THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL IN ITS RELATION TO
THE BAPTIZED CHILDREN OF CHRISTIAN PARENTS.
We have tried to set forth the Lutheran idea of a Christian home.
In such a home, called, "_a Church in the House_," all ought to
be Christians. The children having been given and consecrated to
Christ in holy baptism, and having had His renewing and life-giving
Grace imparted to them through that Sacrament, are to be kept in that
relationship with Him.
The popular idea that they must of necessity, during the most
impressible and important period of their existence, belong to the
world, the flesh and the devil, is utterly foreign to the Lutheran, or
Scriptural view. That the child is fated, for a number of years, to be
under the influence of evil, and to be permitted to "sow wild oats"
before divine Grace can reach it, is certainly a principle that is
contradictory to the whole scheme of salvation. Yet this seems to be
the idea of those parents who will not believe that God can reach and
change the nature of a child, and bring it out of the state of nature
into the state of Grace, and keep it in that Grace. These people treat
their children much as a farmer does his colts, letting them run wild
for a while, and then violently breaking them in.
This pernicious idea has also obtained sway to an alarming extent
in the Sunday-school system of our land. The children in the
Sunday-school, whether baptized or not, whether from Christian or
Christless homes, are looked upon as outsiders, impenitent sinners,
utter strangers to Christ and His Grace, until they experience such a
marked change that they can tell exactly where and when and how they
were converted. Hence the popular idea that it is the object of the
Sunday-school to _convert_ the children. This seems to be the
underlying principle of both the American Sunday-school Union and
American Tract Society; institutions otherwise so excellent that we
are loth to say aught against either. This idea pervades also the
undenominational helps and comments of the International Lesson
System. This is the undertone of the great mass of undenominational
Sunday-school hymnology. It is the key-note of the County, State,
National and International Sunday-school Conventions and Institutes.
So popular and wide-spread is this idea that many Lutheran pastors,
Sunday-school teachers and workers have unconsciously imbibed it. Even
our Church papers, professing to be strictly confessional, often
publish articles setting forth the idea that it is the object of the
Sunday-school to _Christianize_ the children. As though the baptized
children of the Church, the children of devout Christian parents, had
been heathen, until Christianized by the Sunday-school! Many of our
Sunday-school constitutions also set it down as the object of the
school to "lead the children to Christ," or to "labor for their
conversion."
Now we believe that this idea is un-Scriptural and therefore
un-Lutheran. If what we have written in the preceding chapters on
baptismal Grace, the baptismal covenant, and the possibility of
keeping that covenant, is true, then this popular idea, set forth
above, is false. And _vice versa_, if this popular view is
correct, then the whole Lutheran system of baptism, baptismal Grace,
and the baptismal covenant, falls to the ground.
But notwithstanding the immense array of opposition, we still
believe that the Lutheran doctrine is nothing else than the pure
teaching of God's word. Where we have the "_Church in the House_,"
there we have lambs of Christ's flock. Ah, how many more we could
have, how many more we would have, if the fathers and mothers in the
Church understood this precious article of our faith, and prayerfully
built their home life thereon! Then would there be a more regular and
healthful growth of the Church, and the necessity for fitful,
spasmodic revival efforts would cease. But we digress.
From our Christian homes the baptized children of the Church come
to the Sunday-school. How is the school to treat them?--We speak now
of the baptized children from Christian homes; we will speak of the
unbaptized and untrained further on.
These children, with all their childish waywardness and
restlessness, do generally love Jesus. They do trust in Him, and are
unhappy when they know they have committed a sin against Him. They do,
when taught, pray to Him, believe that He hears their prayers and
loves them. Shall the teacher now begin to impress upon the minds and
hearts of these little ones the idea that they are not yet Christ's,
and that Christ has nothing to do with them, except to seek and call
them, until they are converted? And shall they go home from
Sunday-school with the impression that all their prayers have been
empty and useless, because their hearts have not been changed? Dare
the Sunday-school thus confuse the child, raise doubts as to Christ's
forgiveness and love, and "_quench the Spirit_?" Oh how sad, that
thus thousands of children have their first love, their first trust,
quenched by those who have more zeal than knowledge!
No, no, these are Christ's lambs. They come with His marks upon
them. Let the Sunday-school teacher work in harmony with the mother
who gave these children to Christ. Let the whole atmosphere of the
school impress on that child the precious truth that it is Jesus'
little lamb. _Feed_ that lamb, feed it with _the sincere milk
of the Word_. Lead that lamb gently; teach it to understand its
relation to the Great Shepherd, to know Him, to rejoice in His love,
to love His voice, to follow His leadings more and more closely.
Instead of singing doubtfully and dolefully:
"I am young, but I must die,
In my grave I soon shall lie.
Am I ready now to go,
If the will of God be so?"
or,
"Child of sin and sorrow
Filled with dismay,
Wait not for to-morrow;
Yield thee to-day:" etc.
or,
"Depth of mercy, can there be
Mercy still reserved for me?" etc.
or,
"Hasten, sinner, to be wise,
Stay not for to-morrow's sun," etc
or,
"I can but perish if I go,
I am resolved to try,
For, if I stay away, I know
I shall forever die."
or,
"When saints gather round Thee, dear Saviour above,
And hasten to crown Thee with jewels of love,
Amid those bright mansions of glory so fair--
Oh, tell me, dear Saviour, if I shall be there!"
Some of these sentiments are unscriptural. Some may do for
penitent prodigals. But all are out of place on the lips of baptized
children of the Church. Let such rather joyfully sing:
"I am Jesus' little lamb,
Therefore glad and gay I am;
Jesus loves me, Jesus knows me,
All that's good and fair He shows me,
Tends me every day the same,
Even calls me by my name,"
and such other cheerful and healthy hymns as breathe the spirit
of the Church of the Reformation.
This we believe to be the object of our Sunday-schools, as far as
the baptized children of Christian parents are concerned. They are to
be _helps_, to keep the children true to their baptismal
covenant, and to enable them to grow strong and stronger against sin
and in holiness. Jesus did not tell Peter to _convert_, but
_feed_ His lambs.
From these considerations we see how important it is for Lutheran
Sunday-schools to have teachers who "_know of the doctrine, whether
it be true_;" who are "_rooted and grounded in the faith_;"
who are "_ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh
them a reason of the hope that is in them_;" who are "_apt to
teach_."
A teacher who does not understand and appreciate the Lutheran
doctrine of baptism is out of place in a Lutheran Sunday-school. It is
certainly not desirable to have the child instructed at home that it
was given to Christ in baptism, received and owned by Him and belongs
to Him, and then have the Sunday-school teacher teach it that until it
experiences some remarkable change, which the teacher cannot at all
explain, it belongs not to Christ, but to the unconverted world. The
teaching of the pulpit, the catechetical class, the home and the
Sunday-school, ought certainly to be in perfect harmony--especially so
on the vital point of the personal relation of the child to the
Saviour and His salvation. To have clashing and contradictory
instruction is a sure way to sow the seeds of doubt and skepticism.
We must have sound instruction and influence in the
Sunday-school, and to this end we must have sound and clear helps and
equipments for teacher and pupil. The worship of the school, the
singing, the opening and closing exercises, must all be in harmony
with this great fundamental idea of feeding those who are already
Christ's lambs.