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Children should be taught to respect and reverence the hour of
prayer. Before leaving the house for labor, all the family should be
called together, and the father, or the mother in the father’s absence,
should plead fervently with God to keep them through the day. Come
in humility, with a heart full of tenderness, and with a sense of the
temptations and dangers before yourselves and your children; by faith
bind them upon the altar, entreating for them the care of the Lord.
Ministering angels will guard children who are thus dedicated to God.
It is the duty of Christian parents, morning and evening, by earnest
prayer and persevering faith, to make a hedge about their children.
They should patiently instruct them,—kindly and untiringly teach
them how to live in order to please God.—
Testimonies for the Church
1:397-398
.
Abraham, “the friend of God,” set us a worthy example. His was
a life of prayer. Wherever he pitched his tent, close beside it was set
up his altar, calling all within his encampment to the morning and the
evening sacrifice. When his tent was removed, the altar remained. In
following years, there were those among the roving Canaanites who
received instruction from Abraham; and whenever one of these came
to that altar, he knew who had been there before him; and when he had
pitched his tent, he repaired the altar, and there worshiped the living
God.—
Patriarchs and Prophets, 128
.
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