Sermon at Loma Linda University
39
Proper dress for children
Dress your children in simple and neat clothes, but do not let them
have anything that they may suppose they want. They may ask for a
dress that is cut low in the neck because it is the fashion to wear them
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so. Who has supposed such a fashion? It is not a right fashion, and
we should not allow ourselves to consider it right. We should dress
our children in such a way that they will learn to fashion their lives in
simple orderly lines. We are to be preparing for the grand review that
is soon to take place, and our children must have a part in this work of
preparation. We want the light, the pure light of heaven, to shine into
our hearts.
Heaven’s interest in children
All heaven is interested in our children, and parents grieve the
Spirit of God when they fail to bring them up in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord. Parents, be kind to your children, but be firm.
Let them see that you mean all that you tell them. The fashions of the
world often take a ridiculous form, and you must take a firm position
against them. Our manner of dress, as well as our deportment, is to be
a ministry, an education.
Parents, you are responsible for the work of bringing up your
children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. These children
need instruction line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and
there a little. You may feel annoyed sometimes because your children
go contrary to what you have told them. But have you ever thought
that many times you go contrary to what the Lord has commanded you
to do that you might prepare yourselves for His work and know His
will as revealed in His word? If you will follow on to know the Lord
you can make a splendid representation of Christ before the world.
Gentleness in discipline
Never manifest passion when your children do wrong. When the
mother gives her child a jerk or a blow, do you think it enables him
to see the beauty of the Christian character? No indeed; it only tends
to raise evil feelings in the heart, and the child is not corrected at all.
We need to consider, as we endeavor to do our duty intelligently, that