THE BIBLE CHRISTIAN MAGAZINE. THE SALVATION OF THE YOUNG. It is one of the most hopeful circumstances of the times that increased attention is bestowed upon the young. The breath of a new life is passing through the land. The nation has resolved that all its children shall be taught: the Church of Jesus Christ, with a higher purpose, and no less determination, desires that all its children shall be saved. The hearts of the fathers are turning to the children. It is a presage of the fulfilment of the promise-“ And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children." Our concern is, principally, for the salvation of the young. We sympathise with knowledge as a handmaid of religion, but we labour for the "one thing needful." It cannot be too distinctly affirmed that salvation is not synonymous with education. There may be religious education without religious life. There may be knowledge without salvation. Knowledge may even lead to destruction. The light may only intensify the shadow of death. "The letter killeth." It is the Spirit alone that giveth life. We aim, by the grace of God, to implant the quickening spirit. The salvation of the young is such a different proposition from that of the education of children that it requires to be fairly examined. Can the young be saved? Can they all be taught of the Lord? Such a question cannot be answered in the negative. APRIL, 1874. K "With God all things are possible." But, is the salvation of the young a proper object of our aims and hopes? Is youthful piety any other than blossom? Or, if only a blossom, is it not a Divine creation? Those forms of surpassing loveliness, are they not the workmanship of God's hands? Those pencillings of exquisite hue, are they not the tracery of His fingers? That fragrance which fills the air with sweetness, is it not the breath of His lips? They are as flowers which He has created for His glory. But will they endure? Like the convolvulus, before the sun has fairly risen, will they not droop and fall? And yet, if the blossoms fall, is not the fruit found to have set? If there are varying phases, is there not an abiding life? Is not youthful piety one of the most enduringas it is one of the loveliest-forms of religious life? These are questions that must be answered in the light of God's word. We require a foundation which cannot be removed. The recognition of children as members of the visible Church under both the old and new covenants implies their salvation. The inclusion of children in the terms of the promise is one of its most distinct features. When Abraham received a renewal of the covenant he received a particular promise on behalf of his seed. The Lord said to him, " And I will establish My covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee." Gen. xvii. 7. As a sign of the proper inclusion of children in the covenant, God enjoined the rite of circumcision, which became henceforth the condition of the covenant. At the inauguration of the Christian Church on the day of Pentecost Peter especially referred to the perpetuity of the promise in its relation to children. "Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the Holy Ghost," said He to his convicted hearers, "for the promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." Acts ii. 38, 39. This is most emphatic as to the privilege of children. They were entitled to the initiatory right of the old covenant, and were equally entitled to the initiatory rite of the new covenant. They were as much entitled to Christian baptism as to Jewish circumcision. They were as truly members of the spiritual kingdom as they were of its type and precursor-the earthly kingdom. For the promise unto the children was distinctly reaffirmed. Nor was this a promise unto the seed of Abraham according to the flesh only. It was recognised by Paul in writing to the Corinthians who were the seed of Abraham according to the faith. It was a promise which was faithful even to the children of even one believing parent. Hence he wrote, that "The unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy." 1. Corinthians vii. 14. The children were heirs of the promise which was made unto Abraham and to his seed. But if the children of believing parents, whether Jews or Gentiles, were members of the visible Church in common with their parents, on what ground could it have been except that they were capable of salvation? As infants they were partakers of salvation by grace without any personal condition; as they grew in years they were to retain the blessing through faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. The promise did not contemplate their taking the portion of goods that fell to them, and going into a far country, and wasting their substance with riotous living. The promise contemplated that the children of believing parents should grow up in the fear of God, and in fellowship with His people. The promise contemplated the salvation of the young. When it is rightly apprehended it will be faithfully fulfilled. The promise and the prophecy shall alike be justified-" All thy children shall be taught of the Lord." The estimate of children in the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ implies their salvation. Nowhere do we find such a boundless sympathy for childhood as in the life and doctrine of Him who was once the Babe of Bethlehem. It stands out in the boldest relief against the incredulity of the sophisticated manhood of the world. Christ's love for children is the sympathy of the Fatherhood of God. Its examples are among the sweetest passages in the gospel history. What a charming tenderness-what a lofty appreciation there is in the welcome that He gives to the little ones! When some Jewish women, with a motherly instinct, would press their children towards Jesus that He might put His hands upon them and pray, the disciples, forgetful, in their human unwisdom, that the promise was unto them and to their children, began to thrust them away; but Jesus bade them welcome, and, rebuking their elders, announced their dignity and importance. Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto Me," said the lips which had spoken the promise, "for of such is the kingdom of heaven." They were higher in that kingdom than the fathers. They were wiser than its rabbis, and better instructed than its scribes. They were to be the teachers of its profoundest lessons, and the patterns of its loftiest virtues. To them the apostles themselves were sent for instruction and guidance. As they strove for the highest seats in the kingdom of heaven, "Jesus called a little child unto Him, and set Him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever, therefore, shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." That childhood was akin to the childhood of Jesus. As Jesus had Himself, when a child, sat in the midst of the doctors, "hearing them, and asking them questions," so He placed a little child in the midst of the apostles, that, once again, it might be said, "A little child shall lead them." The relationship between the Saviour and a little child may be a living union. There is faithfulness on the part of the Saviour, because there is faith on the part of the child. This obligation of faithfulness is acknowledged by our Lord in most impressive language. "Whoso shall receive one such little one in My name," He added to the foregoing words, "receiveth Me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea." His care for these little ones is as His care for the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, for they are the greatest. The relationship and the preference had their profound reason in the mind of God. It was a part of the counsel of the divine Fatherhood. It was one of His wise and beneficent acts. "I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes," said He who spake in behalf of "Even so, Father, because it seemed good in Thy sight." In the hearts of children is the perfection of wisdom, and out of their lips the perfection of praise. "Can any refuse water, that these should not be baptised, which have received the Holy Ghost, as well as we ?" We have an authority which cannot be questioned; we have, also, an encouragement which cannot be surpassed. We have at once one of the highest, and one of the most pleasing of duties. It is a contrast to other experiences. The smallness of the success, as compared with the abundance of the labour, is a painful feature in the preaching of the gospel. After the King's servants have gone forth everywhere with the invitation to the marriage supper, even compelling men to come in, that the house might be filled, they have still had to complain, "Yet there is room." There be few that receive the message. Here, however, there is a field of promise. The little ones come at our bidding. A child's innocence is nigh unto salvation. He has the advantage of the sinner. That withering unhopefulness, which is the sinner's |