154 MORAL CONDITION OF THE CHILD 



nomenon realized and treat the child accordingly. 

 Just as we observe the awakening of self-con- 

 sciousness and the faculty of reasoning, so we 

 should observe the awakening of the moral fac- 

 ulty and seek at that point to have it choose right- 

 eousness as such. That choice for the child is 

 tantamount to the choosing of God. It has all the 

 significance for the spiritual relation to God for 

 the child that conversion has in riper years for 

 the adult. I do not mean to say that a child can 

 at that time make a choice that carries it un- 

 changingly into the future, as the adult may. The 

 child's nature requires that this choice be con- 

 firmed by every succeeding choice. But the choice 

 for the moment contains the child's religious re- 

 lation for the moment. If that choice is confirmed 

 ever afterwards, the child is an acceptable child 

 of God ; if a contrary choice is subsequently made, 

 it will need to seek forgiveness, just as the adult 

 does when he falls from grace. This moral con- 

 dition has the childish element of instability; but 

 it has no taint of sin upon it. The instability 

 suggests the child's moral dependence upon par- 

 ents and teachers. It can not live its moral life 

 alone any more than it can live its physical life 

 alone. The parent is the child's moral supple- 

 ment 



