Chapter 57—The Education of Our Children
Dear Sister C,
If God in His providence has established a school among our own
people in-----, and if in place of sending your daughter where she
would be in the society and under the influence of those who love the
truth, you place her in-----Seminary, where she will be associated with
a worldly class who have no respect for God or His law, I ask you
how you expect the Lord will work to counteract the evil influence
that must surround her and which you have voluntarily chosen. Will
He commission His angels to do the work which He has left for you to
do? God does not work in that way; He expects us to follow the light
He has given in His word.
When God was about to smite the first-born of Egypt, He com-
manded the Israelites to gather their children from among the Egyp-
tians into their own dwellings and strike their door posts with blood,
that the destroying angel might see it and pass over their homes. It was
the work of parents to gather in their children. This is your work, this
is my work, and the work of every mother who believes the truth. The
angel is to place a mark upon the forehead of all who are separated
from sin and sinners, and the destroying angel will follow, to slay
utterly both old and young.
God is not pleased with our inattention and trifling with His bless-
ings placed within our reach. Neither is He pleased to have us place
our children in worldly society, because this best suits their tastes and
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inclinations. If the souls of your children are saved, you must do your
work with fidelity. God has not been wholly pleased with your course
in regard to worldly associations, and now the peril is revealed. You
have also encouraged the reading of storybooks; these, and papers
with continued stories, lying upon your table, have educated the taste
of your daughter until she is a mental inebriate and needs a stronger
power, a firmer will than her own, to control her.
The enemy has had his way with your daughter until his toils
have bound her about like bands of steel, and it will require a strong,
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