THE CITADEL OF PIETY
[p. 226] THE CITADEL OF PIETY
Our children are to grow up under divine teaching and impressions. It is a deep exercise to read in Judges 2: 10, “And also all that generation were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them, which knew not Jehovah, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel”. What an exposure of the conditions of Israel! What an uncovering of household secrets! Where had been the teaching of the children? Where the all-pervading influence of Deuteronomy 11: 18 - 20? which says, “And ye shall lay up these my words in your heart ... and ye shall teach them unto your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thy house ... and write them upon the posts of thy house, and upon thy gates”.
Alas! it had not been there. Some may say, ‘But we bring our children to the gatherings of God’s people; they will learn and be impressed there’. Neither such gatherings nor any other instruction can take the place of divine impressions in the home. What goes on in these gatherings will not have moral power if it is not supported in the households of the saints. Children may forget what they hear on such occasions but can the oldest man ever forget the impressions made upon him by the home piety of his parents? It is because of such hallowed influences being passed on “that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which Jehovah swore unto your fathers to give them”.
The fact that the next generation did not know Jehovah, nor His works, is solemn evidence that the public weakness and departure which so soon manifested itself in Israel had its origin in individual heart and soul departure, and in the households of God’s people ceasing to be what they were meant to be — the very citadel of piety.