Ryle: "... it is never too soon to strive and pray for the salvation of the souls of children"

Mark 9 v 21(CSB)

21 “How long has this been happening to him?” Jesus asked his father.

We read a fearful description of the miseries inflicted by Satan on the young man whose case is here recorded. And we are told that he had been in this awful state “from childhood” (verse 21).

We must labor to do good to our children even from their earliest years. If Satan begins to harm them so early, we must not be behind him in diligence to lead them to God. How soon in life a child becomes responsible and accountable is a difficult question to solve.

Perhaps far sooner than many of us suppose. One thing at all events is very clear: it is never too soon to strive and pray for the salvation of the souls of children—never too soon to speak to them as moral beings and tell them of God and Christ and right and wrong.

The devil, we may be quite sure, loses no time in endeavoring to influence the minds of young people. He begins with them “from childhood.” Let us work hard to counteract him. If young hearts can be filled by Satan, they can also be filled with the Spirit of God.

See J. C. Ryle, Mark, Crossway Classic Commentaries (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1993), 132.

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