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The Adventist Home
missionary work. They will gain rich experiences through the practice
of self-denial, and such lessons will often keep them from acquiring
habits of intemperance
The children may learn to show their love for Christ by denying
themselves needless trifles, for the purchase of which much money
slips through their fingers. In every family this work should be done. It
requires tact and method, but it will be the best education the children
can receive. And if all the little children would present their offerings
to the Lord, their gifts would be as little rivulets which, when united
and set flowing, would swell into a river
Keep a little money box on the mantel or in some safe place where
it can be seen, in which the children can place their offerings for the
Lord.... Thus they may be trained for God
[389]
Teach Children to Pay Tithe and Offerings—Not only does the
Lord claim the tithe as His own, but He tells us how it should be
reserved for Him. He says, “Honour the Lord with thy substance, and
with the firstfruits of all thine increase.” This does not teach that we
are to spend our means on ourselves and bring to the Lord the remnant,
even though it should be otherwise an honest tithe. Let God’s portion
be first set apart. The directions given by the Holy Spirit through the
Apostle Paul in regard to gifts present a principle that applies also to
tithing. “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by
him in store, as God hath prospered him.” Parents and children are
here included
A Mistake Sometimes Made by Wealthy Fathers—The circum-
stances in which a child is placed will often have a more effective
influence on him than even the example of parents. There are wealthy
men who expect their children to be what they were in their youth,
and blame the depravity of the age if they are not. But they have no
right to expect this of their children unless they place them in circum-
stances similar to those in which they themselves have lived. The
circumstances of the father’s life have made him what he is. In his
youth he was pressed with poverty and had to work with diligence and
perseverance. His character was molded in the stern school of poverty.
9
The Youth’s Instructor, November 1, 1904
.
10
The Review and Herald, December 25, 1900
.
11
Manuscript 128, 1901
.
12
The Review and Herald, November 10, 1896
.