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THE K I NG ' S BUS I NES S
May, 1938
most utter foolishness. Any one who knows anything about the life of children knows that no child grows up unbiased until he is twenty years of age; for if we do not bias our children strongly for Christ, then they will be biased against Him long be fore they are twenty years old. Every child breathes an atmosphere at play, at school, everywhere; and the atmosphere they breathe is oftentimes an atmosphere o f sin and unbelief. And unless we bias our children very strongly for Christ in earliest childhood, they will soon be very strongly biased against Christ. I would not dare send a son or daughter of mine to any modern high school or any modern college unless that one were a very strong and intelligent Christian before he entered. III. It Is Highly Important that the Child Be Converted— for Six Reasons. 1. Because it is so easy to convert the children. It is almost the easiest thing in the world to lead a child from five to ten years of age to a definite acceptance of Christ. It is much harder to lead a child between ten and fifteen years to Christ, but it is easier to lead a child between ten and fifteen years to Christ than it is one between fifteen and twenty years, and it is easier to lead a child between fifteen and twenty to Christ than a young person between the ages of twenty and twenty-five. The young er you can begin with the children to lead theml to make an actual acceptance of Christ, the easier the work will be, and the more satisfactory. 2. Because ■persons converted as children make the best Christians. One may be con verted in middle life and become a beauti ful Christian, but he would have been a , better Christian if he had been led to Christ as a child. Every year that he remains away from Christ, he learns habits and modes of thought and conduct that he has to unlearn after he is converted. If we wish symmetrical, full-grown, well- rounded Christian lives, we must begin with the child. If one wishes to train a tree into a thing of usefulness, he begins with the sapling, and similarly we must begin with the young life. I rejoice in the work done by rescue mis sions, where we see the wrecks o f man hood and womanhood changed into noble men and women. M y heart is in the work, but this is not the field that produces the most satisfactory Christians. The younger :we can get a child to truly accept Christ, and then can begin the Christian training, the more beautiful will be the product of our work. 3. Because the children make the best workers. I have seen this to be a fact around the world. Wihen a child is con verted, I take it for granted that that child is going to go to work at once. When a man or a woman is converted, I don’t know whether he or she will go to work or not. A little girl of eleven was converted in bur first mission in Liverpool. If I remem ber correctly, she was the daughter of a saloon keeper. When we went to Liverpool the next year for our second mission, the vicar of one of the churches wrote me saying, “W e have in our parish a little girl [Continued on Page 227]
dreds of children were converted at that time, and the children who were converted then are the pillars in the church today.” That comment, o f course, changed my opin ion of these children’s meetings. Among the best workers in England today are men and women who were converted thirty-five years or so ago as children when D. L. Moody was holding meetings in England. If the men and women who were converted as children under D. L. Moody were taken out of the churches of England today, the back bone of the Christian work in England would be broken. I knew of a little child of four years of age whose father and mother were infidels. Her grandfather and grandmother were infidels, and all ,her uncles and aunts were infidels, but that child accepted Christ at four years of age, and all the infidel in fluence of her family could not shake her faith. She lived four beautiful, earnest Christian years, and then God took her home to Himself. There are many who say that children ought to be left to grow up “ unbiased” until twenty years old, when they are old enough to decide for themselves whether they wish to be Christians or not. This idea may be considered wise, but it is the
II. Children Can Be Genuinely Con verted and Born Again. There are many who do not believe this. When they see children come to the front of the church to confess Christ in evangel istic meetings, they say these children do not know what they are doing. Doubtless in some instances they do not, but in many instances they do, in far more instances than most of us believe. In 1883 I went into Newman Hall’s church in London. In the after meeting a gentleman came up to me and asked me whether I was a stranger. I replied that I was, and that I was from America. Then he asked me whether I knew E. P. Ham mond. I replied that I did, and I felt like adding that I did not think very much of him ; for between my middle and. senior year in the seminary I had gone into two of Hammond’s children’s meetings, and when I saw his antics I was disgusted with the whole business, and thought the chil dren did not know what they were doing. In a minute or two I was glad I had not expressed my opinion to this English gen tleman, for he said, “When E. P. Hammond was in Christ Church fifteen years ago and had meetings for the children, hun-
LETTER TO DADDY Unconsciously demonstrating that a child who is “ born again” will grow in love for the Lord Jesus Christ and will seek to win others for Him, Arline, who is eleven years old, sends letters to her father that are sparkling with childlike affection. Because Arline’s father is required for business reasons to be away from his Chicago home for many months at a time, Arline writes long letters “ to cheer him up,” as she explains. In the letter which follows, Arline did not mention the “Daily Vacation Bible School” which she herself conducted last summer in the family’s back yard after the weeks of children’s work in the church had concluded. Every day, from six to ten children came at her urgent invitation, rehearsed, under her direction, the songs and Scripture portions that had been taught them, and had a “ Bible story.” This news, like the lines which follow, was rich in “ cheer” for the heart of a Christian father: Dearest Daddy: I am so sorry about your business out there, and sure feel sorry that no money is coming in. In that predicament we have only one way out, and| that is to pray to Jesus. He will guide you, Daddy dear, and He will also bring money in for you. Don’t get worried about any single thing for all you have to do is TO KEEP LOOKING UP. Isn’t that right? Yes, IT IS, for I know that it is. Dearest Daddy, you know I joined Mrs. Peterson’ s Bible class. Well, it is every Monday. Last Monday I took little Herbie G——■— with me. Betty couldn’t come so I took little Herbie with me. We sang many nice songs like “ Jesus Loves Me,” “ The B-I-B-L-E,” and “ Trust and Obey.” Then Mrs. Peterson asked us for our testimonies. I raised my hand and said that I would give my testimony. I said that I was once a little sinner, but Daddy and Mother told me about Jesus and He came into my heart and I was so happy He was in my heart. Jesus is so wonderful! And I said that I be lieved that He died on the cross to save me from sin. Well, Daddy dearest, Herbie did not understand the story, so I told him a little story. Would you like me to tell you it? OK, I will. The name is “ Stories of Jesus.” I made it up. Well, I told him how Jesus died on the cross to save us from sin, and that He arose Easter morning. I told him he should be saved. I told him how Jesus will come through the air and take all the people that are saved up to heaven. 1 told him that they had gold streets up in heaven, and Daddy dear, best of all, he kept on asking me to tell him more, and I TOLD HIM HOW TO BE SAVED and I know he loves Jesus now. I will have to close, but God bless you. Keep looking up. I will pray for you. Lovingly, ARLINE.
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