THE CHILD AND THE BOOK
‘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.’
This verse gives us the picture of the education of a child in a devout Jewish family. Timothy, whom St. Paul is addressing, is described in Acts 16 as the son of a certain woman who was a Jewess and believed, and in the first chapter of this Epistle he gives us the character of his mother and of his grandmother. ‘I call to remembrance,’ he said, ‘the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in that grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice.’
I. This unfeigned faith was the Jewish faith.—Timothy’s mother Eunice was converted to Christianity through St. Paul. What we see then, when St. Paul speaks of Timothy having known the Holy Scriptures from a child, is an example of the custom which prevailed in the Jewish people of diligently instructing their children in their faith, and in the Holy Scriptures which enshrined that faith. It is stated, in fact, in the principal modern authority respecting Jewish life—the Jewish Encyclopædia—that the religious and moral training of the people from childhood was regarded by the Jews, from the very beginning of their history, as one of the principal objects of life. Of Abraham we read in Genesis 18 that the Lord said, ‘I have known him, or chosen him, to the end that he may command his children,’ etc. All the festivals and ceremonies of the Jewish law are described as having for one of their objects the instruction of children in the history of the Jewish people, and of God’s dealing with them. As one of the Psalms says, ‘He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children.’ So again in Deuteronomy we read, ‘These words, which I command you this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children.’
II. This was the Jewish ideal of education, which has been maintained among the Jews, in principle, from the times of Abraham and Moses down to the present day. According to the will and law of God, the first duty of fathers and mothers is to impress upon the minds of their children, in every possible way, a knowledge of what God has done for their fathers in old time, and consequently a love of God and a trust in God.
III. St. Paul shows that he regards this as an example to be followed by Christian fathers and mothers; and elsewhere he speaks of training and ruling children as one of the chief duties of Christian parents. This, then, is an essential duty of Christian parents from which nothing can excuse them. Above and before anything else, they must see that their children are trained in the knowledge and the love of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Dean Wace.
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‘Anybody who has had anything to do with the education of children will know very well why Moses insisted on such incessant inculcation, and upon continual repetition of truths. First of all, the way in which children are taught all other subjects is by incessant repetition and incessant explanation, not by merely a lesson or two, once for all. But besides that, the truths of the Scriptures, and the truths of the Catechism, which are taken out of the Scriptures, may to some extent be learnt by rote, but they need incessant meditation and explanation and application, if they are to be duly understood, and if they are to be made part of a child’s, or even of a man’s, heart and life. Dr. Martin Luther, who wrote two beautiful catechisms for German people, which they still call their lay Bible, says of himself in the Preface to one of them: “This I say for myself; I also am a doctor and a preacher, as learned and experienced as any who make light of catechisms, and yet I am still like a child that is taught the Catechism, and I read it and repeat it word for word each morning, and when I have time, the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Psalms; and I must still read and study daily, and cannot excel as I should like to; and I must ever remain a child and pupil of the Catechism, and am right willing to remain so.” That is what inspired and wise men, from the days of Abraham and Moses down to the times of Martin Luther, and of our English Reformers who wrote the Church Catechism, thought the right way, and the only effectual way, to bring children up in the true knowledge of their God and their Saviour, and under the blessed influences of that love and that truth.’
(SECOND OUTLINE)
A GUIDE-BOOK FOR ETERNITY*
I. What is in this guide-book?—The Scriptures are the Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament Scriptures are composed of thirty-nine little books, and the New Testament Scriptures are a collection of twenty-seven books, written at different times, in different places, for different purposes, and by many holy men. But in young Timothy’s time there was no New Testament. The Old Testament, containing the writings of prophets, psalmists, sages, and kings, was Timothy’s guide-book, for he was, partly by birth and wholly by education, a Jewish boy. How precious is this Old Book! It is a casket of jewels, a mine of wisdom, a garden of delights, a treasury of knowledge.
II. St. Paul’s description of this guide-book.—He calls the Scriptures ‘holy.’
(a) Holy, because their source is Divine. By source, we mean spring or fountain-head. The source of a great river is the little crystal well bubbling among the lush green moss that grows in the solitudes of some mighty mountain.
(b) Holy, because they are sanctifying in their influence. Holy means healthy; and a holy man is just one who is morally sound, pure in heart and in life, like ‘the Holy One of Israel.’
III. The design of this guide-book.—When we speak of the design of the Old Testament Scriptures, we speak of what they are planned for; and St. Paul tells us they are designed ‘to make us wise unto salvation.’ Nearly all other books are intended to make us wise about the world. The Old Testament is like a lighthouse. The Holy Scriptures shine like kindly lights in the gloom of a sinful and despairing world. They shine and show the voyagers on life’s dark, wandering sea the way of life and peace. They point to the harbour of refuge. To the pious Jew the Old Testament was ‘able to make wise unto salvation’ because it directed his eye of faith to the coming Saviour. Grasping Christ while looking forward he was saved, just as we are saved while glancing backward.
Illustration
‘Shortly after Sir Walter Scott returned from Italy, weary and worn and sad, he asked a friend to draw him into his library at Abbotsford, and place him near the window, that he might look on the silvery Tweed running by. Gazing on the shining river, he turned to his son-in-law, and begged him to read. “From what book shall I read?” said Lockhart. “Can you ask?” said Scott; “there is but one.” Then Lockhart read the fourteenth chapter of St. John’s Gospel, which has gladdened so many weary hearts; and when he had done Sir Walter said, “Well, this is a great comfort. I have followed you distinctly, and I feel as if I were to be myself again.” ’