Part 28

First in order to a proper training of the young belongs instruction, and by that we mean religious instruction, education not of the mind only, but of the heart. We have no quarrel with education of the mind, the culture of our children in all the accomplishments and acquisitions of facts and sciences; on the contrary, we regard intellectual knowledge, to speak with King Solomon, as more precious than rubies and more to be chosen than fine gold; we hail with delight every facility and agency that would make our children just as bright as possible, and commend the spirit that makes our schools among the most elegant and conspicuous of public buildings. And yet, education of the mind alone will not do; we might point in evidence of that to the refined nations of antiquity. Is not ancient Greece with its music, painting, poetry, and the arts the model of modern states? And who has not heard and read of the Romans and the ancient Egyptians and Persians? Go to your public libraries and see the books on its shelves and the mutilated statues of Apollo, Juno, and the like that tell of their genius. Why did these nations not last? Why did the fabric of their grandeur crumble to pieces? Because it was not combined with the unperishable principle of virtue, and their want of virtue resulted from their want of religion.

Far more simple, however, is the consideration that man is not only mind, but soul, and that this soul is preeminently what makes the man, here and hereafter; that it is upon the attention given to that soul that man's happiness, or the reverse, depends. Hence, the importance and duty of educating the soul. And that duty--where does it begin? Most assuredly where God first put the children--that is the home. At as early a period as possible, as soon as the little ones begin to think and to reason, it is for us to bring them into uninterrupted contact with the sublime and simple truths of God's Word. You cannot begin too early. From veriest infancy let them breathe the air of a religious atmosphere. The names of God, Jesus, heavenly Father, words like heaven, angels, Bible, church, and others of this kind, let them be used over and over, constantly in the hearing of the child. At first they convey but little meaning to it. But the brain retains even what it at first does not understand, and day by day the impression deepens and the understanding grows. Moreover, parents cannot begin too early to teach the child to abhor sin. Mothers should give especial attention to their little daughters and train them in maidenly modesty and chastity, reticence and reserve. And this home education does not cease when the children at tender age are sent to the Sunday-school and the parochial school. What great things are expected from that short lesson on a Sunday morning! How unreasonable to look for results of any amount unless there be the cooperation of the parents with the teachers. How many parents cooperate with the Christian instructors? How often do parents inquire about the Catechism and Bible history lesson? sing with their children the religious songs taught? If parents fail to interest themselves in what is going on in this way, never speak to the little ones about their work, of what little value must this appear to the children. It needs the earnest and ardent cooperation of the parents. And so when it comes to confirmation. What is confirmation? A course of religious instruction by the pastor. My beloved, have you ever reflected what a most excellent appointment that is? What would our Lutheran Church be and do with it? Those few months spent in personal instruction with the pastor have been the most fruitful period of many a life, have laid a foundation, solid and impenetrable--and God prevent the day that parents would begrudge the hours devoted to that purpose, or regard the securing of a public school diploma higher than the Certificate of Confirmation. As the new term is about to open, let parents and sponsors carefully weigh this matter!--We train the children, in the first place, by religious instruction.

Again, it has been stated, by example. To bring up a child in the way it should go, you should go that way yourself. An ounce of example is better than a pound of precept. If children are to honor parents, parents ought to honor themselves and each other. If father and mother are rude to each other, no wonder if the example be soon followed. If father and mother are unpunctual in their hours, irreverent and vulgar in gesture and speech, it needs no sage to tell what the effect would be. Children need models more than criticism. Boys do not learn honesty and girls modesty so much from text-books--the parents are the best living encyclopedia of practical morality. What can one expect where the father is heard blaspheming his Creator, lives in debauchery, drowning his reason in liquor, spending his time and his earnings for purposes and in places unbecoming. How many a boy's soul has been poisoned by filthy talk heard from an adult's lips! An irreverent joke on some Bible story has well-nigh shattered the faith of many a lad!

And it will never improve the moral condition of the young where the mothers are "white" liars, practice deception upon their husbands, and indulge in eavesdropping and gossip and find their chief delight with the world, its amusements and pleasures. It well becomes us to examine ourselves and our homes in this respect.

Two things in particular have tended to break down the religious prestige of parents and to make our homes irreligious homes. The first is this: the lack of family worship and prayer. In many, aye, most cases the family altar has, to quote the language of another, "been carried to the woodshed, and there demolished for kindling." What multitude of homes are veritable boarding houses! Each member of the household comes, goes, eats, and sleeps at will. When you add to that the rush and push of modern business life, the spirit of the age, which regards religion lightly, the multiplied evening enjoyments, we have no time for family worship. But right there we are making an irreparable mistake--as foolish and worse than taking the roof off our house. Dear Christian parent, put that Bible back where it belongs; let never a day pass but a chapter is heard in your dwelling. Consider what I say, and the Lord grant you courage and blessing!

Parents who do not fear and love God and live according to His commandments, what reason have they to complain when their children, misled by them, fail to fear and love God and live according to His commandments?

So the second means of training up a child in the way he should go is by example.

The third is discipline. Foolishness is in the heart of a child. "The imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth," says the Bible, and this foolish and evil heart shows itself very early and ugly betimes, and then needs restraint. Children must be trained in the way they should go, also in this particular; namely, to control their passions, to master their self-will; to render obedience, respect, deference to parents and all elders. A child is in a very precarious condition if it has gained the impression that it is too much for papa and mamma, and that it cannot be made to mind, and that papa and mamma cannot do a thing with it. And if the parents unfailingly take the side of their children when something comes up between them and some other party, as the teachers and neighbors, they may be certain that they are making all around good-for-nothing children of them. Children should be compelled to curb themselves, and not allow ugly words to come over their lips, or to frown, and scowl, and get into a fit of anger whenever they receive an order, or are reprimanded.--And how are parents to overcome disrespect and insubordination of children? First of all, they must cease to coddle their children, and connive at their faults, or laugh at their rudeness and misbehavior.

Again, God, by the pen of Solomon, has set down a word in the Bible which needs mentioning to-day: "He that spareth the rod hateth his son; but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes." The rod indeed should be used with caution and good common sense, and only in extreme cases of disobedience and wickedness. Parents should be heedful in this respect. When a child does a trifling wrong, not out of malice, but out of mischief or thoughtlessness, parents must not resort to extreme severity. Parents should take the trouble to train their children, to talk to them, to explain what is right and wrong, to get the consent of their will, and persuade them to obey, and it is only after all patience and clemency has been exhausted and the child remains intractable that the rod will come in for its share of training. It is a well-known dictum of Luther, that the apple and the rod must go together, that is, love must be combined with justice, otherwise children feel abused, and become embittered.--But neither must we refrain from using the rod for the good of the child, nor can we begin too early.

And one thing more do we emphasize in this important matter of children's training: Keep your child out of bad company. Boys and girls are often allowed to run wild, early and late, with all kinds of companions, in all sorts of places, and this has marked the beginning of many a boy's and girl's downfall. You would not suffer your little ones in the company of children infected with some malignant disease. But some parents seem to dread such ailments more than the vicious and degrading influence of ill-trained children; they never inquire about the character of their children's playmates, about the nature of the games indulged in. On a Sunday morning parents will leave their children at home, feasting on the comic section of the Sunday paper, a flagrant exhibition of the criminal meanness and spitefulness of some bad boy. To pass by other things, the five-cent theaters, or nickelodeons, may present wholesome pictures at times, but enough has been said and written to convince us that the nature of the entertainment offered is in many cases, if not in the most, of a low and trivial order. It is certainly a training in the wrong direction if children can talk fluently about plays, actors, and actresses. Let a child taste that sort of opiate, and life elsewhere will seem dull and insipid, and the outcome far from the paths of righteousness and religion.

May God, according to the riches of His mercy, bless the words spoken so that they may arouse us parents to renewed endeavors, multiplied zeal, and irresistible enthusiasm in our duties over against our youth. To His great Parent heart and Parent care we commend them and us. Amen.

THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.--_Matt. 25, 40._

We Christians are sometimes at a loss whether to regard it as a matter of congratulation or as a matter of disdain when we hear people who otherwise repudiate our blessed Lord, who have no use for His teaching and His Church, quoting Him as an authority and a model. Thus there be those who say with great emphasis that Jesus Christ was a Socialist, yes, the first and real Socialist; He loved the common people and severely arraigned the rulers of His nation. Others, when they find it convenient, contend that Christ was no temperance man. Did He not perform a miracle, turning water into wine? While others contend that Christ was a great philanthropist; His purpose and mission was to make this world a better place to live in; wherefore He fed the hungry, healed the sick, and devoted Himself to the betterment of social conditions generally.

Whether our Lord was a Socialist, or not, that depends upon the definition, "What is a Socialist?" Unfortunately, there are as many different definitions of Socialism as there are individual Socialists; scarcely two are perfectly agreed. Suffice it to say that, in the popular acceptance of the word, Jesus of Nazareth was not a Socialist; and we do not feel greatly flattered to have Him so rated. The same is true when He is quoted as a non-temperance man, in the mouth of those whose use of wine and other intoxicants consists mostly in the abuse. And as to our Lord being a philanthropist, whose mission was the betterment of social conditions, this, while a favorite idea, is far from the whole truth. What does our Lord Himself say was His mission in this world?

He declares that He came "to seek and to save that which was lost." He says: "I am come that ye might have life, and that ye might have it more abundantly." What did He mean by "life"? Surely not the hand-breadth of time which we are living here and now. To Him man was more than a creature whose wants were only those of a stomach and its appurtenances. It is true, He did not minimize the present life. He relieved men of their distresses and healed their sicknesses; but that was quite subordinate to His greater work. The emphasis was always placed on their eternal interests. "The life," He said, "is more than meat and the body than raiment." His great question was, "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul?" What are health and comfort and wealth, and all earth's emoluments in comparison with the life hereafter? Christ's mission was to make it possible for men to attain to that high destiny; and this He did by sacrificing Himself and dying on the cross for them, in expiation of their sins, so that, whosoever would believe in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life. This, be it ever kept before us, was the purpose and mission of Christ. It is not true that the ministry of Christ had to do principally with the temporal welfare of men. To say so is to contradict His words and belittle His work. He did champion the poor; He did vindicate the rights of the working classes; He did insist on happy homes and just government and the betterment of society every way. But He came to be a Savior, He came to save the soul from the ravages and penalty of sin; and when people quote Him in favor of one thing only, and that the inferior part, and reject the other and the superior, it is only a half truth, and not to our Lord's credit. And as people judge in these matters concerning Christ, so concerning His Church. The Scripture-lesson of this Sunday, treating of this subject, tells us of the good Samaritan and his work of love.

Let us, for once, take for our topic of instruction: _I. The wrong view and attitude of the Church over against the works of benevolence. II. Which is the correct Bible teaching and practice?_ The Lord grant us understanding and wisdom!

There is no question that the expectation of the multitude regarding the churches has largely changed. Formerly the one and only thing which it was expected for the churches to do was to preach the Gospel, to minister to people's souls. Public opinion now is to the effect that the business of the Church is along the lines of social science and social service. There are churches to-day which have, accordingly, been practically transformed into hospitals, for the healing of nervous diseases, and there are Social Settlements, supported by Christian people, where baths and gymnasiums, play-rooms, lunch counters, musicales, moving pictures, and scientific lectures have free sway. "Not only with the unseen and eternal has the Church to do, but with the seen and temporal. Give a man a square meal, a good suit of clothes, better social conditions for him and his children, and you will have better success as to his soul. Let the churches preach that and practice that, and they will come up to their proper ideal and purpose." Beloved, as to what is the proper ideal and purpose of the Church, that is for Him to say who founded the Church; and what does He say? Of Himself He said, as we heard: "The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost," and to His disciples He said: "As the Father hath sent me," into the world, "so send I you," that is, to seek and to save those who were lost in sin. And this salvation is to be accomplished in what way? By social science and service? His direction is: "Go ye and preach the Gospel." That, be it noted, is _the_ purpose and mission of the Church. "Teach the Gospel," the tidings how man's soul may be saved from the guilt and power of sin through Jesus Christ, their Savior. That is the heaven-appointed sphere and commission, at home and abroad. The object of our missionaries in foreign lands is not to heal the sick and teach the heathen how to wear clothes, and cultivate the fields. To civilize is not yet to Christianize. Their duty is to preach the Gospel, and invite souls to Christ. They may have to do other things, such as translating the Scriptures, helping the poor, and treating their sick bodies, but always with one thing in mind, namely, the winning of souls to Christ as their Savior from sin. And so among us. Let us beware of putting that which is only subordinate, the improvement of material conditions, in the place of the higher purpose of the Church, the winning of souls. God's method, however men may be in love with their own, is always the best. Men's method is this: Give men better social conditions, improve their circumstances, and you will improve their souls. God's method is the reverse: First improve their souls, and you will improve their social condition. The Gospel does not aim directly at improving men's circumstances, it aims at improving men themselves. But no sooner does it bring about a moral improvement in men than they bring about a noticeable improvement in their surroundings.

Search the history of all Christian countries and communities, and see whether it is not so. Which are the richest and most prosperous and flourishing nations in our day? Countries like Germany, England, America, countries that have received most abundantly of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us beware, then, of having our attention and efforts directed from the main thing. Some of those social service features may serve a good purpose as far as they go, but only when they are in line with the great mission of the Church as the Lord gave it: the preaching of the Gospel. A few years ago, when Japan began to emerge from barbarism, the thoughtful people of that country were accustomed to say quite candidly that they wanted our Western civilization, but were not prepared to accept Christ with it, and this is the attitude of China just now. One of her great statesmen has said: "We purpose to keep the philosophy of Confucius, but we are ready to believe the religion of Christ for its fruits." This will not do. Neither Japan, China, nor any individual can borrow the clothes of religion and leave the vital thing out of it. This is precisely the tendency in these days. People would reject the Gospel, yet would take advantage of the blessed results which flow from it.

We learn, then, that the preaching of the Gospel is the first purpose of the Church of Christ; to that it must direct its main effort; therein lies its life and success, and all other undertakings must be subordinate and in harmony with that. In other words, the greatest charity, the noblest act of Good Samaritanism is that which aims at a person's soul, and that help can only be effected by the Gospel of Christ; that is the oil and the wine which the heavenly Samaritan has designed to be poured into the soul's wounds of sinful and dying man.--But this does not exclude that the Church should practice Good Samaritanism towards men's bodies. On the contrary, this is her Lord's direction. And the Church has ever done so, and is doing so, as a whole and in her individual members. This is our second consideration.

No duty is more constantly enjoined by the Scripture than that of contributing to the necessity of others. We think, for instance, of the Savior's words to the rich young ruler: "Sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven." The Christian congregation at Jerusalem had a treasury out of which distribution was made continually as any man had need. St. Paul tells of collections that were taken for brethren who were in distress because of the famine which prevailed throughout Judea. In the days of early Christianity we read of much almsgiving; beautiful instances are on record of believers who, constrained by the love of Christ, gave away large estates and gladly spent the rest of their days in poverty for their brethren's sake. Hospitals, institutions never before known, were erected by wealthy Christians, and the story of Laurentius is well known, who, when ordered by the Roman officials to produce the treasures which it was thought the Christians had in hiding, brought out the aged, the sick, and the crippled, and remarked, "These are our treasures." And the Church is not slack concerning works of benevolence now. Look at the chain of institutions of every kind that are maintained within the bounds of our Synod, by our congregations in this city. Whence comes the revenue for the support of our Orphanage, Altenheim, Hospital, City Mission? From the pockets of the hearts of those who attend the public worship of God. This past week there was laid to rest a man who, whatever may be our verdict concerning his work and the organization of which he was the founder and head, the Salvation Army,--Rev. Wm. Booth,--it cannot be denied that such a religious movement could only have sprung up on Christian soil, fostered by Christian principles of charity and beneficence.

And what pertains to the Church at large pertains to each of us individually. In the text the Lord Jesus, sitting in judgment upon each child of Adam, says: "What ye have done unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me." What words could be more pointed! How those few words tell us why and to whom we are to show beneficence. "Ye have done it unto Me,"--that infirm and aged one for whom you have provided a permanent and comfortable home, "ye have done it unto Me." Those "least of all my brethren,"--those orphaned children whom ye have sheltered in a Christian home or a suitable institution, "ye have done it unto Me." That coin and dollar which you have given unto worthy charity--to the man or woman, battling against life's odds and reverses,--"ye have done it unto Me."

Beloved, never let the springs of your Christian charity dry up because of ingratitude, sorry experiences; it was, after all, not that destitute one that you were dealing with, but Him.