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Christian Education
supplication for themselves and their children. Let the father, as priest
of the household, lay upon the altar of God the morning and evening
sacrifice, while the wife and children unite in prayer and praise. In
such a household, Jesus will love to tarry.
From every Christian home a holy light should shine forth. Love
should be revealed in action. It should flow out in all home intercourse,
showing itself in thoughtful kindness, in gentle, unselfish courtesy.
There are homes where this principle is carried out,—homes where
God is worshiped, and truest love reigns. From these homes, morning
and evening prayer ascends to God as sweet incense, and his mercies
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and blessings descend upon the suppliants like the morning dew.
A well-ordered Christian household is a powerful argument in
favor of the reality of the Christian religion,—an argument that the
infidel cannot gainsay. All can see that there is an influence at work in
the family that affects the children, and that the God of Abraham is
with them. If the homes of professed Christians had a right religious
mould, they would exert a mighty influence for good. They would
indeed be the “light of the world.” The God of heaven speaks to every
faithful parent in the words addressed to Abraham: “I know him, that
he will command his children and his household after him, and they
shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the
Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.”
[
Genesis 18:19
.]—
Patriarchs and Prophets, 143-144
.
Labor for the Young.—Very much has been lost to the cause of
God by a lack of attention to the young. Ministers should form an
acquaintance with the youth in their congregations. Many are reluctant
to do this, but their neglect is a sin in the sight of Heaven. There are
among us many who are not ignorant of our faith, yet whose hearts
have never been touched by the power of divine grace. Can we who
claim to be servants of God pass on day after day, week after week,
indifferent to these souls who are out of Christ? If they should die in
their sins, unwarned, their blood would be required at the unfaithful
watchman’s hands.
Why should not this labor for the youth in our borders be regarded
as the highest kind of missionary work? It will require the most delicate
tact, the most thoughtful consideration, the most earnest prayer that
heavenly wisdom may be imparted. The youth are the objects of
Satan’s special attacks; but kindness, courtesy, that tender sympathy
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