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The whole human family has descended from the loins of Adam, and is necessarily tainted with his impurity. "By one man's disobedience many were made sinners." We are all under the power of sin. This tendency to sin is often exhibited in the child long before the dawn of consciousness. It is constitutionally a sinner, and the uninterrupted development of its nature will necessarily be a growth in sin.

I. THE TEXT DOES NOT MEAN THAT THIS SINFUL NATURE IS TO BE TRAINED IN THE HOPE OF PRODUCING BLESSED RESULTS, BUT SOMETHING HIGHER AND BETTER IS TO BE SUPPLIED FROM WITHOUT. Life and grace and power have been brought into the service of humanity in the person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and are to be made over to us by the operation of the Holy Ghost. But this Divine life is here only in germ, and must be developed in the midst of certain conditions, and here is a duty that God requires at the hands of parents. "I know Abraham, that he will command his children and his household after him, and that they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which He had spoken of him." Here it is expressly stated that Abraham was to do his part in order that the Lord might verify to him the blessings guaranteed in the covenant.

II. THIS TRAINING SHOULD BEGIN AT THE VERY DAWN OF THE CHILD'S EXISTENCE. When we are told to "train up a child in the way that he should go," it is meant that we should do this; not let it first grow up in sin and then try to reclaim it afterward by extraordinary effort. To do that is to give the world, the flesh, and the devil all the advantage. The child will not grow up a Christian without the influence and teaching of the parent. The receptive faculties of the child must be trained and sustained, and then the Holy Ghost will sanctify the life and make it fruitful in holiness. During its earliest life the child absorbs impressions and is completely under parental influence and direction. Parents are also invested with authority over the child, and it will need discipline, but this must be exercised in love. For the lack of this spirit corrections administered are often of no avail Correction administered in a wrong spirit will do harm and not good. It must be evident, therefore, that properly to train our children we must not only teach them Christian doctrine, but we must live the life of a Christian.

III. IF A CHILD IS THUS NURTURED AND TRAINED IN THE DIVINE LIFE WE NEED NOT SUPPOSE THAT A TECHNICAL EXPERIENCE OR SUDDEN TRANSITION IS NECESSARY TO CONSTITUTE IT A CHRISTIAN. The neglect of parental training cannot be made up in any other way. There is no danger of claiming too much for our holy religion. The whole being of man is to be sanctified by it. The chief end of our existence is to glorify God. How often it is said of a man who dies owning no property that "he left nothing to his family"! But every child is an heir, and his inheritance is indefeasible. First of all are his memories of his parents and his home. The man who has no property to devise should not be unhappy. "I give and bequeath to my children a good name, a Christian example, and a faithful training." Is not that a good start for a last will? These are legacies over which no heirs quarrel and that require no probate outside of the sanctuary of the heart.

(E. R. Esohbech, D.D.)

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KJV: Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

WEB: Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.