"Poor boy! poor father! poor mother! What a series of mistakes!" thought Mrs. Grey. "Where _shall_ I begin?" And then remembered she had begun in her closet. "I know," she then said, "that some children are born with such amiable instincts, that they give little trouble to their parents and teachers, and become, therefore, their pride and glory. But this is the exception, not the rule. The _general_ rule is that the more character a child possesses, the more he will be faulty. My impression is, that most parental difficulties result from misconception on two radical points. The first is a putting off of God's regenerating work to a period in their children's lives when they can intelligently help Him do it. The second is faith in self. Now I will not say that I know it to be the case that some souls are regenerated before they enter this world; I only suggest the thought for your reflection; but that the mass of mankind enter it unregenerate, is the belief of all who accept the Bible as Divine truth. This being the case, every parent who undertakes to mould and fashion his child into a model of morality and virtue with his own hands, makes a radical mistake. Divine must precede parental work. Until a soul has been regenerated, labor spent on it is external, and cannot reach the roots of being." Mr. and Mrs. Thayer listened with some incredulity, yet with the respect due to superior years. At last Mr. Thayer said, "I must own that this theory is new to me, and that I am not prepared to accept, as I am unwilling to reject it. I have always believed that a soul must _will_ to be born again, and that a child must reach an intelligent age before it would reach such a point." "Do you believe that those who die in infancy are lost, because they never exercised faith in God, or willed to be His?" "No, indeed." "Well, how are they saved?" "By special grace." "And not through the exercise of faith on their part?" "Certainly not." "This concession, then, does away with the notion that faith is a redeeming virtue--a meritorious act. Consequently, a child can be regenerated before birth, at birth, or at an indefinitely early age after birth; the sooner the better. Instead of spending ten or twelve years in forming unholy habits, which it will require as many more to outgrow, it may begin from its earliest consciousness to form holy ones." "Holy is a very holy word," said Mr. Thayer. "One hardly associates it with a laughing child." "It is undoubtedly a very holy word, when applied to a veteran saint; but there has been a Holy Child on earth, the child Jesus; and in virtue of that fact, all our sons and daughters may, at any early age, become partakers of this grace."