AP

Puritan Sermons and Children

The 17^th century Puritans were used to serious hard-hitting sermons. But Richard Mather’s sermon preached in 1658 must have shaken even them. Mather imagined what ungodly, unsaved children would say to their unfaithful parents on the Day of Judgment. Mather thought they might say: “All this that we here suffer is through you. You should have taught us the things of God, and did not. You should have restrained us from sin and corrected us, and you did not. You were the means of our original corruption and guiltiness, and yet you never showed any competent care that we might be delivered from it. Woe unto us that we had such carnal and careless parents; and woe unto you that had no more compassion and pity to prevent the everlasting misery of your own children.”

Mather was not alone in such sentiments. Richard Baxter spoke equally forcefully on the subject though he took a different angle to Mather. Baxter wrote: “Will you in no greater ways show your love to your children, than every beast or bird will to their young? It is not dogs or beasts that you bring into the world, but children who have immortal souls………They also have an endless misery to escape, and it is that which you must diligently teach them to avoid. If you do not teach them to escape the flames of hell, what thanks do they owe you for teaching them how to get by in this life? If you do not teach them the way to heaven, and how they may be sure of their salvation, what thanks do they owe you for teaching them how to make their livings a little while in a miserable world? If you do not teach them to know God, and how to serve Him and be saved, you teach them nothing, or worse than nothing. It is in your hands to do them the greatest kindness, or the greatest cruelty, in all the world. Help them to know God and be saved, and you do more for them than if you helped them to be kings or princes.”

These are sombre thoughts and should awaken Christian parents to do their utmost to tell their children the Gospel message. We should not be distracted into thinking that Mather and Baxter were extremists. Until recently, before the evangelical church lost the art of family worship, the sheer fact that there was a Day of Judgment motivated many a parent, pastor and church to serious evangelism among the children and youth in the family and church. Few parents look 100 years or more into the future – they have been lulled and dulled by Satan and the world into thinking of the here and now.

The realisation that our children will face the judgment of God caused many a Bible-believing parent to spend hours in teaching the Gospel and  in making intercession for their children to be awakened to the Gospel message. Consider a prayer that Charles Spurgeon overheard once coming from his godly mother “Now, Lord, if my children go on in their sins, it will not be from ignorance that they perish, and my soul must bear a swift witness against them at the day of judgment if they lay not hold of Christ.” 

Sadly, very few Christian parents imagine the spiritual fate of their physical children. Too many Christian parents today are duped into thinking that academic, sport and musical achievements are of far more importance than what will be their child’s spiritual condition on judgment day. Many parents invest endless energy, time and money to enable their children to be admitted into good schools or begin a good career, but little energy or time into pointing their children to Christ. Many Christian parents will skip church so that their child can participate in sport competitions. Too many Christian parents are concerned more with their children’s academic records than with helping them to be sure their names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Why do we invest so much time and money into ensuring they get a good career for 30 or 40 years but spend precious little time in teaching them of eternity? We have been lulled into a fatal spiritual stupor from Satan.

I once preached on this topic and some parents were discouraged and concerned that their children had not yet become Christians. If this is you, consider these wise words from E. M. Bounds: “God shapes the world by prayer. Prayers are deathless. The lips that uttered them may be closed in death, the heart that felt them may have ceased to beat, but the prayers live before God, and God’s heart is set on them and prayers outlive the lives of those who uttered them; they outlive a generation, outlive an age, outlive a world.” Pray on then for your child’s salvation. You may die but your prayers will outlive you.

J. C. Ryle tells the interesting and encouraging story of what happened to the godless and indifferent son of the 18^th century evangelist William Grimshaw. Grimshaw was near death and his son was not converted, and seemingly careless and indifferent to the gospel message that his father faithfully preached. On his death bed William warned his son “Be careful what you do because you are not ready to die”. Clearly these words haunted the young Grimshaw and within a few years he found pardon with Christ and repented of his sins. When he came to his own death bed some years later some of his last words “What will my father say to find me in Heaven”. Is your child yet unconverted? Careless and indifferent? Pray on. Teach. Instruct. And live a life of godliness before them.

– Troy Appleton