Wesley Corpus

13. To come to particulars. What can parents do, and mothers more especially, to whose care our children are necessarily committed in their tender years, with regard to the Atheism that is natural to all the children of men How is this fed by the generality of parents, even those that love, or at least fear, God; while, in spending hours, perhaps days, with their children, they hardly name the name of God! Meantime, they talk of a thousand other things in the world that is round about them. Will not then the things of the present world, which surround these children on every side, naturally take up their thoughts, and set God at a greater distance from them (if that be possible) than he was before Do not parents feed the atheism of their children farther, by ascribing the works of creation to nature Does not the common way of talking about nature leave God quite out of the question Do they not feed this disease, whenever they talk in the hearing of their children, of anything happening so or so Of things coming by chance Of good or ill fortune As also when they ascribe this or that event to the wisdom or power of men; or, indeed, to any other second causes, as if these governed the world Yea, do they not feed it unawares, while they are talking of their own wisdom, or goodness, or power to do this or that, without expressly mentioning, that all these are the gift of God All this tends to confirm the Atheism of their children, and to keep God out of their thoughts.