'Do you see yonder wicket Gate?' Evangelist pointing Christian in Bunyan's Pilgrims Progress to the way of salvation Teach the Young
The Pastor's Letter - W.J. Seaton

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My Dear Brethren,

A few weeks ago I was reading one of Charles Haddon Spurgeon's sermons which was introduced by these words. "Six years ago today, as near as possible at this very hour of the day, I was in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity – seeking rest, and finding none, I stepped within this house of God, and sat there, afraid to look upward, lest I should be utterly cut off, and lest His fierce wrath should consume me. The minister rose in his pulpit, and as I have done this morning, read this text: "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God and there is none else". I looked at that moment; the grace of faith was vouchsafed to me in the selfsame instant; and now I think I can say with truth -
"E'er since by faith I saw the stream
His flowing wounds supply;
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die."

"I shall never forget that day while memory holds its place".

"Oh, yes", you say," Spurgeon is just giving us his testimony there!" Yes, he is. But listen to the opening words of it again; "Six years ago today", he begins; and it's that statement that makes the testimony of Spurgeon so outstanding. He is here preaching a sermon to mark the 6th anniversary of his conversion, but he is preaching this sermon from the pulpit of his SECOND charge as a minister of the gospel; and in the 2 YEARS that he has been in this Church his evening congregation has risen from 200 to 10,000!

The story of Charles Haddon Spurgeon is, of course, almost without parallel in the history of the Christian Church. He has been well called "The Prince of Preachers", and if all his writings were gathered together, it has been estimated that they would equal the "27 volumes of the 9th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica". But, are there any contributory causes to his greatness? On the human level, can we not trace some influence at work in the years before our God laid His hand upon him and filled him with His Spirit? I think we can; I want us to give serious thought to the influence for good which Christian instruction can have on the children that God has placed in our trust, either as parents, or as a Church of Christ our Saviour.

Imagine a scene like this. An old minister is standing at a street corner indulging in some pretty loose talk with a gang of hooligans well known for their blasphemy, which they were indulging in to the full. A young boy, just 6 years old, steps up to the clergyman, and without a tremor in his voice recites the words of the Lord in the old man's ear: "What doest thou here, Elijah?" This was Spurgeon; a very young Spurgeon! But, as you can see, already he was steeped in the Word of Truth that he was to wield so mightily in later years.

Spurgeon was reared up in a home where the Word of God was faithfully and truthfully taught, and I believe it's true to say this, that the greatest single contributory factor in the weak state of the Church today is the lack of "home instruction" that should be the heritage of every child of believing parents.

I have simply used Spurgeon as an outstanding example to illustrate the obvious. If we ground our children in the faith while they are still young, "that knowledge shall not depart from them". Professor McLeod of the Free Church College in a past day likened the whole process to a man with a water wheel. If there is a drought, the man doesn't let the wheel run to rust, but keeps it well oiled and maintained, so that when the rains finally come, the wheel is ready for action. This is a picture of our children. The Holy Spirit may not have entered their hearts as yet, but surely it is all wisdom as well as all duty to make them as ready as we possibly can for service once God sends the showers of His blessed salvation into their hearts. This was the case with Spurgeon, and may more of the giants of our faith.

Now two things arise from this. FIRST, Christian parent! The place for the education of your child in the things of Christ is not primarily the Sunday School; it is your own fireside. SECOND, the true work of the Sunday School, then, is not the instruction of believers' children, it is the instruction of unbelievers' children. The work of the Sunday School is Evangelistic.

Let us not try and shift the responsibility of instructing our own children in our own home on to the shoulders of the Sunday School (and then complain when it isn't done to our satisfaction); neither let us neglect our evangelistic responsibility to those young children who are being reared up in spiritual ignorance. One last question, has the time come for us to strike out in the work of Sunday School on a larger scale?

W.J. Seaton (September 1967)




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This Page Title – Teach the Young – Pastor's Letter (W.J. Seaton)
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