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DUTIES OF PARENTS

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 13, 1869

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 33, No. 16.

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DUTIES OF PARENTS.

By W. B. Castle

On the importance of this subject it is hardly necessary to speak, as every person at all familiar with the holy Scriptures must acknowledge that it is one in which is involved the present usefulness, and future salvation of our children.
That every Christian family should be well organized must be concluded by all who regard order of any value. In order to this, there must of necessity be a head. The Scriptures define who that shall be—first the father, second, the mother. Both, of course, should act in harmony. Anciently, to teach the law of God to their children, on all occasions, was enjoined upon every parent. Deut. xi, 18, 19. This duty we believe is still obligatory upon the people of God. May we receive wisdom and grace to engage in this work with a sense of our great responsibility. When we ourselves “tremble at the words of the God of Israel,” we shall, we trust, be more earnestly engaged in teaching their sacred principles to those whom God has given us.
But parents are instructed, when their children refuse instruction, to require obedience—to have them in subjection. In these “perilous times,” the majority of families are ruled by their children, especially the younger portion of them.
Of Abraham, the Lord said, I know him, that he will command his children and household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment. Gen. xviii, 19. See also Prov. xxii, 6. Let all who desire to be Abraham’s children, do the works of Abraham. John viii, 39.
God brought sore judgments upon the house of Eli, “because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.” How many there are who are as tender as was this ancient man, who will doubtless be punished for the same reason that his family was.
Again, it is said, that “a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.” Prov. xxix, 15. In these days of great moral declension, how dreadfully do we see this scripture illustrated. Let us not neglect our children. How responsible is the relationship of parent!
The object of these few lines will be attained, if any shall by this be stirred up to duty.
W. B. CASTLE.
Hillsdale, Mich.