Responsibility of Parents by John N. Quinn

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 28, 1912

Responsibility of Parents

By John N. Quinn

GREAT are the possibilities that lie within reach of every Seventh-day Adventist young person, but these possibilities depend entirely upon coming and remaining in personal touch with Jesus Christ, the source of all success.

The Salt River Valley in Arizona contained tremendous agricultural possibilities, yet it was valueless through lack of water. March 18, 1911, the Roosevelt Dam, at Phoenix, Ariz., was dedicated. The dam was started Sept. 20, 1906, and in the extraordinary character and number of difficulties surmounted in the construction, it ranks first among the irrigation structures on the American continent. It is of gigantic proportions, and cost $3,500,000. On the day of dedication, by touching a button, Mr. Roosevelt opened the dam, and millions of gallons of water were poured upon the Salt River Valley. Land formerly worthless became valuable; the barren land became fruitful; the desert was made to blossom as the rose.

Recognizing the possibilities possessed by the human soul, possibilities limited not by time, but bound only by eternity, God, in the gift of Jesus Christ, made an investment by which they may become a reality. The Salt River Valley farmer has it in his power to make his land fertile, or to allow it to remain desolate. The water is his to be used; a failure to use it means barrenness of soil. The touch of faith brings the soul, barren and unfruitful as it is, in contact with Jesus Christ, who pours into the thirsty heart living water,—water from that inexhaustible source, the throne of God. The Holy Spirit, in the submissive, believing soul, is a well of water, springing up into everlasting life. The greatest need of both young and old is the inflowing and infilling of the Holy Spirit.

For over twenty years I have made careful observations of families of believers as well as unbelievers, and have noted that where there is true, lasting love between husband and wife, father and mother, the children are affected by it, so that they develop a nobility of character that is pleasing to God. I have noticed far too frequently the opposite of this. Where the father is overbearing, dictatorial, and where discord pervades the home, the children almost invariably go wrong, caring but little for God or his service. “Love not manifested will die,” and in the home love must be seen. In the ideal home God’s character can be revealed as in no other place, and God is calling, calling for Christian homes, telling us of their effect upon the lives of the children.

Let these ideal homes, homes which are a foretaste of heaven, exist wherever Seventh-day Adventism exists, and from them will go forth into our institutions and into the great needy world a stream of young people in harmony with the Infinite,—young people who will be used of God in bringing men and women into touch with Jesus Christ, who is a revelation of God’s love to men.

“There is beauty all around, When there’s love at home; There is joy in every sound, When there’s love at home. “Jesus, make me wholly thine, Then there’s love at home; May thy sacrifice be mine, Then there’s love at home.”

JOHN N. QUINN.