Its Religious Opportunities by J. O. Corliss

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Sep 5, 1912

Its Religious Opportunities

By J. O. Corliss

Home Life—No. 4

Its Religious Opportunities

J. O. CORLISS

HOME and family are God’s gifts to humanity for its elevation heavenward. Every child born into the world has given to it, first of all, the influence of home tuition, that under its leadings he may be qualified for the riper duties of advanced life, and in turn give character to those who may be committed to his care. This consideration adds dignity and responsibility to family and home cares, which should be duly recognized by the head of every household.

Parental authority, therefore, should ever be exercised as a God-given obligation, rather than one of impulse. Every precept issued should have the uplift of character in view, and when delivered, its object should be well set forth in gentle words, either by the relation of some incident or by an illustrative representation. To some this may seem a rather slow and troublesome process, but in the end it will be found to pay, because, when followed, less hasty and regrettable orders will be issued, which are likely to result in their careless observance, or what is worse, deliberate neglect, and consequent loss of respect for all parental direction.

It is not only the privilege, but the duty of parents to instil true principles in the child’s mind as early as he can comprehend them in their simple form. The same responsibility requires also that just behavior toward parents and all others be taught the child while in its infancy. As the child advances to the prattling age, where it picks up a vocabulary, it should be taught the impropriety of using low street words, which so easily find their way into many families. If anything in the use of words outside of positive profanity shows lack of refinement, such expressions as “you bet,” “you’re a peach,” “you kid,” are certainly in the list of inelegancies. A gentle parental rebuke should follow the use of such expressions before children by any one happening to come among them. Should the child pick up any of them from those outside the home, and repeat them in the home, he should be led to see how uncouth they make him appear in the presence of those whose friendship is desirable.

It is not best to let these things pass by unnoticed, or if noticed, simply call them “cute” sayings; for the retention of these will but court the presence of others as bad or worse, until the child will be on the way to manhood with these blemishes more prominent than his virtues. Having carried them so long, there is little hope of reform, and so these marks of cheap discipline follow on to become the standard of expression in the next generation. The time for reforming any of these bad habits is in childhood, when the mind is plastic and impressionable. Thus the instruction of the Lord is: “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Prov. 22: 6. The instruction here inculcated can not be misapplied if one teaches the way in harmony with the following exhortation: “Provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” Eph. 6: 4.

By these injunctions parents are made responsible for the moral well-being of their children, and therefore should use every legitimate means to secure their salvation. It will be well, however, to

see that in doing a duty in this direction one does not make the mistake of provoking the child to wrath, or perverseness. Many children have been driven to desperation by overrigidity in moral discipline. Let this point be carefully studied, and earnestly plead with God to prevent the fatal mistake. Speaking of God’s leading, the psalmist says, “Thy gentleness hath made me great.”

The first point to be gained is to win the unswerving love of the child, and the second, to have the desired conduct properly set forth in daily parental example. For instance, let no burst of passion betray a spirit in contradiction to the oral teaching given. Be careful that no bickering over trifles occurs between parents. One can afford to yield his opinion or preserve quiet for the sake of example, and the good of observing children. Ideas of worship should be assiduously taught to the dawning intellect of the young brain, not only by oral precept, but by positive example as well. The parent who supposes that the small child takes no notice of passing events in the family circle, and therefore is careless of his conduct before him, sooner or later will doubtless be reminded of the true situation by some remark dropped by the child, in a confidential way, in dialogue with a companion.

In later years, many wonder why their children seem to have so little regard for Sabbath sanctity, and question the reason for it, when they have been so correctly taught the obligation of the weekly rest. It may be that in some of these cases the parents might discover the cause by reviewing their own Sabbath record. Perhaps while they were orally teaching the child the sacredness of the weekly rest, they themselves were violating the principles of their own instruction. Possibly some Sabbath necessities, which ought to have been attended to on a prior day, were left to be attended to on the Sabbath itself. Perchance business matters were talked over, and plans laid for the approaching week’s work.

In all this, the children are led to see that the Sabbath may be used in secular ways without detriment to a religious profession, and this impression follows on to become a part of their own experience. When due preparation has not been made for each approaching Sabbath, that day fails to accomplish for the family what it was designed to do. The mind needs to be gradually called away from worldly cares by previous preparation, so that when the Sabbath arrives, it may be hailed as a gift of heavenly peace, by which one is to be brought more nearly into holy communion with the mind of Jehovah. Let these preparation duties be the foreshadowing of the Sabbath itself, and then when the holy time arrives, labor will be mute, tumult and care will be hushed.

Stupid indeed must be the mind that will not feel a holy thrill of joy and peace upon entering the Sabbath time, if the proper preparatory program has been followed. The children will not be slow to perceive a radiant change in the family bearing, and by thus beholding, they, too, will be changed into the same image. So the entire family may be in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and behold visions of ultimate glory in the loyal service of their Master.

Such Sabbath occasions would quickly dispel the notion obtained by some that the day was designed for physical rest alone, and to be used in sleepy, animal sluggishness. Idleness is not rest to the mind, any more than laziness is rest to the body. Genuine rest is that which comes from a change of occupation. Whereas the mind has been quite fully employed with secular things during the six working-days, on the Sabbath let it be entirely given to the things of God. Let worldly plans and pleasure-seeking be turned away, that the home may be wholly sanctified unto the Lord.

No child should be left to doubt or suspect his parents’ faith. The home should be a place where the very soul of the parents is laid bare to the child, where communion in eternal matters is free, that the soul of the child may be nourished, and built up to meet life’s conflicts in a Christian way. Many a man who has been able to pray for himself, and even for others, has failed of courage to pray with and for his children. Let this barrier of coldness be melted by the fire of God’s love, and then tender fellowship will be established between parent and child. The future good of the children depends on this. Let the family life be such that in the end it may be said to the Lord by every parent, Here am I, and the children whom thou hast given me.

Mountain View, Cal.