The Power of Sin

XV. Train them remembering continually the power of sin.

"You must not expect to find your children's minds a sheet of pure white paper, and to have no trouble if you only use right means. I warn you plainly you will find no such thing. It is painful to see how much corruption and evil there is in a young child's heart, and how soon it begins to bear fruit. . . In little ways they will creep out at a very early age; it is almost startling to observe how naturally they seem to spring up. Children require no schooling to learn to sin. [Italics mine]

"But you must not be discouraged and cast down by what you see. You must not think it a strange and unusual thing, that little hearts can be so full of sin. It is the only portion which our father Adam left us; it is that fallen nature with which we come into the world; it is that inheritance which belongs to us all. Let it rather make you more diligent in using every means which seem most likely, by God's blessing, to counteract the mischief. Let it make you more and more careful, so far as in you lies, to keep your children out of the way of temptation.

". . . Remember the natural depravity of your children, and take care."

 ~ From the Duties of Parents, J. C. Ryle, See the first post in this series.


[ This is the most unpleasant of the topics so far, but it's a necessary one. If we ignore the Adamic nature which resides in each of us, and the fact that it's an inheritance we received at birth, we'll have a most difficult road to travel in our parenting. But knowing this helps us to have pity on our precious children, and love them even more when we remember we're all in that same boat, and hopefully we'll be more diligent and careful to lead them to Jesus and instruct them in the right Way.]