Luke 2:27

Brought in the Child Jesus

Dedicating children to the Lord

When the Duke of Kent was dying, he desired that the little princess Victoria should be placed beside him, and then he offered a very affecting prayer that “if ever she became the Queen of England, she might rule in the fear of God.

” How many of our noble Queen’s virtues and good deeds have resulted doubtless from her godly training I In my first Circuit I knew the excellent family of the late eminent Rev. Benjamin Field. At his birth his very godly father solemnly dedicated him to God. He began to preach in his seventeenth year, and by his ministry and by his very good “Handbook to Scripture Doctrines,” he has been useful to thousands. Holy children generally live to be “great in the sight of the Lord,” and, if faithful, with God’s blessings, eminently useful. (H. R. Burton.)

Singleness of aim

Parents should have one single object before them regarding their children, and that is, to bring them up for the Lord. To that everything else should give way. The natural tendency is to bring them up very genteelly, very respectably, to educate them for some station where they can make a great deal of money. This is the natural tendency on the part of parents. Well, they may obtain the desire of their hearts, but to the injury of the souls of their children. How I would press this on the hearts of my brethren! Of course I do not at all mean they should not have the best of education, and such an education as will be suitable to their station in life. But everything should give way to this point: my son, my daughter, are to be brought up for the Lord. My son, my daughter, are to become heirs of the kingdom that fadeth not away. Everything ought to give way to this one point. If we do not keep this before us, we shall constantly take wrong steps. Let me give an illustration. A Christian gentleman of good position in life articled his son to a very wicked lawyer, notoriously wicked. This son used to come home on the Saturday afternoons to spend the Lord’s day with his family. There he attended family prayers. He used to say strong things about his father’s petitions, such as, “My father prays for me that God would preserve me in the midst of temptation; he puts me in the lion’s mouth, and then asks God to preserve me!” (George Muller.)