Pride the Destruction of Young Piety - Glenn Conjurske

Pride the Destruction of Young Piety

by Glenn Conjurske

In speaking of the qualifications of a bishop, Paul says, “Not a novice, lest BEING LIFTED UP WITH PRIDE, he fall into the condemnation of the devil.” (I Tim. 3:6). A novice is naturally weak in the face of temptation. His lack of seasoned wisdom, his lack of ripened virtue and tried character, will naturally leave him more exposed to the assaults of those temptations which an old saint might more easily withstand. For this reason Paul excludes a novice from the office of an elder.

This is wisdom. Any place of authority, of leadership, or of public ministry, will very naturally incline men to pride. For his own sake no man should be allowed in such a place until he has the spiritual maturity to be able to abide the trial.

Now in the nature of the case all children are novices, and for that reason they do not belong in the public eye. Whatever their natural inclinations may be to pride, those inclinations are likely to be fanned into a flame by giving them a place in the public eye. Unless he is unusually stupid, a young person can hardly be ignorant of the fact that a place of public ministry distinguishes him from others of his age, or sets him above the place which normally belongs to those of his age. Thus his natural inclinations to pride, instead of being curbed and starved, are nourished and fed, and it will be a wonder if he does not fall into the condemnation of the devil.

These things have been recently brought very forcefully to my mind by the following accounts, related by Archibald Alexander:

“E.F. was another, who about the same age [13 or 14] gave pleasing evidence of having received a new heart. Old Christians would smile and weep when they heard him converse or pray. It was a revival season, and he was much noticed and caressed, and after a while evidently became vain. He fell in love also with a lady much older than himself, and appeared like one almost distracted. He turned from religion somewhat suddenly, and became one of the most profane men in the land.”1 Now the fact that the boy was “much noticed and caressed” was almost certain to corrupt him, and so it did. I fear that older saints, by unwise endeavors to encourage the piety or the ministry of the young, in the long run actually destroy it. It is true that some timid souls need to be encouraged, but no one needs to be “much noticed and caressed.” Fair winds are much harder to bear than foul, and when such attention is given to the young, it is almost certain to corrupt and destroy them. Parents, pastors, or somebody ought to give an effectual check to such attention—-to put an effectual stop to it as soon as ever it begins. Perhaps the only effectual way to stop it is to keep the young away from the public limelight, to restrain and hold them back until they have gained ballast enough to bear it. This is the course which Paul prescribes for a novice.

Alexander relates another case:

“G.H. was an obscure apprentice to a tanner. He was seen attending prayer-meetings, and one wet evening, when the good simple old man who conducted the meeting found none to aid him in the prayers, he asked this boy if he would not pray. The youth consented, and the people who were present reported that no minister could make a better prayer. He was thenceforward called out, upon all occasions. Even in church, the minister after sermon would call on G.H. to pray, and all wondered how this boy, who had nothing but the most common education in the world, could excel the most learned and eloquent ministers in prayer; and some good people would rather hear G.H. pray, than listen to the best sermon. After some time, however, there was a manifest change. The style of his prayers became more artificial and elaborate, and there was an observable straining after striking expressions. But it was resolved that he should be a preacher.—-God had determined otherwise; for though he was sent to school and afterwards to college, the Presbytery would not receive him when he offered himself as a candidate; his vanity and arrogance had become so manifest and insupportable. He was mortified and grievously offended, and immediately engaged in the study of the law. His course was downward, and his end hopeless. Man looketh on the outward appearance, but God judgeth the heart. Gifts are no sign of grace.”2

It is necessary to inform my readers that Alexander relates these cases for an entirely different purpose from mine. He is discussing the evanescence of much of child piety, but if the piety of that boy was evanescent, was there no reason for it? My heart bled ere I had finished reading half of the account, for it was as clear as the daylight what the end would be. Alexander was a Calvinist, and so must assume that the boy had no more actual piety than appeared in the man at the end of his course. He had gifts, but not grace. I cannot say so. Paul says, “lest he fall into the condemnation of the devil.” We do not fall into the same state we were in before. The course which the older Christians took with this young man was almost certain to secure his fall.

But observe, though all the young are necessarily novices, they are not all equally inclined to pride. Boys seem to be much more inclined to it than girls. The attentions, or the position, which will lift a boy up with pride, may not have the same effect on a girl—-and what will destroy one boy may not hurt another. Some children may endure the limelight, and be uncorrupted by it. Some novices might not be lifted up with pride, though made an elder in the church. Paul does not present this as a certainty, but only as a likelihood. But that likelihood being what it is, he advises us not to make any novice an elder, because some will be destroyed by it. The same, it seems, is the only wise course in dealing with young people. They have no tried character. No parent can point to his son, and say he will not be lifted up with pride, if he is pushed forward into the places which naturally belong to those of more years.

The plain fact is, to deal with children as though they were adults always involves a risk. The wise refuse to take that risk. Those who take that risk are unwise, but it seems to me that there is more involved in the matter than a mere lack of wisdom. I have seen enough of children being pushed into places beyond their years, and I fear the root of the matter is something positively sinful.

It is the pride of the parents which wishes to see their children shine. Parental pride prods the children into places in which they are likely to be lifted up with pride—-and so the pride of the parents is visited upon the children. This is an awfully solemn matter. Likewise, the pride of pastors wishes to see their own people shine. It is likely the same pride which moves leaders to publish their success stories—-for when those successes prove to be failures, their readers never see a word of that. Meanwhile they may actually contribute to the failure of their novices, by blazoning their names abroad. Sectarian pride wishes to make its adherents shine. The young and the novices are therefore put forward, into places for which they have no spiritual fitness, whatever their natural abilities may be. This is a great evil, and one which the spirit of the age greatly encourages at the present time. The spirit of the age must be repudiated, and if that spirit appears in the church, it must be resisted there. God’s ways are right, and the consequences of departing from them may be both woeful and eternal.

Glenn Conjurske