416
Child Guidance
must enter with feelings of reverence. The sacred and common are so
blended that it is difficult to distinguish them.
It is for this reason that the house or sanctuary dedicated to God
should not be made a common place. Its sacredness should not be
confused or mingled with the common everyday feelings or business
life. There should be a solemn awe upon the worshipers as they
enter the sanctuary, and they should leave behind all common worldly
thoughts, for it is the place where God reveals His presence. It is as
the audience chamber of the great and eternal God; therefore pride
and passion, dissension and self-esteem, selfishness, and covetousness,
which God pronounces idolatry, are inappropriate for such a place
To Manifest No Spirit of Levity—Parents, it is your duty to have
your children in perfect subjection, having all their passions and evil
tempers subdued. And if children are taken to meeting, they should
be made to know and understand where they are—that they are not at
home, but where God meets with His people. And they should be kept
quiet and free from all play, and God will turn His face toward you, to
meet with you and bless you.
If order is observed in the assemblies of the saints, the truth will
have better effect upon all that hear it. A solemnity which is so much
needed will be encouraged, and there will be power in the truth to stir
up the depths of the soul, and a deathlike stupor will not hang upon
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those who hear. Believers and unbelievers will be affected. It has
seemed evident that in some places the ark of God was removed from
the church, for the holy commandments have been violated and the
strength of Israel has been weakened
Take the Disturbing Child Out—Your child should be taught to
obey as the children of God obey Him. If this standard is maintained,
a word from you will have some weight when your child is restless
in the house of God. But if the children cannot be restrained, if the
parents feel that the restraint is too much of an exaction, the child
should be removed from the church at once; it should not be left to
divert the minds of the hearers by talking or running about. God is
dishonored by the loose way in which parents manage their children
while at church
18
Manuscript 23, 1886
.
19
The Review and Herald, September 19, 1854
.
20
Letter 1, 1877
.