Why am I telling you these things?

(J. C. Ryle, "A bad heart")

The firstborn in Adam's house was Cain--a murderer.

The family of Noah, that just man, contained Ham
--the wicked father of Canaan, the accursed race.

Abraham was the father of Midian--an idolatrous
people who deceived Israel in the wilderness.

Isaac was the father of Esau--that "profane person."

Jacob was the father of Reuben--who defiled his father's bed.

Eli, the priest of the Lord, was the father of Hophni and
Phinehas--who made people abhor the offering of God.

David, the man after God's own heart, was the
father of immoral Absalom and Amnon.

Hezekiah, that godly man, was the father of
Manasseh--the most wicked of the kings of Judah.

Why am I telling you these things? I tell you them
to show you that good education and good example
alone, cannot make our children godly--without
the grace of God; and to show you how deeply rooted
is the corruption of our natural dispositions!