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Testimonies for the Church Volume 5
in the books of heaven. You might have brought many to Jesus; but
your want of moral courage has made you unfaithful in every position.
The errors in your lax system of family government are revealed in
the characters of your children. You have not educated yourselves to
follow the instructions given in the word of God. The evils resulting
from your failures in duty are becoming serious and deep. Sister G
does not have the right influence. She has yielded to the strong wills of
her wrong-minded children, and has indulged them to their hurt. Both
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of you should have taught your children from their very babyhood that
they could not control you, but that your will was to be obeyed. Had
Sister G received the proper training in her childhood, had she been
disciplined and educated according to the word of God, she would
have a different mold of character herself and would better understand
the duties that devolve upon her. She would know how to train her
children so as to make their ways pleasing to God. But the defects
that have resulted from her own wrong training are reproduced in her
children, and what will be the nature of their work should they ever
stand at the head of families of their own? The oldest may have some
knowledge of domestic duties; but, further than this, she is a mere
novice.
With wise, firm government these children might have been useful
members of society; as it is, they are a curse, a reproach to our faith.
They are vain, frivolous, willful, extravagant. They have but little
reverence for their parents, and their consciences are far from sensitive.
They have had their own way, and their wishes have governed their
parents, until it is almost impossible to arouse their moral sensibilities.
The natural tendencies of the parents, particularly those that are ob-
jectionable, are strongly developed in the children. The whole family,
parents and children, are under divine censure; and none of them can
hope to enter the peaceful abodes of bliss unless they will take up their
long-neglected duties and, in the spirit of Christ, build up characters
that God can approve.
Parents are responsible for the work coming from their hands.
They should have wisdom and firmness to do their work faithfully and
in the right spirit. They are to train their children for usefulness by
developing their God-given talents. A failure to do this should not
be winked at, but should be made a matter of church discipline, for it
will bring the curse of God on the parents and a reproach and grievous