PARENTAL DUTIES by C. A. Osgood

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 23, 1867

PARENTAL DUTIES.

By C. A. Osgood

Most parents, in a civilized land, realize the duty, the necessity, of providing for the physical wants of their children. To neglect to do this is regarded as unkind, as very wrong, and justly so. But children have mental and moral natures to be cultivated, to be provided for. And some professing the Advent faith are insensible with regard to the duty of bringing up their children “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” Children are ignorant of divine things; they need to be instructed. They are ofttimes wayward, they need to be corrected. They are often self-willed, they need to be brought into subjection to rightful authority. God has intrusted them to the care of their parents, to train them, and to instruct them. In the days of Moses, God said to the Hebrew nation, “These words which I command thee shall be in thy heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently to thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou liest down and when thou risest up, when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way.” These children who are living now, near the close of probation, when God purposes to “turn the hearts of the children to the fathers,” need religious instruction as much and even more than those who lived in the days of Moses. The things to be taught are the words which God has commanded. Glorious words, words of awful import are these. God’s commands are “holy, just and good.” These are adapted to the wants of the young as well as the old. “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word?” These commands are to be taught, not carelessly, or occasionally, but diligently, “when thou liest down,” the last thing at night; “when thou risest up,” the first thing in the morning. The truths of God should be the great subject of discourse, “when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way.” This is reasonable, because God’s revealed truth, is the most precious, the most important of all truths. It is able to make mankind, young and old, “wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” This saving power children need. Why should people spend their early years, in ignorance, without God and without a well-grounded hope in Jesus Christ? Why should they lose these years, so precious, in the service of sin and Satan?

But children need more than teaching. Their wills need to be subdued, their waywardness to be corrected. God has given parents authority to command, and children are commanded to “obey their parents in the Lord.” It is not only the duty of parents to give the word of command, but to enforce obedience. Of Abraham God said, “I know him that he will command his household and his children after him, and they shall do justice and judgment.” But Eli did not do so. He reproved his sons for evil doing, yet he “restrained them not” when they “made themselves vile,” and God signally manifested his displeasure toward both father and sons for their conduct. Alas! how many parents imitate Eli, reprove their children, sometimes very earnestly, but never restrain them! And how many more permit them to go on in wrong courses without even reproving them! In these last days, according to the prediction of Paul, children are emphatically “disobedient to parents.” And why is this? Mainly because parents have neglected to enforce obedience. The favorable time to begin to do this, when the child first begins to understand the parent’s will, is passed by; the child is permitted to have his own will in opposition to that of the parent; and thus commences his career of disobedience. Many parents think that when the children grow older they will do better; that they will have more regard for the wishes of the parents, but in most instances they find, as time passes on, that the unsubdued will grows and strengthens, as the children grow older, until the parents are brought in subjection to the children, and God’s order is reversed. Thus parents are, to a great extent, the occasion of this state of things.

Children are subject to many follies. “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.” A faithful parent corrects his children in whom he delights; but the unfaithful one lets them go on in their course of folly to destruction. The child who has his own way is a great trouble to himself, to his parents, and to all around him. He can not live long in the world without having his wishes crossed, and whenever this takes place he becomes exceedingly unhappy.

The duty of parents is expressed in these few words, “Train up a child in the way he should go.” To train, means much more than to give a little advice occasionally, or to make a few listless, casual efforts toward disciplining children. To train persons to become skillful mechanics, or learned men, requires constant, patient, long-continued effort, and so it is with regard to preparing men to become soldiers. Children are disposed to go wrong; they wish not to be restrained, but like the wild colt to go where they please and do what they please. To train them to become obedient and useful is laborious, and requires persevering effort in the right direction. How are soldiers trained? Does every one do as he pleases? No. Order must be observed. Superiors must be obeyed. Order is Heaven’s rule too. There must be order in the family. Obedience not once or twice merely, but always. And without order no family can be a happy one. How pleasant it is to behold a family, where order reigns, where each member moves in his or her proper sphere, where parents truly love their children, and children love to obey their parents. To no people are these things so important as to those who are looking for the speedy coming of our Saviour, and who believe it necessary to keep the commandments of God in order to be ready to meet him. There is but a brief space of time for the young or the old to prepare for this great event, before it will be too late. How earnestly they should choose those to whom is entrusted the care of children, labor and pray for their salvation. One of the commandments of God is, “Honor thy father and thy mother.” Those who live, and continue to live, in neglect of the duties required in this fifth commandment, will be unprepared for that day. Besides, children need to be trained to be helpers in proclaiming this last message of mercy. Those families where the children are unruly, if they profess present truth, cast a shadow, a dark one, over the truth, and may hinder some from embracing it. But those who have faithful children, and otherwise walk worthy of God, will shed a glorious light around them, that others will see, and be led to “glorify our Father in Heaven.” C. A. Osgood.