Adoniram Judson to His Children

At Historia ecclesiastica Evan Burns has posted a letter Adoniram Judson (1788-1850; missionary to Burma) wrote to his sons. This is a powerful letter from a believing father yearning for the salvation of his children. Here is an excerpt. May it move us in sharing the gospel with and praying for our own children.

Go on, my dear boys, and not rest until you have made your calling and election sure.  I believe that you both and Abby Ann will become true Christians, and meet me in heaven; for I never pray without praying for your conversion, and I think I pray in faith.  Go to school, attend to your studies, be good scholars, try to get a good education; but, O, heaven is all.  Life, life, eternal life!  Without this, without an interest in the Lord of life, you are lost, lost forever.  Dear Adoniram, give your heart at once to the Saviour.  …

Dear sons, so soon as you have a good hope in Christ that your sins are pardoned, and that Christ loves you, urge your pastor and the church to baptize and receive you into communion.  They will hold back, thinking you are too young, and must give more evidence.  But don’t be discouraged.  Push on.  Determine to do it.  Determine to stand by Christ, come what will.  That is the way to get to heaven

Luther, "The Noblest & Most Precious Work on Earth"

“The best thing in married life, for the sake of which everything ought to be suffered and done is the fact that God gives children and commands us to bring them up to serve Him. To do this is the noblest and most precious work on earth, because nothing may be done which pleases God more than the saving of souls. If the need were to arise, all of us should be ready to die in order to bring a soul to God. So you see how rich in good works the estate of marriage is. God lays souls into the lap of married people, souls begotten from their own body, on which they may practice all Christian works. For when they teach their children the Gospel, parents are certainly their apostles, bishops, and ministers.”[1]

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[1] What Luther Says: A Practical In-Home Anthology for the Active Christian, compiled by E. Plass, 2836.

Horton on Home & Church

I just came across this quote posted by my friend Justin Wainscott. I thought it followed well my post on the importance of stories. We parents must orient our lives and families so as to show our children that God’s story is the central realities of our lives thus showing them the way to follow.

Christian
homes and churches are the only institutions in which our children will learn to find themselves in God's story. When they are united more by the trends of pop culture than by the faith and practice of the whole church in all times and places, our youth become victims of our sloth. We should not be surprised that over half of those reared in evangelical homes and churches today do not join or even attend a church regularly when they go off to college. If we are going to see our children grow up into Christ instead of abandoning the church, our
spiritual life at home and in the church must incorporate them into the teaching and fellowship of the apostolic faith. They can find "ministry opportunities" through United Way, the Peace Corps, or Habitat for Humanity. They can find friends at the fraternity or sorority. They can find intellectual stimulation in class. And they can find a sense of meaning and purpose in their vocations. If their home churches exchanged the ministry of preaching and teaching the apostles' doctrine for a variety of ministries and activities that they could find legitimate versions of in the world, then it is difficult to come up with a reasonable answer when they ask, "Why do I need the church?"

--Michael Horton, The Gospel-Driven Life: Being Good News People in a Bad News World

The Duke's Daughter

The Duke’s Daughter: A Story of Faith and Love,
By Lachlan Mackenzie
Illustrated by Jeff Anderson
(Christian Focus, 2008), hb., 24 pp.
Ages 3-6

This is another book in the same volume as Spurgeon’s Queen Victoria’s Request. Mackenzie was a colorful Scottish preacher in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. However, this book is not up to the same standard as the Spurgeon one.

In this story a duke has a beautiful daughter, and he expects many men to indicate interest in marrying her at an upcoming celebration. However, before any of the young men arrive a beggar pushes himself forward and asks for her hand in marriage. To the amazement of all she accepts and is to be married the following year on the same day. Many, including her father try to get her to change her mind, not understanding what she saw in this beggar. On the appointed day a handsome prince arrives to marry her and everyone realizes- what the young woman had discerned- that the beggar was the prince in disguise.

The gospel point is not real apparent. I assume we are supposed to see that people will not understand what we see in Jesus. However, this sounds too much like what I call the “poor Jesus” approach to evangelism- “Why won’t you just give him a chance?”

I would recommend you purchase the Spurgeon story and skip this one.

Queen Victoria's Request

Queen Victoria’s Request: A Story of Grace and Mercy,
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Illustrated by Jeff Anderson
(Christian Focus, 2008), hb., 24 pp.
Ages 3-6

This is a nicely illustrated, engaging story that illustrates the gospel well. Spurgeon in his characteristic way tells a down to earth story of an “old ragged, dirty beggar” who receives a summons from Queen Victoria to come to her palace right away just as he is. He is told that he will stay away at his own peril. People scoff at such an idea and the beggar struggles with thinking that he is not really desired to come or that he should clean himself up first. In the end he trusts the message to mean exactly what it says and he acts on its command. To the amazement of others he is accepted by the Queen and made one of the princes of the court.

The point is clear- the call of the gospel is beyond belief but we must simply take God at His word and act on his call. Furthermore the gospel is not just an invitation. It is a summons, a command. It is not just an offer. God has commanded that we come to Christ and any who refuse to so at their own peril.

This is a good parable for all, and accessible to children. My eight year old read it to my six year old today.

It would have nice to have some sort of preface providing some information about how this story originally came into being. This is a nice book, though, and useful for helping children understand the gospel.

Evangelizing our Children

The Baptist & Reflector, the TN Baptist paper, last week ran a brief article I wrote on presenting the gospel to our children. The article grew out of an earlier post here on John Brown’s book of questions and answers on the Westminster catechism. The article does not say anything all that earth shattering. I simply wanted to show people the forthrightness which used to characterize the way believers explained the gospel to their children. Brown is so clear in presenting the desperate plight of lost humanity and just as clear in presenting the glories of the gospel. May we do the same with our own children.

John Brown on Catechizing and Evangelizing Children

Questions & Answers on the Shorter Catechism, John Brown of Haddington
(Reformation Heritage Books; pb., 356 pp.)

John Brown of Haddington (1722-1787) was a giant in the land. I first read of him in A. T. Robertson’s grammar where Robertson recounts the amazing story of Brown teaching himself Greek as a young man. Some years later I picked up a reprint copy of his Systematic Theology. I have just recently been perusing this new reprint form Brown, in which he walks straight through the Shorter Catechism raising and answering various questions arising from each catechism question. This reads essentially like his notes from teaching catechism classes to children. As such it is a helpful guide for using the catechism with your children (and others!) today.

His “Address to Young Readers” which opens the book is well worth reading itself for its earnestness and directness as he appeals to children for the salvation of their souls. There is no banter here. He reminds them that they possess

“immortal souls, worth inconceivably more than ten thousand worlds; souls that are capable of enjoying an infinite God as their everlasting All in All; souls which must and shall, before long, enter into an eternal state of either inconceivable misery or happiness.”

He reminds them of their state in sin before God.

“Having no holiness, you have no hope and are ‘without God in the world.’ Being children of the devil, your heart is filled with all unrighteousness, pride, deceit, malice, and hatred of God.”

He elaborates this point for almost a whole page quoting scripture after scripture driving home in no uncertain terms that they are alienated from God, culminating in this:

“eternal destruction is ready at your side. God is angry with you every day; His wrath rests on you; His sword is drawn and His arrows are set to destroy you. The sound of your approaching condemnation roars loudly at every warning of His word, if only you had ears to hear it. Even while you read this, hell stands open to receive you, and devils stand ready to drag you into everlasting fire.”

Brown does not end with the warnings of Sinai, however. Having clearly made the point of our desperate condition, he turns to the remedy of the gospel (much like Paul’s pattern in Rom 1-3) pleading in glowing terms from the children to repent and believe.

The call to faith makes much of what their parents have found to be true of God.

“My dear young people, know the God of your fathers …. We parents tell you, our children, that this God is our God, forever, and that He ‘will be our guide even unto death.’ We never found him a barren wilderness or a land of drought. We have found infinitely more satisfaction in this God, given to us in His Word, than could balance all the pleasures, all the wealth, all the honor of ten thousand worlds. … There is none like the God of Jeshurun, who pardons iniquity, transgression and sin, and who delights in mercy. … If wisdom’s ways are so pleasant even on this sinful earth, what will it be like to enter the joy of our Lord forever! … ‘Come, taste and see that our God is good.’

Isn’t this how Christian parents should address their children? Of course our wording may be different, but these truths with this passion must be communicated. We need to be able to present to our children that we have in our own experience found God to be faithful. They need to see in us people who find their delight in God.

This is a helpful book in various ways. It is worth buying simply to read this opening address and to be challenged by it in speaking the gospel to our own children.