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Testimonies for the Church Volume 5
unity. The opposite of this is seen among the children of Satan. It is
his work to stir up envy, strife, and jealousy. In the name of my Master
I ask the professed followers of Christ: What fruit do you bear?
In the system of instruction used in the common schools the most
essential part of education is neglected, namely, the religion of the
Bible. Education not only affects to a great degree the life of the student
in this world, but its influence extends to eternity. How important, then,
that the teachers be persons capable of exerting a right influence. They
should be men and women of religious experience, daily receiving
divine light to impart to their pupils.
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But the teacher should not be expected to do the parent’s work.
There has been, with many parents, a fearful neglect of duty. Like
Eli, they fail to exercise proper restraint; and then they send their
undisciplined children to college to receive the training which the
parents should have given them at home. The teachers have a task
which but few appreciate. If they succeed in reforming these wayward
youth they receive but little credit. If the youth choose the society of
the evil disposed and go on from bad to worse, then the teachers are
censured and the school denounced.
In many cases the censure justly belongs to the parents. They
had the first and most favorable opportunity to control and train their
children, when the spirit was teachable and the mind and heart easily
impressed. But through the slothfulness of the parents the children are
permitted to follow their own will until they become hardened in an
evil course.
Let parents study less of the world and more of Christ; let them
put forth less effort to imitate the customs and fashions of the world,
and devote more time and effort to molding the minds and character
of their children according to the divine Model. Then they could send
forth their sons and daughters, fortified by pure morals and a noble
purpose, to receive an education for positions of usefulness and trust.
Teachers who are controlled by the love and fear of God could lead
such youth still onward and upward, training them to be a blessing to
the world and an honor to their Creator.
Connected with God, every instructor will exert an influence to
lead his pupils to study God’s word and to obey His law. He will direct
their minds to the contemplation of eternal interests, opening before
them vast fields for thought, grand and ennobling themes, which the