Something
about the
Care of the Body
for Children
by
August Gottlieb Spangenberg
Barby [1], 1792.
Available in the Brethren’s Congregations
1.
After God had made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all the creatures who are in heaven and earth and in the sea, He finally made human beings. He could have let them come into being with a word as He had the other things, but He set to work in another way. Just as a potter takes a clump of clay and forms a vessel out of it, God the Lord took a piece of earth and out of it made the body of the first human being and He gave life to this body through His breath. He made him in His image and Eve, who was to be with him as his helpmeet, was built from a rib taken from him. Thus first came to be the body that we have and it is a masterpiece of the wisdom, goodness and complete power of the Creator.
2.
After the first people by disobeying and transgressing had sinned against the commandment given to them by the Lord they had incurred the sentence of death. The Creator was sorry for them and sought to help the human race again. He decided to become a human Being in order to die for human beings, to redeem them through His death and to bring them to everlasting life. To this end, God His dear Father through the Holy Spirit prepared for Him a Body in the Womb of the Virgin Mary. As other children have flesh and blood He also partook of the same. But without sin. Thus He had a body and all the members, like any other human: He got hungry and ate food, He got thirsty and drank, He got weary and then He slept; He worked with His Hands, because He was a Carpenter; He always journeyed from Galilee to Jerusalem and back on Foot. His Ears heard the pleas of the suffering, who expected and received help from Him; His Eyes wept over Jerusalem when He looked at the city, His Head was crowned with thorns, etc. From all of this we see that our Lord Jesus Christ had a Body and the same Members that other humans have. And He has them still, for after His Resurrection He showed His Disciples His Hands and Feet that had been pierced with nails and His Side that had been pierce trough with a spear. Look, dear Children, it must therefore be no little matter, that we have a body and members, because our Lord Jesus Christ became like us in that respect.
God gave you your body and its members as well, dear Children. Thus it says in the Small Catechism of the blessed Dr. Luther: “I believe that God has created me and given me body and soul, reason and all senses” That you can hear, see, feel, smell, taste, this is a gift from the Lord.
Since He has given you the body and your members and life for them and since it is He Who preserves your body, and your members and life, you must thank Him for this and use them in such a way as He would have you [to use them].
3.
But I want to say even more to you. You have been baptized and through Baptism have become the Temple of the Holy Spirit, children of God and members of the Body of Christ, that is His Church. You will know the little saying: “Do you not know that you are the Temple of God and His Dwelling and the Spirit of God dwells in you?” As well as the little saying “Do you not know that your bodies are Christ’s members?” Since then your bodies are a dwelling place of God and members of Jesus, you will understand that you must not treat your bodies and members foolishly but serve them and care for them in the sense and according to the will of the Lord. How this can and must be done is what I want to speak to you about.
When you were still very small and were brought to Holy Baptism, you didn’t know how to use your hands and feet and how you were to experience your body. When you were hungry or thirsty or tired, or when something hurt you, you cried then, because you couldn’t speak or say your concerns. Then your parents and the ones who cared for you had to think: “What does the child need?” They tried this and that until they found what it was you wanted. Our Lord and Savior, the Giver of all Good Things, placed such love for children in the hearts of your parents and caretakers that without wearying they concerned themselves with your needs and when you cried they did not rest until they could find what you needed.
When you learned to sit on a little chair and speak and walk, you could not wash yourself right away and comb or dress yourself or eat by yourself. All of that had to be thought of and taken care of by your dear parents. And I have seen that Children, who have been cared for most carefully, sometimes are naughty and are contrary and have cried. They of course don’t yet understand what is good and necessary for them.
But you, dear children, are now bigger and probably understand what I am saying to you. Your powers of understanding are still growing but stand you in good stead in the care and service of your body when used correctly. For example, you see that children like to go on the ice in the winter and you also hear that many of them fall and are hurt. So if you want to act reasonably, don’t go alone into places like that where it is slick and slippery. When your parents tell you something and you listen right away and gladly, then much harm can be avoided. For example,, children like to touch everything. When something sharp is on the table and they reach for it, one says to them “Leave that alone.” If they listen, they don’t hurt themselves. Indeed, one child can help another. For example, if a child has a knife in his hand and runs around in the room with it, another child can say to him, “O, put that knife down, you might fall with it.” And it is good if he listens right away. You know the little [hymn] verse: “The king wants to honor the kind of people who listen to every child with benefit and gladly know that they are pupils and must learn [2].” The most important thing is this: If you continue and remain childlike in the Covenant of Grace that God made with you in your Holy Baptism, the Holy Spirit will dwell in your hearts and remind you of everything that you must do and avoid, even in regard to you bodies. To this you must well pay attention and be obedient. You know the little verse: “The Holy Angels are ministering spirits sent out to serve those who are to inherit blessedness.” And what the Lord our Savior says: “The angels of the children always see the face of the Father in Heaven.” So pray to God that He might preserve and protect you, even in the body, through His Holy Angels. In this way many misfortunes will be turned away from you, without your even knowing about it.
5.
In the care of the body much depends on keeping it clean. Dear Children, when you were small, your mothers and caretakers kept you clean. Now you are bigger and it is reasonable that you are now expected as soon as possible to learn to keep your body and members clean. You wash in the morning and then as often as necessary you wash not only your hands but your face as well, in cold water. And be sure to get the impurities that gather there out of your eyes. It is also very good when you wash daily with water that part of your head that is behind the ears. Likewise take cold water in your mouth and gargle so that your gums become clean. Commonly a slime builds up on the teeth and you can rub this away with your fingers each day when you have water in your mouth.
You also have to keep your ears clean. When you find it necessary to make water or to go to the toilet, do not delay, for this will harm you. One will not neglect admonishing you to cleanliness. The feet must also be washed from time to time.
6.
The clothing we need is also part of the care of the body. God wants us to cover our bodies and not go around naked. He Himself gave the first humans clothing made of skins. Thus it is God’s way of ordering things that children cover their bodies and not expose themselves to others. When you were still small you couldn’t dress yourselves. Now that you are getting bigger it is necessary that you learn to do this. And the sooner you learn to do this the better. It is not difficult if you let yourself be instructed how this is to be done. I have known children who, when they undressed in the evening before going to bed, laid their clothing in such order that everything had its place. They did this so that they could find everything in the dark and have everything handy. For it can come to pass that a child must get up quickly in the night and dress itself, for example if there is danger from a fire or if something else happens to it. And it helps them in the morning when they want to dress that they don’t have to look around for a long time but have everything close at hand. Don’t only be content with the clothes given to you by the Good Lord through your parents and other friends, but be grateful as well. Always remember: “I am unworthy of the least of these and I am pleasing to God not because of a beautiful dress but for the sake of Christ.” Treat your clothes in a nice, orderly fashion and keep yourselves clean. Keep buttoned up what is supposed to be buttoned. Don’t become accustomed to keeping your head too warm, but pay attention that your feet stay as warm and dry as possible. Concerning clothing I must still remind you, that some children have better and prettier clothing than other children whose parents are unable to procure such expensive clothing for themselves and their children. Thus such children as have better clothing must not imagine themselves any better than other children who have lesser clothing than they and look down on them. It can often be that the child in the pretty clothes is full of pride, self-will and disobedience and then does not occasion as much joy to the Savior as another child in a lesser dress, who is humble, obedient and well-behaved. Likewise it is incorrect if the children strive to be and desire to be right beautifully dressed, if they always think about pretty clothes and want to have whatever he has or he has or this has or that one and are impatient if they are not as decked out as they wish or even if they are pleased with themselves if their clothes are right pretty and they want to be praised for this. But it is a necessary thing for children to learn from the time they are small to keep their clothes orderly and clean, that they watch themselves well when they eat or drink so that they don’t spill anything or let something fall on their clothes and in their usual daily course where their clothes could get dusty or otherwise dirty, that they should not step where their shoes will get damp and dirty or where their stockings can get soiled, nor ruin or even tear their clothes by climbing or rolling around on the ground. The children do well when they themselves pay attention to their clothing so that they are brushed with a brush from time to time and when they notice a hole in their clothes or stockings or shoes to point it out before it gets any bigger so that it can be repaired. A child who goes around looking sloppy and mistreats its clothes is not worthy of the clothing it has.
The care of the body also includes the enjoyment of food and drink. God made humans beings so that they need food and drink to preserve themselves. In order to remind [the human being] to give the body what it needs, God made the human beings so that they become hungry and thirsty. And when they are hungry and thirsty, food and drink taste good to them. And so God satisfies every living thing on earth with delight. Since the good and wise Creator has so ordered it that a human being must use food and drink to continue, it behooves a child who loves the Savior to go along with His ordering. [This child] eats and drinks with thanksgiving to the Good Lord from Whom we have life and body as well as food and drink. If we had nothing but bread and water it would be enough to support us. Many thousand Israelites lived for forty years in the deserts and daily ate manna, that was their bread, and drank water with it. But God has given human beings many gifts that they can use for food and their preparation is also very varied. One person prefers to eat this, the other prefers to eat that and no one thinks the worse of them for it. But I want to counsel you, dear children, not to look down on foods with which others are content. If from your youth on you become accustomed to enjoy with thanks every food that is nourishing, even if it doesn’t taste as good to you as others, you will find in the future that that is good advice. Children usually like to eat sweets and baked goods and people like to give these to them and are accustomed to call this something good. But according to experience it is not so healthy for the children as regular foods and children do well when they take very little of sweet things and baked goods. In addition it is very good for children when they eat and drink in moderation and in an orderly fashion. Often they don’t know themselves when they have had enough. Then one is accustomed to say to them, “You’ve probably had enough now. You must stop when it tastes the best,” and then an obedient child follows. Not to do anything all day but to eat one thing after another is most unhealthy. To eat in the morning, at noon and in the evening, that is correct. When children are small and growing it is well to give them something between breakfast and dinner [3] and also between dinner and supper, a little bread or perhaps some butter and bread. If that’s what they get they will be hungry then at mealtime and, with God’s blessing, the meal will do them good. We ask for [God’s blessing] in a table prayer before eating and return thanks to the Lord after eating.
The impression that the foods, which God had designated for the nourishment and preservation of our body, are His gifts [this impression] makes the children not waste the little piece of bread they are given nor treat it inappropriately, indeed that they sit properly at table while eating, do not play with the food nor greedily gulp foods down, which is unhealthy and damaging. The Creator has given us teeth so that we can thoroughly chew meats and that sort of means of nourishment in our mouths before they come to digestion in the stomach. It is also part of the care of the body that children learn to eat properly and smartly follow the admonitions given to them to that end.
Exercising the body is also part of caring for it. When you were small, people used to rock you in a cradle. You were probably also carried or led out into the fresh air. There was a little walk band or a little walker wagon to get you used to walking. After that you ran around in the room cheerfully. Now that you’ve gotten bigger you still like to walk. But you must learn to walk carefully and smartly to stay on your path so that you don’t fall. Because there are examples of children falling on their heads and hurting them or breaking an arm or a leg. But you must learn to walk properly, that is with erect body and upright head and with paces fit to your stature. It is also very important that you not only sit quietly but also that you learn to sit correctly, not only at the table when eating and also in school and at worship [4] , but also when doing the jobs you are directed to do. More than once I have seen children who slumped in their seats and let their bodies hang down more on one side than they other and [I have seen] how they grew crookedly. Sometimes the parents or a supervisor send a child to get this or that or to carry away one thing or the other and the child sees something and stands still and look around for it and because of this forget altogether what they were told to do or they do not do it in the time they were supposed to do it. This is not good. It is especially improper for children who want to belong to the Savior to run around wild in the room, on the stairs, in the courtyard or in the street. Likewise yelling, making noise and laughing, alone or with other children. There is always silliness at hand. The dear Savior, Who, as a Human Being, lived through all your childhood years, should be your pattern in all your deportment and through His meritorious childhood He has purchased you so that you may be as He was on earth. Children have all kinds of games, but they mustn’t play them without permission from their parents or supervisors. It can be a useful exercise when they run toward a goal. They can stop when they are tired, without becoming overheated. If they like being with their parents and want to help them out by doing something useful, it will be very conducive [helpful to their development] and if the parents propose something like this, they will do well.
9.
Rest is also necessary to the care of the body. A person gets tired, even if he doesn’t work, but even more if he works. That is already rest when a person stops working and when the senses shut down, that is sleep. God Himself has ordered it thus so that body and soul may refresh and restore themselves. There are illnesses where one cannot sleep and that has bad results. Thus in sleep one sees a gracious gift of God and thanks Him heartily for it. And since even in sleep one can meet much evil, one should commend one’s self to His gracious protection if one is laying down to sleep. If children lay down or are laid down to sleep and do not go immediately to sleep it is good for them in the silence to consider how they have passed the day. This can also occur beforehand. Then they can ask the Lord our Savior for forgiveness for whatever they have overlooked and fall asleep in His peace. At the same time they can recall His gracious acts and especially that He has given His Life for them and poured out His Blood for them. They get used to laying quiet nicely and to remain under the covers for they can harm themselves if they throw them off. When they are wakened, they rouse themselves and get contentedly out of bed. Then they greet their parents and whoever else is with them and wish them a good morning. But what is a good morning? When one is in the peace of Jesus Christ and inwardly content in His dear Presence. In England many families are accustomed for the children, when they arise, to kneel before their father and mother and ask for a blessing. They lay a hand on their head with the words, “now the Lord bless you.”
10.
Do not forget, dear little children that, like other human beings, you are ruined and sinful in body and soul. People talk about “innocent children” and the proper understanding of it is this: that children, when they are protected from many evil things that happen in the world, do not know about them and have no part of them. But if one wanted to think that children as such and according to their nature were unspotted and that neither in their body nor soul there lay any ruination nor sinfulness, then one would stray certainly from the truth. For the Lord our God, Who preached a sermon to Moses and described Himself according to His Grace, Mercy and Patience, adds to this that before Him no one is guiltless. If, according to the divine pronouncement, no one is innocent before God, then neither are children innocent before Him. When God the Lord says that the thought and desire of the human heart is evil from youth upward and forever, this also includes little children.
So dear children, hear that you are also sinful human beings. In common life one sometimes hears “That person is as good as a child.” If however one takes with that the word of the Lord our Savior that “There is none good but the One Who is God the Lord,” it can be easily understood that this turn of speech is only so to be taken to mean that the person is like a child and there is nothing to be feared from him.
Why then does the Savior tell His Disciples: “You must then be converted and become like the little children, if you want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven”? Answer: the Lord our Savior had a little child in front of Him and placed it in the midst of His Disciples. They were fighting with each other about who would be the greatest and loftiest among them. In little children this vice has not awakened yet. If you place a little farmer child next to a small royal prince, they will mutually not know any difference between themselves. Such children are content with what they have today and do not worry about what tomorrow may bring. They don’t think far ahead.
I said that little children have not had the ruination awakened that lies in them by nature. With older children as the years go by, however, it expresses itself more and more that through the Fall of Adam our human nature and entire being is altogether ruined. If you yourself will just pause, you will soon perceive it in yourself, indeed you will notice it among your playmates. The following show themselves: stubbornness, self will, fretting, being hard to get along with, anger, self love, envy, disobedience, contrariness, laziness, frivolity, secretiveness, impertinence, and I could name even more sinful bad habits, even among children whose God-fearing parents try to inculcate everything good in them. An old [hymn] verse [5] says, “Body and soul are mortally wounded, there is nothing healthy about human beings.” This is our situation by nature. And if Christ had not come into the world, if He had not taken our poor form and if He had not died willingly for our sins then we would have had to be condemned eternally. Dear Children, you must never forget this, and never think anything good of yourselves or that you are any better by nature than any other human being. But we want to thank the Savior from our hearts without ceasing that He offered His Blood and His Life for us, bearing our guilt and our punishment and has reconciled us to God so that God now looks on us in Christ Jesus as His Children. And when children give Him their hearts He purifies them from all evil. Then children receive the idea, “I will have nothing to do with bad things, which make the Savior sad. I will not dwell on bad ideas nor think about them, through which my heart will grow cold and dry towards the Savior. I will not treat my body and its members in a foolish way but praise Him in my body and my spirit. Through His Grace I will become obedient, industrious and faithful.” Such a child asks the Savior daily for this: “Let the merit of Your holy childhood benefit me; let that consecrate my childhood years and form me like the Child Jesus on earth.”
11.
One is concerned, dear Children, to train you in the things that will be necessary for you in the future. You are sent to school so that you learn to read, to write and to do sums and to not remain unknowledgeable of those things which will be useful to you in an orderly life. So it is necessary that you sit still and pay attention to that which is presented to you. One is happy when one comes into your school and finds there a number of children who sit upright and watch their teacher who is instructing them without being distracted. Children like to talk with each other and like to signal each other with this or that sign or expression. If they were to do this in school they would hinder themselves and disturb the others in their learning. Children like to move their legs and are accustomed to play with their hands and fingers. It is better not to do that in school. Altogether it is my wish that you strive, where ever you are for a decent and well-behaved behavior. An unbroken spirit, bad manners, immodest answers, even to the most menial person, should be far from you. Even when children should remind each other, it should always occur with love and modesty.
12.
Sometimes children become ill. Then they receive the illness from God’s Hand, for He rules all things and not even a Sparrow falls to the earth without His knowing it. Little children cry when they have pains. Larger children can tell [their parents or supervisors] when the head or body or teeth or eyes or ears or anything else hurts them. Then one gives them something to ease their pain and for their health. This is called medicine. This is not always pleasant but children will do well if they willingly take it. In the meantime all help comes from the Lord. They must commend to Him their illness and await the hour which He has designated for their help. If children follow smartly and are patient in pain then they make it easier on themselves and on all others. The Grace for this will not be denied them if they ask the Savior for it with childlike trust. If they get better then they should thank the Lord for this.
13.
Children must never forget that they have not only a body but a soul as well that dwells in their body. If they had no soul they would neither be able to think, nor speak, nor see, nor hear, nor feel, nor smell nor taste. Just as the Holy Spirit is active to make the soul chaste and to free it from things that cannot coexist with the Love of Christ, He also desires that children present their bodies to the Lord as a living, holy sacrifice or gift, pleasing to God. In short, as body and soul are mortally wounded by nature, body and soul are cured and made healthy by the Grace of Jesus Christ.
14.
If you children remain faithful to the Savior, in His own time the Savior takes your spirit to Himself and it is eternally with the Lord. The body has no more life and it is buried in the earth and rests there until the Savior awakes it again and gives it life. And then He will make this worthless body most glorious and give it a beauty that is now incomprehensible to us for as He, our Savior, is now glorified — He shines like the sun — so He will make our bodies like unto His own.
Translated and annotated by Pastor Roy Ledbetter
Presbyter Fratrum, St. Louis, 2006
1. In exchange for a large loan the Electoral Saxon Government had leased the disused Barby castle on the Elbe River near Magdeburg to the Moravian Brethren. For many years it was the seat of a small house Congregation, the Theological Seminary and for a time even the Unity’s governing boards as well as their publishing arm. 
2. “Solche Leute will der Koenig ehren, die ein jedes Kind mit Nutzen hoeren…”
3. Dinner, the main meal of the day, was always at noon
4. Versammlungen = lit. Meetings, i.e. worship services in Moravian parlance
5. “Leib und Seel ist bis in den Tod verwundt am ganzen Menschen ist nichts gesund…”
Something
of Bodily Care for Children
Translated by Pastor Roy Ledbetter