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Testimonies for the Church Volume 4
your strength. In His name you will be more than conqueror. No
enchantment against Jacob, nor divination against Israel, will prevail.
If your soul is riveted to the eternal Rock, you are safe. Come joy or
come sorrow, nothing can sway you from the right.
You have been afloat in the world, but the eternal truth will prove
an anchor to you. You need to guard your faith. Do not move from
impulse nor entertain vague theories. Experimental faith in Christ
and submission to the law of God are of the highest consequence to
you. Be willing to take the advice and counsel of those who have
experience. Make no delay in the work of overcoming. Be true to
yourself, to your children, and to God. Your afflicted son needs to be
tenderly dealt with. As a father you should remember that the nerves
that can thrill with pleasure can also thrill with keenest pain. The Lord
identifies His interest with that of suffering humanity.
Many parents forget their accountability to God to so educate
their children for usefulness and duty that they will be a blessing to
themselves and to others. Children are often indulged from their
babyhood, and wrong habits become fixed. The parents have been
bending the sapling. By their course of training, the character develops,
either into deformity or into symmetry and beauty. But while many
err upon the side of indulgence, others go to the opposite extreme and
rule their children with a rod of iron. Neither of these follow out the
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Bible directions, but both are doing a fearful work. They are molding
the minds of their children and must render an account in the day of
God for the manner in which they have done this. Eternity will reveal
the results of the work done in this life. “As the twig is bent, the tree’s
inclined.”
Your manner of government is wrong, decidedly wrong. You are
not a tender, pitiful father. What an example do you give your children
in your insane outbursts of passion! What an account will you have to
render to God for your perverse discipline! If you would have the love
and respect of your children, you must manifest affection for them.
The indulgence of passion is never excusable; it is always blind and
perverse.
God calls upon you to change your course of action. You can be
a useful and efficient man in the office if you will make determined
efforts to overcome. Do not set up your views as a criterion. The
Lord connected you with His people that you might be a learner in