Parents and childrenMason, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Maria)
Philosophy
Parents and children
Mason, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Maria)
Child rearing; Education -- Parent participation
should find the questions which we allow to stagger our faith.
But the Kingdom of God is coming upon us with power. Let us only break
down this foolish barrier of the flesh; let us perceive that our
relations with each other are the relations of spirit with spirit, and
that spoken and written words are no more than the outward and visible
signs of ideas spiritually conveyed, and how inevitable, incessant,
all-encompassing becomes the presence of God about us. Faith is, then,
the simple trust of person in Person. We realise with fearful joy
that He is about our path, and about our bed, and spieth out all our
ways--not with the austere eye of a judge, but with the caressing,
if critical, glance of a parent. How easy, then, to understand the
never-ceasing, ever-inspiring intercourse of the Divine Spirit with
the spirit of man--how, morning by morning, He awakeneth _our_ ear,
also; how His inspiration and instruction come in the direction, and
in the degree, in which the man is capable of receiving them. It is no
longer a puzzle to us that the uninstructed savage shows sweet traits
of pity and generosity, “for His God doth instruct him and doth teach
him.” We are not confounded when we hear of a righteous man who lifts
up his face to Heaven, and says, “There is no God,” because we know,
He maketh His sun to shine upon the evil and upon the good, and that
just that measure of moral light and leading which a man lays himself
open to receive is freely given to him. He may shut his eyes and say,
“There is no sun,” but none the less is he warmed and fed and comforted
by the light he denies. This is the faith in which we would bring up
our children, this strong, passionate sense of the dear nearness of
our God; found in this conviction, the controversies of the day will
interest but not exercise us, for we are on the other side of all doubt
once we know Him in whom we have believed.
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. We advance in
this lore of the soul only in proportion as we make it our study; and
all of us who have the bringing up of children must needs be thankful
for every word of help and insight which shall open our eyes to the
realities which are spiritually discerned. In this view parents will
be glad to read and ponder the Sermons before us. Profound thought is
conveyed in language of very great simplicity and purity. The sermons
are written from the standpoint of present day thought, are not at all
emotional, nor even hortatory, but they are very strengthening and
refreshing. You read, and go on your way rejoicing in a strong sense
of the reality of things unseen. Perhaps this result is due to Mr.
Beeching’s presentation of the _naturalness_ of faith.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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