What Can Be Done to Save the Young People in the Home?
By E. M. GRAHAM
WHEN we consider the subject of the salvation of our young people, we are brought face to face with one of the most serious problems in our work. We are losing every year a very large number of young people from the cause. The children of Sabbath keepers grow up in the truth until they reach the years when they are free from direct parental control, and then they give it up and drift away. Is there not power enough in this truth to hold our children? or is the failure somewhere else? for failure there is somewhere. What can be done to save the young people? We know there is power in this truth to hold the children, if they really receive it into their hearts. Children have stood alone in their homes, and have suffered persecution, yet have firmly refused to give up this Sabbath truth. The truth of God has as much power to hold now as it had in the past, when many children and youth suffered martyrdom rather than deny their faith. The failure is not there. It is with us, brethren and sisters. The power of the truth has not been in the lives of the men and women, and therefore the children have not received it. To them this message has seemed a mere form, having no special interest to them. Many of them plainly say that they know this message is the truth, but that they are not interested in it. This shows that they have not learned to love it; for to those who do love it, this message is of such absorbing interest that it fills their lives. What can be done to save the young people by developing in them the love of the truth? There are three phases of life that have a molding influence on the hearts and minds of the children,—the home, the school, and the church. The home is the first in order, and the one which has the greatest influence in determining the future life of the child. We have been given direct instructions in regard to the duty of parents to train their children for heaven: ‑Let parents do their duty to those who are dependent upon them, and fashion their characters after the divine Pattern. Let parents, with living faith and entire reliance upon God, do the part assigned them, and God will do his part, and thousands of children who are now without God and without hope in the world, will be added to the church.‑‑‑‑Testimonies on Sabbath School Work,‑ page 103. Many parents are desirous of helping their children, and are almost heartbroken as they see them drifting away, but they do not know how to turn their children’s interest to the truth. This is especially true in divided families. The first step to be taken by the parents is for them to center their interest in the truth. Children are interested in what interests their parents. Let them talk the message at the table, speak of the development of the work in different places, mention special manifestations of God’s power they read of in our papers, and be wide-awake all the time to keep the cause of God prominent in their conversation. Let them put enthusiasm into the study of the Sabbath school lesson, and allow nothing to interfere with this. If the children see mother hurry to get the REVIEW when it comes, hastily tear off its cover, with eager interest to see how the work is going, they will want to read it, too. This will be especially so if, with evident pleasure, she will read to them short interesting extracts as she comes to them. She can add to this interest by looking up the places on the maps with the children, that they may know where the things read of happened. Books should be read to and with the children, the father and mother taking part, and manifesting interest in the subjects. The parents need not only to talk the truth, to study and read it, but to work for it, if they are to save their children. They must have a burden for souls around them, and do all they can to save them, by distributing literature, by personal work, and by every means in their power. They should enlist their children in this work with them, planning work with and for the children, according to their ages. Children are naturally active and like to do things, and much depends upon how these activities are guided as to how the children will develop. The Testimonies speak very plainly in regard to this point of the parents’ training the children to work for him:‑‑‑ ‑By many this home field has been shamefully neglected, and it is time that divine resources and remedies were presented, that this state of evil may be corrected. What excuse can the professed followers of Christ offer for neglecting to train their children to work for him?‑‑‑‑Testimonies for the Church,‑ Vol. VI, page 430. ‑When our homes are what they should be, our children will not be allowed to grow up in idleness and indifference to the claims of God in behalf of the needy all about them. As the Lord’s heritage, they will be qualified to take up the work where they are.‑‑Ib. I call to mind one family with which I was for years intimately associated. The father and mother were bound up in the work of God. It had first place in their interests always. They interested their children in it, and shared their pursuits with them. As a matter of course, the children grew up in the work, and as they became old enough, their only desire was to connect with it. The older children had the privilege of attending a church school for only a short time before they finished that part of their education. But the influence of that home has been so strong that it has kept the interests of those children bound up in the truth. Now the question is, Are the parents willing to pay the price for their children’s salvation? It means a thorough consecration on their part. That a different state of affairs may be brought about is shown by the following statement: ‑If parents desire to see a different state of things in their families, let them consecrate themselves wholly to God, and cooperate with him in the work whereby a transformation may take place in their households.‑‑Ib. To effect this transformation will mean much self-denial and hard work on the part of the parents. They will need to throw themselves into this cause entirely, making it the chief thought of their hearts, and they will have to plan and work so that they may carry the children with them. Every home should be a cooperative missionary society for the Lord, where all unite in doing all that they can to save souls. This does not mean that the care of the home and other necessary duties should be neglected, but that they should be made subordinate to the higher interests. Children should be taught to share in the housework as part of their service to the Lord, that their parents may have more time for soul-saving efforts. But this will shut out worldly amusements, the following of fashions in dress, the parties of pleasure, and such things. With hearts wholly consecrated to the Lord, these things will cease to please or interest. So, will the parents pay the price? Are they sufficiently interested in the children to save them? Or shall this terrible loss of the youth continue? Continue it will unless decided steps are taken to change it. There may be parents who are willing to pay the price, but who desire more detailed help in how to interest their children in study and in work. We would ask any such to write to Miss Matilda Erickson, General Conference, Takoma Park, Washington, D. C. She will be glad to lay before all such parents, plans that will be a very material benefit to them in helping their children. It does not need a high standard of education, or special natural ability in the parents, in order for them to be successful in this training of their children, but it does need entire consecration to God and deep love for the children. Parents, what more can we say to you? The hearts of the leaders may ache for your children as they see them drifting away, but they cannot do your work for them. The children are all you can take with you into the kingdom. Are they not, therefore, worthy of every effort you can make for them here?