p. 140 | THREE THINGS

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 26, 1869

THREE THINGS.

1. What ought to have been. Israel should have obeyed God in everything. In particular should they have kept that precept which bade them instruct their children in the knowledge of divine truth, and especially of the wonderful works of God. Thus God commanded, saying:

“When thy son asketh thee in time to come saying, what mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord our God hath commanded you? Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt; and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand; and the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes; and he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers. And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day. And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.” Deut. vi, 20–25.

They were to repeat these things to their children when they went out, and when they came in; when they laid down and when they rose up, and in fact there was never to be a time when this should not be the theme of discourse. Deut. xi, 18–21.

Had this precept been obeyed, sin would never have gained the ascendancy, and Israel would never have gone into captivity before their enemies.

2. What was done? Israel neglected this provision of such vital consequence. The generation that saw God’s mighty works, passed away without transmitting to their successors the knowledge of these things. Thus we read:

“And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord that he did for Israel. . . . And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers; and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim. And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, . . . and followed other gods, . . . and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger, . . . and he sold them into the hand of their enemies.” Judges ii, 7, 10–14.

3. What the day of Judgment will show. When that generation which made so signal a failure in the performance of the work assigned them, shall awake in the Judgment, what astonishment and terror will seize them as they behold the result of their conduct. And what had they done? Simply nothing: They had merely neglected their duty. But that neglect had resulted in terrible ruin to their children. How many readers of the REVIEW can honestly and truthfully declare that they have earnestly endeavored to do their duty to their children? The day is coming that will show what every one has done. Who of us shall stand?