Our Duty to Our Children
By F. G.
THE end is at hand. What we do must be done quickly. Every Adventist should feel the truth of this. If he does, there will be a thrill of life all along the line and in every department of the work. No greater work was ever committed to man than that which is given to this people. But we can not fully sense the importance of this work by talking about it. We must engage heartily in discharging all the duties which are entailed upon us by this message. Our first duty is to our own children. We do not have to consider the subject long to recognize that these days are times of peculiar trial for children. But the promises of God are as sure now as they have ever been in past times, and they shine out the more brightly in the midst of the moral darkness in which we now are placed, and by the sure and bright promises we must be guided. No work that man can ever assume is so freighted with solemn and important responsibility as is that of the rearing of children, and to the parent who is conscientious there is no responsibility in life that can weigh more heavily. To know how and when to reprove and to commend, to be able to surround the child with strong and pure influences, to be patient with all his trying ways—these and a multitude more of exceedingly perplexing problems constantly present themselves for the most serious consideration of the just and wise parent. But if this serious consideration is given to these problems, if the counsel of the Lord, which he has given in his Word and by the spirit of prophecy is prayerfully followed, we have his sure promise that our child thus trained in the way of the Lord will not depart from it as he comes to manhood’s years. What courage there is to be found in the record of the parents of Moses, of Samuel, of John the Baptist, of Timothy, and of many other godly men. The seed of the abundant harvest of these men’s lives must certainly have been watered by the prayers and tears of their faithful parents. But God can not work with us to the salvation of our children unless we walk fully in the light of the counsel which he gives to us. Upon no one subject concerning our duties to our children has the Lord, in recent years, spoken more positively and forcibly than upon that of their education. Now, when we have been thus expressly instructed, can we reasonably expect God to bless our efforts to secure the salvation of our children21if we neglect this important matter of securing for them the privileges of a Christian education? Our hope can lie only in walking in all the counsel of the Lord. When we are thus walking, we may certainly be full of courage and reasonably expect God to make our children instruments of service in his cause of right. F. G.