Evils of Indulgence
207
If children are allowed to have their own way, they receive the idea
that they must be waited upon, cared for, indulged, and amused. They
think that their wishes and their will must be gratified
Should she [the mother] not let her child have his own way now
and then, let him do just as he wishes, permit him to be disobedient?
Certainly not, for just so sure as she does, she lets Satan plant his
hellish banner in her house. She must fight the battle of that child
which he cannot fight himself. That is her work, to rebuke the devil, to
seek God earnestly, and never to let Satan take her child right out of
her arms and place him in his arms
Indulgence Causes Restlessness and Discontent—In some fam-
ilies the wishes of the child are law. Everything he desires is given
him. Everything he dislikes he is encouraged to dislike. These in-
dulgences are supposed to make the child happy, but it is these very
things that make him restless, discontented, and satisfied with nothing.
Indulgence has spoiled his appetite for plain, healthful food, for the
plain, healthful use of his time; gratification has done the work of
unsettling that character for time and for eternity
Elisha’s Effective Rebuke for Disrespect—The idea that we
must submit to ways of perverse children is a mistake. Elisha, at
the very commencement of his work, was mocked and derided by the
youth of Bethel. He was a man of great mildness, but the Spirit of God
impelled him to pronounce a curse upon those railers. They had heard
[273]
of Elijah’s ascension, and they made this solemn event the subject of
jeers. Elisha evinced that he was not to be trifled with, by old or young,
in his sacred calling. When they told him he had better go up, as Elijah
had done before him, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. The
awful judgment that came upon them was of God.
After this, Elisha had no further trouble in his mission. For fifty
years he passed in and out of the gate of Bethel, and went to and fro
from city to city, passing through crowds of the worst and rudest of
idle, dissolute youth; but no one ever mocked him or made light of his
qualifications as the prophet of the Most High
5
Manuscript 27, 1896
.
6
Manuscript 70
, Undated.
7
Manuscript 126, 1897
.
8
Testimonies For The Church 5:44
.