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Now we need to consider a topic that's of extreme importance to every living being who is obligated to live a reasonable life on earth, and who hopes to go on to a better place after this life. I'm talking about governing the Kingdom of Mansoul. Every child who reaches a certain age will have this duty. It's up to his parents to teach him what's required of him and how to do it. Governing the Kingdom of Mansoul can be likened to governing a well-ruled state. Good government has three branches, each with its own function. But all three branches are ruled by one minister, not by a multitude of counselors.


Outside of the three branches sits the Will. Like a Roman guard, he has soldiers under his authority to command. He tells one to go, and he goes. He tells another to come, and he comes. He tells a third to do something, and he does it. In other words, the executive power is in the Will. If the Will has learned to have the habit of

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using his authority, then he gives commands in a tone that seems to expect obedience, and his kingdom is at unity. But if the Will is weak and unreliable, then his entire kingdom of Mansoul will be torn with disorder and rebellion.


I don't know exactly what the Will is. We can see its effects in all people, but nobody can define exactly what it is. Yet more harmful mistakes are made by educators in this area than any other. Therefore, it's worthwhile to see if we can consider what the Will does, and what its limits are.


First of all, the Will doesn't necessarily enter into any of the subjects we've already discussed. A child can reflect and imagine, be inspired to want to know, be driven by power, or crave attention, may love and admire, may form habits of attention or obedience or diligence or laziness, involuntarily. In other words, he can do all of those things without ever once intending or determining or willing himself to do it on his own. In fact, this is so true that there are people who live their entire lives without even one act of determined, deliberate will. There are people who are good-natured and easy-going who have only known smooth lives [so that no act of will is ever needed], and other poor souls who have never had one stroke of luck and have drifted so far from their homes that those they grew up with would never recognize them. Intellectual ability does not guarantee a strong will. For instance, Coleridge was intellectual, but he had such little power to control his will that others had to take care of him. His thoughts were as much out of his ability to control as his actions. People went to hear him speak great thoughts, but those thoughts

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were just disconnected ideas pouring forth, and only related to each other by association. Yet his mind was so splendid that his thoughts flowed forth methodically, all by themselves.


Everyone knows the dignity and strength of character that comes from having a determined will. In fact, character itself is the result of behavior controlled by a person's own will. We sometimes say, So-and-so has a lot of character, or another person lacks character. We could just as easily say, So-and-so has a strong will, or another person has no will. We all know of people who had talent and potential, yet their lives were ruined because they lacked a strong will to chart the course of their lives.


The will controls passion and emotions, directs desires to their proper channels, and rules bodily appetites. Note that passions, emotions, desires and appetites were already there. The will gains strength as it exercises its power by restraining and redirecting them. Although it's tempting to think of the will as a thing of the spirit, it works like any other part of the body in its need for nourishment and exercise in order to grow and become more capable.


In novels, the villain is an interesting person (at least in old novels!) because he always has a strong will, but, instead of using his will to control his violent passions, his will becomes an accessory in acting them out. The result is an evil being who seems to go against nature itself. And no wonder, because, according to natural law, the part

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of the body that doesn't do what it's supposed to gets weaker as a natural and logical consequence. Finally, it disappears altogether, or becomes practically invisible. The will is in the seat of authority. It can't transfer its power to the rest of the body. The chaos would be too terrible. It would be like a riotous mob attacking and taking over the government so that confusion is everywhere and there are shootings in the street and attacks on innocent people.


I feel compelled to draw your attention to the will's limits to do its own work, because parents all too often make the same mistake that authors do. They admire a strong, determined will, and so they should. They realize that if their child is going to influence the world, it will be by his force of will. So what happens? The baby pitches a fit because he wants to play with a forbidden object and the mother praises his 'strong will.' Or the three-year-old has a temper tantrum in the middle of the street and refuses to go one way or the other with his caregiver, and that is credited to his 'strong will.' He insists on having absolute run of the house, and monopolizes his sister's toys, all because of his 'strong will.' And then comes a conflict of opinion. On the one hand, the parents decide that the child's will must not be broken, no matter what, so his temper is allowed to rage with impunity. In another family, the parents are determined to break the child's will at all costs, so the poor little child is subjected to a sad series of punishment and repression.


But, all this time, nobody understands that the child's real issue is a lack of will. He is

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in a state of total willfulness. Unfortunately, that's the word we use to describe the lack of the will to have any power to control. A better word would be willessness, if that were a real word. It is this confusion between willfulness and domination by the will that causes parents to make harmful mistakes, even if the child isn't encouraged to be stubborn, or isn't harshly repressed. The parent's confusion makes them neglect to cultivate and train their child's will. The will is a gift of God and should be used to temper and direct every other gift into useful channels, whether beauty or genius or strength or skill.


If digging in one's heels by sheer will isn't what will is, then what is it? Look at this way. If the bit and bridle are removed so that there is no means to control the child's appetites, desires and emotions, then the child who is let loose with his own personal tendency, whether it be resentment, jealousy, desire for power, or greed for things, will be just like poor Mazeppa, the Polish nobleman who was strapped to a wild, strong horse and hurtled along swiftly with no power to help himself. There is no limit to passions and appetites and their persistence, if the will, which was appointed to control them, is removed. It is the force and determination of appetites and passions that are called 'willfulness' and mistaken for exertion of the will. But it is really determination that is being manifested, not will. The child is being hurtled along by his passions and appetites with no means to help himself because his will, which should have been his bit and bridle to balance his character, has been left undeveloped and untrained.


The will has functions that are superior and inferior, or, moral and mechanical.

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If the will is neglected so that it's too flabby and weak to do its job in the higher moral offices, it may still be functioning enough to control such matters as coming or going, sitting or standing, speaking or being quiet.


Although it's impossible to attain moral excellence of character without a strong, determined will, the will itself is not moral. It is merely a tool. A man can call forth great strength of will to control his appetites and desires, and yet still be an unworthy man. For instance, a man can exert his will to keep his base passions in check because he has other more important yet unworthy motives, such as vengeance.


Although a disciplined will isn't necessary for salvation, it is necessary to develop Christian character. Gordon, Havelock, Florence Nightingale, St. Paul, could not have been what they were without a strong will. This is only one way in which Christianity reaches even the weakest souls. There is a wonderful painting in the Louvre, 'Magdalen' by Guido Reni. Her mouth has obviously never been set with any resolve for good or evil. The lower part of her face has a helpless look of just abandoning itself to the emotions of the moment. But the eyes raised to meet the gaze of mysterious eyes that are not in the picture, seem to totally transfigure the rest of the face. Looking at the eyes, it seems as if the whole face is aglow with a passion to serve, love and surrender to God. God's divine grace can accomplish this transfiguration even in weak, unwilling souls to enable them to do what they can. Yet their ability to serve

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will be limited by their past. But a child with a Christian mother whose priority is to train him to live a Christian life, won't have that problem. As soon as her child reaches an awareness that he belongs to God and serves Him, his mother can have him already prepared for that high service. He can be a warrior in God's army from the time he is young. He can have an effective will, one that can will and do His good pleasure.


Before we consider how to train the will, which is the 'sole practical faculty of man,' we need to know how the will works. We need to understand how it does the work of managing everything that is done and thought in the kingdom Mansoul. 'Can't you make yourself do what you want to do?' Guy asks poor Charlie Edmonston, in Charlotte Mary Yonge's Heir of Redclyffe.  Charlie has never learned how to make himself do anything. There are probably some people who haven't even progressed far enough to want to do anything, but most of us do want to do well. The problem we have is how to make ourselves do what we want to. And this is what divides effective people from ineffective ones, the great from the small, and divides truly good people from well-intentioned, respectable ones. The more a man has the power to compel himself and control his impulses and his personal wishes, the more he can depend on himself and be confident of how he'll act in a crisis.


How does the ruler in the heart of a person behave? Does he force his members to stay in line with stern reprimands of 'thou shalt' and 'thou shalt not'? Not at all. Does he do it by applying his reason and mustering his motives? No. John Stuart Mill taught us that 'the only thing man ever does, or is able to do, with physical matter

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is to move one thing to another.' We shouldn't be surprised if great moral good comes from what seems like inadequate means. A little bit of experience in a daycare can show more effectively than words what the will can do. A baby falls, gets a bad bump and cries piteously. An experienced caregiver may not kiss the bump to make it better, or show any pity at all. She knows that could make things worse. The more she pities, the more the baby cries. Instead, she quickly distracts him by changing his thoughts. She carries him to the window to look at the horses, or gives him his favorite picture book, or most cherished toy, and the child stops mid-sob, even when he is badly hurt. The experienced caregiver illustrates the role of the will in a person. By force of will, a man can distract himself by changing his thoughts. He can transfer his attention from one topic to another, and he can do it with a burst of mental force that he's only vaguely aware he possesses. And this ability is enough to rescue a man. The power to make himself think only of the things he's already decided to think about for his own good can make him a man.


A man's thoughts might be wandering on some forbidden pleasure and keeping him from his work. But he gathers his wits and deliberately fixes his attention on the incentives that motivate him the most to keep working. Maybe he focuses on the relaxation and pleasure that he'll be entitled to after he finishes his job, or the responsibility that binds him to completing his task. His thoughts stay on the path his will determines them to stay on, and his works seems less burdensome.


Perhaps a man suffers a slight injustice that brings up a flood of resentment. The offender shouldn't

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have done it, he had no right, it was mean, and so on, going through all the bitter thoughts we replay in our minds when someone offends our precious self. But if the man has control of his own will, he will refuse to let this go on. He doesn't argue within himself by saying, 'This is not right, it isn't really his fault, after all.' He knows he isn't ready for that yet, the offense is too fresh in his mind. Instead, he forces himself to think about something else--a book he just read, an email he needs to compose, anything interesting enough to distract him. Later, when he allows himself to replay the offense in his mind, he finds that the bitterness is lessened and he's able to reflect on the matter with a more detached and cool head. This doesn't just work for rising resentment. It works for every kind of temptation we run across.


Suppose a man is bored with his work. The mundane sameness of his task, the weariness of doing the same thing over and over again, fills him with disgust and despondency and he begins to slacken his effort, unless he's a man who has control of his will and refuses to allow himself to waste time being idle while thinking of discontentment. It's always within his power to find something pleasant to think about, something outside himself. And he does, and the result is a happier frame of mind so that, no matter what his task is, it seems lighter.


It is useful to know what to do when we're overrun. Knowing how to use our will is the secret of a happy life, and it's worth teaching children about it. Are you irritable? Change your thoughts! Are you tired of trying? Change your thoughts! Are you craving things you're not supposed to have? Change your thoughts!

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There is a power within you that will enable you to turn away from thoughts that make you unhappy and tempt you to do wrong, by thinking of things that will make you feel happy and motivated to do the right thing. It's deceptively simple, but it's the one single secret tool that a strong-minded person has over his own self. It's the power to make himself think of what he decides to think about and forbidding himself to think about things that breed trouble.


One can see that the will has great power within its sphere, but when you stop to think about it, that sphere is a pretty narrow limit. It takes a lot of preparation and maintenance for a strong will to have power to control a person's behavior. For instance, the person must also have developed the ability to focus his attention. We've already talked about how important this is in earlier chapters. Some people are so scattered that they can't hold a connected thought for more than five minutes, even if they try or if they are pressured to. If they've never learned to devote all of their focused attention to a subject, then it's likely that no amount of determination, even if they had a strong will, could make them able to keep their mind on one thought, whether it's theirs or someone else's thought. And this is where parts of the intellect overlap. Ability to apply one's will implies that a person is able to focus their full attention when they choose. So, before a parent can train a child's will, the child needs to develop the habit of keeping his full attention focused.


We've already mentioned how an impulse to do good that isn't followed through can become a habit. Habit can be a helper or an enemy, and often frustrates the will. The desperate alcoholic might determine with all the will he has in him. He refuses to even cast his imagination

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on drinking. He forces himself to think of other things. But it's all in vain. His mind can't resist thinking of what it's grown accustomed to thinking. His habit is too strong and his will is too weak. We've all experienced how habit conquers our will in less important issues. All of us have some lazy, procrastinating, persistent habit that our reformed will struggles with daily. But I've already said a lot about the parent's duty to make their child's way easier by creating a path of helpful habits. It's not necessary for me to say any more about how habit can help or hinder the will.


A person's ability to reason has to be cultivated if his will is going to rule well. He must have some concept of why daily reading is useful, why orthodox faith is proper, why a citizen should do his duty. Otherwise, his will is going to be weak and inconsistent. It won't be effective, and, even worse, he might take up some incorrect or even cruel idea, and do a lot of harm, while believing that he's working up his will for some noble effort. A parent should attempt to make the child conscious of the power of his will only after the child is trained to use his powers of reason in a responsible way.


We'll consider another limitation of the will next. But first, once a parent has taken the trouble to prepare his child to use his will, how does he strengthen that will so that the child can depend on it to eventually control his own life? We've already spoken about

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how important it is that the child be trained to be obedient. But obedience is only valuable as far as it helps a child make himself do what's right. Any act of obedience that doesn't give the child a sense of conquering his own inclinations will enslave him. His resentment for the loss of his freedom may compel him to rebel at the first opportunity. That's why so many children who are brought up too strictly don't do well. But when you have the child's cooperation, and when he himself wants to do the thing, then his own will, not yours, is compelling him. And then he has begun the greatest effort and highest achievement of human life--making himself do what he needs to do. Let him know what a noble thing he has done. Let him enjoy a sense of triumph. Congratulate him when he is able to make himself bring his wandering thoughts back to his tedious math sheet, or when he makes himself complete a task he started, or forces himself to throw off a dark mood and change a sour look into a smile.


Then, as we said before, let him know the secret method of using his will. Explain to him that, by exerting his will, he has the capability to redirect his thoughts from what he shouldn't be thinking about, to whatever he wants to think about--schoolwork, prayer, chores. He can be brave and strong and make himself think about whatever he chooses. Let him try it out with some experiments on some minor thoughts. Because once he gets his mind on the right thoughts, everything else takes care of itself, and he'll be sure to do the right thing. If he feels irritable, and unkind thoughts come into his mind, the plan is to think hard about something else, something good, like his next birthday, or what he wants to be when he grows up. This concept isn't taught all at once,

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but little by little, a bit at a time as opportunities come up. Once a child gets into the habit of managing and controlling himself, it's amazing how much self-will and determination a young child can have. I once heard a lady tell her four-year old nephew, 'Restrain yourself, Thomas,' and Thomas did restrain himself even though he had been pitching a fit about some minor annoyance.


In all of this, the child's will is being trained and strengthened. He is learning how and when to use his will, and his will is getting stronger and more capable every day. I'll add one more comment from Dr. Morell's Introduction to Mental Philosophy: 'When it comes to shaping a person's destiny, educating the will is far more important than educating the intellect. Theory, doctrine, consideration of laws, is never enough to develop the habit of doing the right thing consistently. We learn to do by doing. We learn to overcome by overcoming. Every time we do the right thing because we've chosen to out of principle, whether because we've been told to, or because we're following someone's example, a greater mark is made in our character than all the theory in the world.'



But the will certainly doesn't govern Mansoul all by itself. The will has the final say, because we can only do what we will ourselves to. But there's something even more powerful behind the will,

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and the will only expresses what it commands. That something is the conscience, and it sits supreme in the inner chamber of man. Conscience is the one who gives the rules. It says 'thou shalt' or 'thou shalt not' and the will does what it says. It's also the judge. When the soul is guilty of some offense, the conscience calls upon it to give account. And, once the conscience has declared a verdict, there is no appeal.


'I am, I ought, I can, I will.' These are like four steps of the ladder that St. Augustine wrote about when he said we could 'go up on the stepping stones of the old, sinful man we cast off and are dead to, and ascend to higher things.'

'I am' means that we can know ourselves and understand what we're really like. 'I ought' means that we have a moral judge inside us. We feel like we're subject to it. It lets us know what our duty is and compels us to do it. 'I can' means that we know we have the ability to do what we know we're supposed to. 'I will' means that we resolve to use the ability we know we have to do what our inner moral judge has urged us to do. Resolve is the first step in actually doing. These four make a perfect, beautiful chain. Man is designed so ingeniously to carry out right actions, that we wonder how it's even possible for him to do the wrong thing. But the sorrowful mysteries of sin and temptation aren't for me to solve here. The reality is that no life is immune from ruin and loss. That's why I'm so concerned that parents do their duty to prevent that from happening to their children by using the information I share. Probably 99 out 100 people who lives are ruined can point to parents who never bothered to do anything about their habits of laziness, sensual appetites and stubbornness when they were young. Their parents didn't strengthen them by teaching them the kinds of habits needed to live a good life.

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We live in a redeemed world and God's divine grace and help assists us when we try to do something right in raising our children. But there's no reason to hope that divine grace will step in as a substitute for every area we choose to neglect when we don't have to. We don't expect miracles to make up for our neglect in the physical realm. If a child gets rickets because his parents neglected his nutrition, he'll have deformed limbs for the rest of his life, even if he has other blessings to thank God for. A weak will, bad habits, a conscience that hasn't learned to discern right from wrong, limit many Christians all their lives because their parents failed to do their duty, and the person didn't have enough power as a child to overcome the lack.


Where the conscience is concerned, parents who let children do whatever they want [and neglect to guide them] do real harm to them. The parents assume that their child is born with a conscience, and they hope his behavior will be checked by his conscience. Other than that, they don't involve themselves. The child will have to work things out with his conscience himself. Parents like this either assume that a totally mature conscience is something a baby is born with, or that it grows with the child like his hair and his legs, and doesn't need the kind of religious guidance that the spirit does. That kind of thinking assumes that the conscience is infallible. But believing that is a delusion when common sense and experience shows us clearly the kinds of erroneous things people feel are the right thing to do. The inconsistence of a conscience that hasn't been taught

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is so common that there are sayings about it: 'Honor among thieves,' 'Strain out a gnat and swallow a camel,' are about misguided conscience, and 'more wishful thinking than truth,' and 'none are so blind as he who refuses to see,' are about the even more common cases of those who knowingly trick their conscience into yielding. 


Conscience is not a foolproof guide. It's capable of not even noticing the most outrageous wrongs, yet throwing the book at someone over some trivial, insignificant matter, like the Pharisees who tithed even their spices, but neglected to adhere to the more important laws. Conscience can be tricked and persuaded that evil is good, and good is evil. If the conscience is so prone to weakness, what use is it against man's natural inclination to be selfish? Is the conscience merely a figment of our imagination, or a creation of our own minds? Is it nothing more than my opinion of my actions and the actions of others? On the contrary! The fact that consciences can deviate might be the most convincing proof that it exists and has real power. As Adam Smith said, 'Not just the best men, but even the worst men, feel and acknowledge that the conscience is the supreme authority. Even those who try to present who they really are sincerely to the world, work hard deceiving themselves so as not to see their own character.'


For our practical purposes, it's not necessary to settle obscure questions such as what conscience is, or whether it lies in our emotions or reason, or outside of both. But we do know this--that conscience is as essential to our nature as

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affection and reason. Conscience is the spiritual sense that gives us knowledge of good and evil. A six-month baby who isn't even speaking yet will show evidence of a conscience. A scolding look will make him look down and hide his face. If the mother experiments by giving the baby that same look when the baby is happy and not doing anything wrong, the baby will be confused. His conscience hasn't been instructed yet and makes him feel guilty. Until his conscience learns better, it will condemn him on someone else's word.

Incidents like this reveal what a serious responsibility the parents have. The child is born with a moral aptitude, a delicate sense that helps him to discern what's right and wrong. He also has a sense of delighting in good in himself and others, and being repulsed by badness. But the poor little child is like a navigator who has a compass and doesn't know what the letters N, S, E and W mean. He is born to love good and hate evil, but he doesn't really know what's good and what's evil. He doesn't trust his own judgment, but in his simplicity, he trusts in the guidance of others. It's astonishing that the God of the universe would allow imperfect moral parents to be entrusted with the making of an immortal being. But it's even more astonishing that parents take on that trust without considering how important their responsibility is.


If we look at the child's conscience as something that needs to be developed rather than a supreme authority, then we must consider how this immature guide can be educated to do its important job of giving the will information, and telling the person what to do. A badly taught

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conscience can make serious errors. A man can slaughter the faithful because his conscience tells him that they must die. On the other hand, nobody attains a godly, righteous and controlled life without being ruled by a good conscience. A good conscience doesn't just state right and wrong. It has been taught to know the difference between them. Many people can taste such subtle differences that they could qualify for a job as a professional tea taster, but that subtle discernment is a waste and useless to tea companies, unless he can train his tongue to differentiate between tea. Only then can he make a living from his talent.


When educating the conscience, what's gone on in the child's past will have some influence, just like it does with the will. You can't refine the conscience by staying ignorant. We can't understand the morals of savages who don't know God's rules. We don't know how the Sepoys of India could have let a mixture of pig grease and beef lard in rifles cause them to massacre so many people in the Indian Rebellion of 1857. (Read about it here or here.) Superstition and prejudice results when people let something other than reason dictate right from wrong for them. We can't accept the actions of others as right, no matter how convinced they are, unless those actions are reasonable and right in themselves.


So, before conscience can make a decision in any situation, the educated reason has to consider the pros and cons. Then the experienced judgment needs to balance the pros and cons and decide which makes a stronger case. The person must focus all their attention

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on the question. Habits of doing the right thing must prevent the person from acting on their feelings, and will make doing the right thing seem easier and more comfortable. The person's desire will try to tempt him, but his conscience will be informed about all the facts relevant to the case and will decide what's the right thing to do. Then the will does what the conscience says is right. A conscientious man is one who takes every decision before his conscience. You can be sure of the opinions and actions of such a man. These elaborate steps come more naturally to a person whose conscience has been taught, and is supplemented with a trained intellect. His mind is always ready to judge and counsel him.


This is a good reason to give a child some well-rounded training. He needs the highest culture he can get, and thorough training in good habits. That way his conscience will always be alert and supported by all of the mind's powers. Such a conscience is the most important element of a noble life. An instructed conscience almost always makes the correct decisions. But it isn't usually mature until the person is mature. No matter how right-minded and sincere a child may be, he will tend to make mistakes because youths tend to get fixated and obsessed on one particular duty, or one obligation, and neglect the others.


But even a child with an immature conscience and developing mind is capable of saying, 'I can't, it wouldn't be right,' or, 'I will do that because it's the right thing to do.' And once a child is able to

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decide to do the right thing when confronted with temptations, he is able to really live. His conscience will continue to mature and develop at the same rate as his intellect. Many facets of learning in different areas are necessary for the conscience to be the best it can be. But is there any way to train the conscience directly, any way to refine a child's spiritual discernment so that he is repulsed and rejects even the mere hint of evil?


This is the most delicate part of education, and the one adults are most prone to bungle. Everyone knows how frustrating it is to discuss any nice, moral problem with children. They quibble over insignificant details, come up with all kinds of bewildering side issues to evade the question, fail to be shocked by or to admire the things we expect. They play around with the question and refuse to take it seriously. Or, even more frustrating, they are too harsh and rigidly righteous. They casually and cheerfully dictate damnation. Parents are discouraged when they see this lack of conscience in their children, but it's not really their fault. Their conscience will mature as their mind does. But at a young age, both aren't fully developed yet. These kinds of discussions have no place with children, they shouldn't be encouraged to give opinions about questions of right and wrong. And they shouldn't be given little books that authoritatively declare that specific behaviors are always wrong.
 

It would be good if story books and history texts were as reluctant to offer commentary as the Bible. The child might hear an edited reading about Joseph from

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the Bible, which rarely adds commentaries or explanations. Nobody has to tell him what was done wrong and what was good. He doesn't need anyone to draw out the moral lesson in the story. If that was necessary, then the Bible would have been written in vain. Good and bad actions would have no witness on their own. A child should hear the whole Bible read consecutively, from Genesis chapter 1 to the end, but with appropriate omissions. Every time the Bible is read to a child, it should be a pleasant experience. Maybe he could be in his mother's room, or even on her lap. That fifteen minutes should be a peaceful time of calm and contentment. The child's whole attention should be free to take in the story without the distraction of moral teaching. The less talk, the better. The story will sink in and bring its own lesson, some now, and more little by little as he matures year by year and can handle it. Just one of these stories will plant a moral idea inside him that will continue to grow and bear fruit.


Appropriate parts of the Bible are the most important elements of teaching morality, but any true depiction of life helps a growing conscience, whether it's a tale of noble deeds, or the story of a flawed, struggling life. The child will get into the habit of thinking about conduct in these stories. He'll start off weighing actions by their consequences. But little by little, his conscience becomes more discriminating and he'll begin judging behavior on its own merit, regardless of the consequences. This silent, subtle growth happens best if there's no chatter about the subject to distract him, because, during this chat, your mannerisms and his curiosity and his simple joy in the discussion, can draw attention away from the moral idea that the story should convey to the

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conscience. It is very important that the child not be allowed to label people around him as 'bad' because of what they do. It isn't so much an issue of whether he's right or wrong, but the habit of criticizing and blaming will dull his conscience. It will deaden his sensibility to the command, 'Judge not, that ye be not judged.'


What about the child's own behavior? Should he be allowed to analyze that? Yes, he should consider his actions and even his words. But he should never be encouraged to judge his motives. That can cause him to get into the bad habit of introspection. Also, as far as children considering their ways, we need to remember that a child's conscience is still immature. Adults are often baffled when they get a glimpse into the ignorance of a child's conscience, although that rarely happens because children, in spite of their constant chatter and open friendliness, keep their deepest thoughts to themselves. They'll often commit grievous offenses against truth, modesty, and love without even realizing how mistaken they are. Yet some trivial, insignificant matter will bother them deeply. Children will bite and hurt each other viciously, steal little things, and do other shocking things that convince their parents that they must have very bad natures. But that's not necessarily the case. It's just that their conscience still hasn't learned and doesn't see a clear line between right and wrong. So they make mistakes on both sides of the line. I once saw a twelve year old who was dying and was wearing herself out with distress because she thought she had committed the unpardonable sin. Nobody even knew where she learned that term. The sin that grieved her so much was that she had neglected to get up in bed to kneel while praying! Children's ignorance

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about the most common matters of right and wrong is really pathetic. Yet too often children are treated as if they knew all about right and wrong because of the fact that they possess a conscience. But a conscience is merely a spiritual part of the body that needs direction.


It's another matter when children do wrong intentionally, and I don't need to convince anyone that children sometimes do misbehave even when they know better. But that fact doesn't negate the need to teach them the right thing to do. This teaching can't be hit or miss. It needs to be regular and sequential. Kindness, for example, might be the topic for the week. There can be a talk about kindness with their mother, the kind of informal talk that they enjoy. It should be kept short. She might explain that kindness is love in action and word, or in a look. A pool of love in a little boy's heart does nobody any good if it's closed off and hidden. It's only when that love is allowed to bubble up like a spring and flow out that it becomes kindness. Then there might be daily short talks about specific ways the child might show kindness to his siblings, friends, parents, people in pain or trouble, animals, and strangers we can't even see who are in real trouble because they don't know Jesus. The child should be given one thing to think about every day and one nice example of kindness that will inspire him and make him want to do the same.

Jesus' parable of the 'Good Samaritan' is a good model to teach about morals. The story and little talks should make children want to be just as good. Then tell them the command to 'go and do likewise.' After presenting them with the concept of kindness and specific examples, end by giving them the command to 'be kind.' Let them know that

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this law of God's is for children as well as grown ups. Once their conscience has been taught, their emotions are recruited to want to carry out their duty. Then if the child has to be reprimanded, he will have no doubt what he did wrong: he broke God's law of kindness. Even his conscience will confirm that he is guilty. Don't give children bad examples of what not to do, because human nature might make them want to copy them. Instead, tell them stories of noble actions, great and small, such as those in Yonge's book Golden Deeds. Such examples will stir them to the battle of life like a trumpet call.


Be courteous, be sincere, be grateful, be considerate, be honest. There are enough specific attributes to provide weekly topics all the child's life. And during all of this time, the child is developing the concept of duty, and his conscience is learning and maturing. The mother is acting as a friendly, alert guardian angel, always watching. She isn't trying to catch the child in a mistake, she's trying to guide him into doing the right thing that she has already made attractive to him. We only learn to do something by doing it, and we get better at doing it over time. As the mother teaches and guides, she teaches the child to listen to his conscience as if it were the voice of God, and to obey it when it says to 'do this,' or, 'don't do that.' One might protest that we are placing higher value on a conscience trained by man than a conscience divinely implanted by God and untainted by flawed man. And that's true. In every aspect of life, both physical and spiritual, we are expected to put forth some human effort before God gives us power. Even a withered arm must be stretched forth before it can be divinely healed. We have every reason to believe that when

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a conscience is taught well and obeyed faithfully, God will help by giving divine illumination and understanding.



We have not yet touched on the heart of things, or, as Wordsworth wrote, 'the very pulse of the machine.'

We have gone into the inner depths of the life of a child and investigated habit, feeling, reason and conscience. These all act on each other--but what acts on all of them? Maurice (John Frederick Denison Maurice?), who has searched into the deep things of God, wrote, 'Our spirits cry out for a King to guide them, discipline them, unite them together, and give them victory over themselves and the world. Our spirits cry out for a Priest to lift them above themselves to God the Father to make them partakers of his nature, co-laborers and true witnesses that He is both Priest and King of Men.'


We have seen that conscience is only effective when it is stirred from within the deepest part of the inner man, the holy of holies whose secrets are known only by God, the high Priest. He 'needed not that any man should tell Him, for He knew what was in man.' But we need to think about the bits we do know about this innermost chamber. We need to collect the information we can find and lay out what we know is true because even this, the heart of

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the child, is within the parents' power. They have the capability to enthrone the King and induct the Priest in their child's heart. Every human heart yearns for this.


We toss around the term 'living soul,' as if we take it for granted that every soul is living and fully developed. But our experience and scripture say otherwise. It was said about a poet (we don't know how true it was) that if ever a human being had no soul, it was him. He had reason, imagination, passions, the kinds of desires that intelligent people have. Yet he didn't seem to do any of the things one would do from their soul. What are the things that are done from the soul? St. Augustine said, 'The soul of man is for God in the same way that God is for the soul.' The soul hungers for one thing: the things of God. It wants one thing: to know God. It has one joy: being in God's presence. The soul repeats the words from Christmas Day and Other Sermons. It says, 'I want to live in the glow of God's face, which is always smiling on me.' The soul directs itself upward, but acts [in love] towards mankind. The language of the soul is prayer and praise. Its right hand is faith, its light is God's love. These are what the soul does. This is the only life it can know. If it doesn't find itself in God, it can't find life somewhere else. The conscience, the will and reason

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are useless until they are nourished with the kind of sustenance they need. It's the same with the soul. Its room is unkempt with cobwebbed doors and dirty windows until it is awakened to its purpose. It isn't totally empty, though. The germinating soul with all its potential is there, lying dormant. Its awakening might be the sudden miracle of conversion, or, if the parents are conscientious and knowing, it can be gentle and sweet, like the gradual unfolding of a flower. Some souls are idle and sleeping, but they're still living. Some souls are weak and sick, but they're still alive. And some souls are so hardened that no spark can ever awaken them.


So, what is the life of the soul? Is it something that's transmitted, like a flame that passes from a fire to torch? Maybe. But it's more than that. It's more intimate, more mysterious. 'I am the life.' 'In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.' 'Abide in Me, and I in you.' It's too holy and unspeakable to explain, except in the terms given in scripture. But, at the very least, it means that a living soul doesn't live a solitary existence in its room inside the inner man. Its room becomes the temple of the Living God. 'Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. How dreadful is this place!'


But, seeing how holy and mysterious the union between the soul and its God is, parents may feel unqualified to meddle. What can they do? How can they help? What if they meddle--and muddle? Parents should take confidence in knowing that nourishing and encouraging the spiritual life of their child

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isn't a choice they have to make. It is a duty and obligation from God. It doesn't really matter how well the parent meets his child's physical needs, moral sensitivity and mental culture if he neglects or fails in his duty to develop his child's spiritual life. What can a parent do? Only this and no more: he can present the idea of God to the soul of the child. Just like in the rest of the universe, God carries out His will through imperfect, inadequate means. Who would ever think that a bee could produce apple trees? Yet a bee flies from an apple tree laden with pollen from apple blossoms, and then unwittingly deposits it on the stigmas of flowers on the next tree it comes to. The bee flies on, but the pollen stays behind. It's nowhere near the immature ovule, but that doesn't matter. The ovule can't reach up and take it, but the pollen sends out a tiny tube within the length of the style to reach the ovule. The seeds are pollinated and the tree bears apples with seeds that may become new apple trees. Understand that the parent is not much better than the witless bee. His role is to deposit some fruitful concept of God within reach of the child's soul. The child's immature soul isn't able to reach out to the idea, but God's living Word reaches down and touches the child's soul. Then, there is life. There is growth, beauty, flower and fruit.


I'd like you to try looking at these divine mysteries in the same way, philosophically, that we've looked at all the other capabilities and functions of the child. It might be enlightening to look at life's religious

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mysteries from a different perspective, from outside of a religious context. Also, I want to have a smooth, unbroken path of logic to convince parents of their highest obligation in regards to their children's education. Here, the apple tree/bee analogy breaks down. The parents must not go blundering randomly as a bee flitting from flower to flower. This is the most important duty he has. It's also the most delicate. If he wants to introduce his child to God, and expose the concept of God to his child's soul, the parent will need faith, prayer, tact, discretion, humility, gentleness, love, and good judgment.


It has been accurately said, 'If we think of God as stingy, harsh and demanding instead of generous and giving, then we shall become stingy, harsh and demanding instead of generous and giving.' Yet that's just how God is presented most of the time--as a strict Pharaoh demanding his quota of bricks in the form of good behavior and good deeds. Parents deliberately present God that way to pressure their children when their own authority is weak. They speak for God, threatening punishments that they wouldn't utter on their own behalf. Children may hear a caregiver yell passionately, 'God can't love you, you rotten kid! I hope he sends you to that bad place!' And those two images of God--as demanding and punishing--are often the only images a child receives of God. What fruit can possibly come of this? Most likely, the child will be repulsed by the idea of God and turn his face away from God the Father. But, what if he were taught instead of the 'all-forgiving gentleness of God'?

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These are only two ways that tender children are often put off about God. The mother who realizes that her child's heart may be permanently turned against God if he gets the wrong ideas when he's young, will understand the need for giving this matter serious, careful thought and resolve. What teaching should her child receive about this all-important subject? She might forbid anyone from even mentioning God's name to her children, except for his parents. She will have to explain that it's only because she's so concerned that her children only receive the correct impressions regarding this great matter. It's better that her children have only a few vital concepts that will encourage their souls to grow, than that they have a lot of vague, incorrect teaching.


How do we decide which few vital thoughts to teach about the Infinite God? It's not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. To begin with, we must teach only what we know in our hearts to be true, not just what we know with our intellect. Of all the doctrines, teachings and traditions out there, we'll find that there are only a few that we have accepted so deeply that we can live by them. It's individual for each person, some accept more, some can accept only one. Whether it's one or a few for us, those are the ones we should teach our children because those are the only ones that can sincerely come from our hearts with the kind of enthusiasm that conviction brings, the kind of enthusiasm that is so compelling that it's hard for others not to catch, too. The best way to make children take their faith lightly is to use phony, dead words

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about the best things. Our artificial seriousness in tone and manner substitute for the living meaning that real conviction would bring. If a parent only truly believes one thing with all his heart, then let him teach his child just that one thing. By the time his child needs more, the parent may know more with certainty.


Some concepts about spirituality are more suitable for children and more relevant to their lives. The joy Jesus gives means more to a child than the God of All Comfort.

And there are other concepts that are the daily bread of the soul. Without them, life and growth aren't possible. A lot of teaching can wait until the child has a need for it, but some ideas are vitally necessary for spiritual life. A child who isn't taught those things will go out into the world with an undeveloped soul in spite of any theological knowledge he may have.


Knowledge of God is not the same thing as morality, although being good will result from knowing God. But don't put the cart before the horse. Don't nag and preach at a child about being good as if he owes it to God, without first giving him the information that will change his heart so he can be good.

That doesn't leave us with a lot left to teach. Working within these limitations eliminates a lot of the kinds of things that children are commonly taught in their religious lessons. The question is no longer how to decide between all the things we could cover, but, what is so vital that we don't dare leave it out?


The next thing the mother needs to consider is when and how

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to teach her children about God. It's better for her instruction to be rare and therefore more esteemed, than to be so frequent that children tune it out. It would be better for a child to get no religious teaching at all than to hear it so often that he gets tired of it and the mere mention of anything religious turns him off. Yet he does need to be built up in his faith. He should be getting training regularly and progressively. Finding the right balance depends on the mother. Like the beautiful scent of flowers carried on the breeze, spiritual teaching should depend on which way the wind blows. Every now and then a teachable moment will arise. The mother and child will be together and they will both feel that it's a holy moment. That's the perfect time to make a deeply felt, softly spoken comment about God. It shouldn't be too wordy, and there should be no pressure or urging to act on anything. There should just be a flash of conviction from the mother's soul to her child. Is the concept of God as a loving, protective Father the concept to offer the child? After just a few words, it will only take a look from the mother to relate that concept to lots of manifestations of God's Fatherhood. That concept will grow and become part of the child's spiritual life. That's all it takes. There doesn't need to be any weekly lesson plans. The child doesn't have to dread a lecture, which smothers the fire of his sacred life. To keep from over-doing it, the mother will have to exercise great restraint. Many opportunities will seem to appear, but she'll have to let them pass, even while keeping in mind the earnest purpose and plan in her heart of building her child's faith. And it goes without saying that she should pray. She will need wisdom from above to enable her to do this task.


A word about

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reading the Bible. We often make so many comments and practical applications about scripture, that the scripture itself is buried. And I don't think it's a good idea to pick out specific verses and hammer them into a child. That only make those verses lose their meaning for him, which doesn't help his spiritual life. God's Word is full of living power and it can take care of practical application on its own. A spiritual seed as light as thistledown will waft into the child's soul. Its roots will reach down into the child's soul, but its fruit will reach outwards. Our duty as parents is to instill in our children a love for God's Word. The most delightful part of a child's day should be when his mother reads him scripture. She should read the wonderful Bible stories with tender understanding, and with reverence and joy in her voice. From time to time, one of those holy moments mentioned earlier will occur. The mother will pass her own conviction about something to her child, and it will go into his soul, where the life of the Spirit is. The child should grow so that,

'New thoughts of God, new hopes of heaven,'

are something to look forward to. When he names the day's blessings, this should be among them. Most importantly, don't read the Bible as a way to make him feel ashamed of his faults. It's the Holy Sprit's job to convict of sin, not ours. He is able to use His Word to do this, without risking offense or hardening of the heart like we might with our clumsy handling.

The way to work out this divine teaching will come from each mother's own personal conviction. I'll only try to mention one or two of the vital truths that sustain spiritual life.


'Our Father, who art in

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heaven,' might be the first concept of God that a mother will present to her child. God is our Father and He makes us glad with the blessings He gives us every day. 'What a happy birthday our Father has given to my little boy!' 'The flowers are coming again; our Father has taken care of the plants all through the cold winter!' 'Listen to the skylark! It's amazing how our Father can put so much joy into the heart of one little bird.' 'Thank God for making my little girl so happy and joyful!' From this concept comes spontaneous, free prayer from the child. The child's heart will well up in thanks for all the little blessings of his day rather than petitioning God just yet. It doesn't matter what words are used, they just need to be words he can understand. To God, any time the heart of one of His children rises to Him, it's prayer. From this concept also comes obligation and duty. We're glad to acknowledge our debt to such a gracious and kind Father. He isn't a Parent who threatens us into obedience at a sword's point. His children are glad to obey.


The second concept that children need to know is that Jesus is our King. This concept will let loose the treasures of loyalty, love, faith and imagination that are locked inside a child's heart. The very essence of Christianity is personal loyalty. We are passionately loyal to our wonderful Master. Some people have tried to lay foundations of regeneration, sacraments, justification, works, faith, or the Bible. These may be necessary to salvation, but if they're over-emphasized, they can become a religion about Christ, but without Christ. A time of sifting has come in our day. Many thinkers claim to know nothing about our religious systems. They declare

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that all of our orthodox beliefs aren't knowable. Maybe this happens because they think so much about salvation that they've forgotten Who saved them. But no one who has ever truly known Him can forget Him. If the very concept of Jesus is life, then the mere thought of Jesus, once it touches the soul, will rise up as a living power, independent of all the mind's mere formulas. Let us pass the torch of Christianity to the next generation by bringing them into allegiance to Christ the King. But how? Well, during the English Civil War, how did the old Cavaliers bring up their children to be passionately loyal and reverent to earthly princes who weren't very honorable? They did it by example. Their own hearts were filled with loyalty, their lips spoke reverence, their actions declared their service. The style of clothes they wore, the ring of their voices, even the pride with which they held their head proclaimed unlimited devotion to their king and to his cause. That war, whatever else it did or failed to do, left a lesson for Christians. If a Stuart prince could command that much loyalty, shouldn't Jesus be worthy of our loyalty? After all, he's 'the Chief amongst ten thousand, the altogether lovely One.'

Jesus is our Savior. This concept should be presented tenderly to the child while he's sorrowing over a misbehavior. 'My poor little boy, you've been so naughty today. Couldn't you help it?' 'No, Mommy,' he sobs. 'No, I guess you couldn't. But there's a way of help.' And that's when the mother tells her child how Jesus is our Savior because He saves us from our sins. It's debatable whether a child should learn about Jesus' death on the cross too early. It might be fun to start with Moses and the prophets. Then, throughout the Old Testament, the child could see the gradual unfolding of the Messiah's work and

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character. Then, when his mind is thinking about the Hope of Israel, they could see the mystery of the birth in Bethlehem, and the humiliation of the cross. Yet, maybe what they might gain from the freshness of this novel presentation wouldn't make it worth missing the opportunity to grow up with the knowledge of Calvary and Bethlehem always in their minds. One more thing--it's not good to let children be careless and casual with the name of Jesus. They shouldn't sing hymns that don't use a reverent tone. 'Ye call Me Master and Lord; and ye say well, for so I am.'

Jesus living in us is a concept very well suited for children. Their simple faith doesn't stumble at the mystery. Their imagination is ready to accept the wonder that the King Himself should live in their hearts. 'How will I know He's there, Mommy?' 'When you're peaceful, kind and happy, it's because Jesus is in you.

'And when He comes, such joy you'll wear
Your friends will know the King is there.' '

I won't even try to list any more of the vital truths that a Christian mother might present to her child. Have patience until those truths bear fruit in his soul and his heart is like a beautiful garden blessed by God. But don't forget that this requires prayer.

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