with them now. If we have the
assurance that they are within the range of God's purpose, why do we not act
upon that assurance? If we are waiting to see certain evidences of conversion
in them, before we act as Scripture directs, it is plain that we are looking at
something besides God's promise. This is not faith.The Christian parent is
privileged to look upon his child now, as one to be trained for the Lord. He is
bound to take this ground, in faith, and train Him thus, looking to God, in the
fullest assurance, for the result. If I wait to see fruits, this is not faith.
Besides the question arises, what are my children now? They may be
going about like idle, wilful vagrants, bringing sad dishonour on the name and
truth of Christ, and yet, all the while, I satisfy myself by saying. I know
they will be converted yet. This will never do. My children should be now a
testimony for God; and they can only be this by my taking God's ground with
them, and going on with Him about them.
But, let us remember, that the
way to prove our entrance into the blessing is by fulfilling the
responsibility.
To say that I am counting upon God to bring my
children to Canaan, and yet, all the while, educating them for Egypt, is a
deadly delusion.
My conduct proves my profession to be a lie, and I am
not to wonder if, in the righteous dealings of God, I am allowed to be filled
with the fruit of my own doings.
Conduct will ever prove the reality
of our convictions; and, in this, as in everything else, that word of the Lord
is most solemnly true, "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the
doctrine".
We often want to know the doctrine before we do the will,
and the consequence is, we are left in the most profound ignorance.
Now, to do the will of God in reference to our children, is to treat them as He
does, by regarding them as part of ourselves, and training them accordingly.
It is not merely by hoping they may ultimately prove to be the
children of God, but by regarding them as those who are already brought into a
place of privilege, and dealing with them upon this ground in reference to
everything.
According to the thoughts and acting's of many parents, it
would seem as though they regarded their children in the light of heathens, who
had no present interest in Christ, or relationship to God at all. This is,
assuredly, falling grievously short of the divine mark.