Train Up A Child

Train Up A Child

Even more important to Charles Hodge than his students were his own children.

YESTERDAY we read of the great ministry to students that theologian Charles Hodge had while teaching on the faculty at Princeton Seminary. But even more important to Hodge than his students were his own children.

The Hodge children were an active and lively bunch who loved to play in their large house on the seminary grounds as well as on the campus. Whenever Hodge was not teaching a class, he was at his study in his home. From the summer of 1833 to the winter of 1836 Hodge even taught his classes in his home—either in the large back parlor or in his study. Hodge’s study was also where the seminary faculty meetings were held and where college and seminary professors would gather for regular times of discussion and fellowship. Almost every night a colleague, pastor, or scholar stopped by, and the children looked on with interest as great debates and discussions took place.

Hodge’s study had two doors. One was an outside door for students or other faculty members to use. The other door was into the main hall of the house so that he was always available to his children. One of his sons recalled how he led daily family prayers and taught his children at his knee with such tenderness that however naughty they may have been, their hearts melted at his touch. As part of their morning family worship they repeated a personal consecration to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that Hodge had written for his family. In such an atmosphere of openness and availability, the children followed their father’s faith, and each made an early commitment to the Lord Jesus.

Many of the students became familiar to the family. When Hodge’s ten-year-old son, Archibald, and daughter Mary Elizabeth heard that James Eckard, one of the seminary graduates, was soon to set sail as a missionary to Ceylon, the two children wrote a letter on June 23, 1833, to send with Eckard. It read:

Dear Heathen:

The Lord Jesus Christ hath promised that the time shall come when all the ends of the earth shall be His kingdom. And God is not a man that He should lie nor the son of man that He should repent. And if this is promised by a Being who cannot lie, why do you not help it to come sooner by reading the Bible, and attending the words of your teachers, and loving God, and renouncing your idols, take Christianity into your temples? And soon there will be not a Nation, no, not a space of ground as large as a footstep, that will not want a missionary. My sister and myself have, by small self-denials, procured two dollars which are enclosed in this letter to buy tracts and Bibles to teach you.

Archibald Alexander Hodge and Mary Elizabeth Hodge

Friends of the Heathen

Archibald Alexander Hodge grew up to succeed his father as professor of systematic theology at Princeton Seminary.

Reflection

We can see the priority that Charles Hodge placed on spending time with his children. Many of the most important lessons we can impart to children come about because we are in the right place at the right time to teach them. Can you think of ways that God can use you more in the lives of the children in your sphere of influence?

Teach your children to choose the right path, and when they are older, they will remain upon it.

Proverbs 22:6