A sad story emerged out of church history when a Christian parent sought the best for his children's education merely by the means of the world's definition. We have lauded the ministry of Charles Wesley, but the way he approached the teaching of his two sons, Charles and Samuel, led to a sad conclusion in the investment of life in the Wesley's next generation.

Both of these sons were brilliant and gifted in music, evident by the ages of four and five. Their earliest compositions came at those ages, and as time progressed, music authorities viewed their futures as great as Handel's and Bach's. In order to raise money for their music schooling, Charles and the family went on tours to present his gifted children. John Wesley warned his brother of the potential dangers and especially of the pressure being placed upon Charles by prominent individuals to send his sons to Europe's finest music teachers. But these warnings went unheeded. During those days when a child prodigy was furthered in his education, he lived with the teacher for many months at a time, as Charles' sons did at a young age. Living with such teachers instilled not only their knowledge of music but also their daily manner of living and their religious philosophy. By the time these sons were in their late teens, being so long away from their family, they had come to reject the God of their father. They also had come to believe they were so perfect in their instrumental playing that they did not need to practice as they used to. They did reach a certain stage of brilliance but could have gone further if they had intensified their practicing. What was the outcome of their lives? Charles ended up writing not only classical music but also a number of masses for the Roman Catholic Church. Samuel ended up living with a harlot and an illegitimate child; and although he wrote a number of classical pieces and symphonies, his life and contributions were spiritually dead.

Amidst all of the warnings we have heard in recent years about the secularism and atheism permeating higher education in our country, we are hearing of more Fundamentalists' children going to secular universities and pursuing the education of the world. Some may reason that "Moses and Daniel were able to do it without being affected, and my children will be the same." But there are two observations that must be made: first, our children are probably not of the spiritual caliber of Moses and Daniel; and, second, God's providence literally threw these two men as children into their educational context. They did not pursue it. When we hear of young Fundamentalists attending Roman Catholic universities simply because of the prestige of the school, we shudder to think how other young people will be influenced.

How often Christian youth have been sent to a school of the world for their music training and have come back with a changed philosophical presupposition concerning music! Once a Christian has tasted the world's view of music or even a "less-than-the-best" view of music, it will be next to impossible for him to ever come back to the true, biblical music. Once the mind is damaged by the contemporary sound over a process of time, it will never hear the same again.