With Love and Firmness
199
will not help you to fit and train your children for the future, immortal
life
Justice to Be Blended With Mercy—God is our lawgiver and
king, and parents are to place themselves under His rule. This rule
forbids all oppression from parents and all disobedience from children.
The Lord is full of loving-kindness, mercy, and truth. His law is holy,
just, and good, and must be obeyed by parents and children. The rules
which should regulate the lives of parents and children flow from a
heart of infinite love, and God’s rich blessings will rest upon those
parents who administer His law in their homes, and upon the children
who obey this law. The combined influence of mercy and justice is to
be felt. “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace
have kissed each other.” Households under this discipline will walk in
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the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment
The parent who permits his rule to become a despotism is mak-
ing a terrible mistake. He wrongs not only his children but himself,
quenching in their young hearts the love that would flow out in acts
and words of affection. Kindness, forbearance, and love, manifested
to children, will be reflected back upon the parents. That which they
sow, they will also reap....
While you seek to administer justice, remember that she has a twin
sister, which is mercy. The two stand side by side and should not be
separated
Severity Arouses Combative Spirit. Counsel to Stern Par-
ents—Severity and justice, unmingled with love, will not lead your
children to do right. Notice how quickly the combative spirit is aroused
in them. Now there is a better way to manage them than by mere com-
pulsion. Justice has a twin sister, which is love. Let love and justice
clasp hands in all your management, and you will surely have the help
of God to co-operate with your efforts. The Lord, your gracious Re-
deemer, wants to bless you, and give you His mind, and His grace, and
His salvation, that you may have a character which God can approve
The authority of the parents should be absolute, yet this power is
not to be abused. In the control of his children the father should not be
17
Manuscript 47, 1908
.
18
The Signs of the Times, August 23, 1899
.
19
The Review and Herald, August 30, 1881
.
20
Letter 19a, 1891
.