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Come Ye Children is a 160-page, 23 chapter booklet published in 1897 by Charles Spurgeon. The title is taken from Psalm 34:11, “Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord.”
In our age of infanticide and barrenness, and barrenness, where women bear children later in life or not at all, men sterilize themselves or urge the mother to murder the unborn child, Spurgeon’s affection for children is a fresh breeze across a generation of death.
We require all the teachers at our Christian school to read this little volume. Here are five reasons why.
First, Come Ye Children is short and colorful. In the free PDF, each chapter contains between 3-5 pages. Spurgeon so desperately desired children to “come” he said he’d wear a military uniform if that would draw a crowd. Better to do strange things than an empty chapel.
Second, Come Ye Children is quotable. Spurgeon is the King of the Quote. He speaks in fresh and interesting ways and writes sentences that roll off your tongue.
For example, he doesn’t chide you for filling Johnny’s brain with nonsense. He says: “The only way to keep chaff out of the child’s little measure is to fill it brimful with good wheat” (5).
My ten favorite quotes:
- On the high calling of Sunday School Teacher: “I had rather receive the title SST than MA, BA, or any other honor that ever was conferred by men.” (63)
- On the value of early conversion: “To be a believer in God early in life is to be saved from a thousand regrets.” (73)
- On the power of a child’s testimony: “Grace looks loveliest in youth. Grace in a child has a convincing force the infidel drops his weapon and admires.” (74)
- On the preciousness of a child’s conversion: “A boy is more worth saving than a man” (15)
- On the sinfulness of children. “Do not flatter the child with delusive rubbish about his nature being good.” (42).
- On treating children right. “A famous schoolmaster was accustomed to take his hat off to his boys because he did not know whether one of them might not be Prime Minister.” (15)
- On the skill needed for teaching children. “You do not thoroughly know any truth till you can put it before a child so that he can see it.” (44)
- On those that teach children. “If you want big-souled, large-hearted men or women, look for them among those who are much engaged among the young, bearing with their follies, and sympathizing with their weaknesses for Jesus’ sake.” (6)
- On the importance of kindness: “The silver key of kindness [will] unlock their hearts.” (50)
- On the seriousness of teaching children. “If you teach him heresies, he will receive them; what you teach him now, he will never forget.” (56)
Third, Come Ye Children is biblical. Not only does Spurgeon pull lessons about children from popular stories like Timothy, Samuel and David but he also mines from hidden quarries like the Shunammit’s son, Abijah’s “one good thing”, and Obadiah’s early piety.
Fourth, Come Ye Children is pro-child. He writes: “Child Christians tend to keep the house alive. oh, for more of them” (43). In nearly every chapter he encourages pastors and parents not to doubt their child’s profession of faith.
Fifth, Come Ye Children is practical. He tells how the mother of John Angell James prayed individually with of her children that they would be saved. He says children love “likes” in sermons and thus urges teachers to use many parables and pictures in their lessons. He reminds parents that kids speak of “loving Christ” more than “trusting Christ”, not because faith isn’t in them but because love is more agreeable to a child’s nature.
Sum
Parents and teachers should read Spurgeon’s Come Ye Children because itgives the reader a great introduction into the value, nature, and mind of a child.