I have no sympathy with the idea that our children have to grow up before they are converted. Once I saw a lady with three daughters at her side, and I stepped up to her and asked her if she was a Christian.
"Yes, sir."
Then I asked the oldest daughter if she was a Christian. The chin began to quiver, and the tears came into her eyes, and she said: "I wish I was."
The mother looked very angrily at me and said, "I don't want you to speak to my children on that subject. They don't understand."
And in great rage she took them away from me. One daughter was fourteen years old, one twelve, and the other ten, but they were not old enough to be talked to about religion! Let them drift into the world and plunge into worldly amusements, and then see how hard it is to reach them.
Many a mother is mourning today because her boy has gone beyond her reach, and will not allow her to pray with him. She may pray for him, but he will not let her pray or talk with him. In those early days when his mind was tender and young, she might have led him to Christ.
Bring them in. Suffer the little children to come unto me. Is there a prayerless father reading this? May God let the arrow go down into your soul! Make up your mind that, God helping you, you will get the children converted. Gods order is to the father first, but if he isn't true to his duty, then the mother should be true, and save the children from the wreck. Now is the time to do it while you have them under your roof.
Exert your parental influence over them.
J. W. C. From Present Day Parables by J. Wilbur Chapman
![[GospelWeb.net Globe]](../graphics/GW90logo.gif)
