Basic HTML Version
116
Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students
correspondence between the natural and the spiritual sowing can be
continued.
The little children may be Christians, having an experience in
accordance with their years. This is all that God expects of them.
They need to be educated in spiritual things; and parents should
give them every advantage, that they may form characters after the
similitude of the character of Christ.
[143]
The mind will never cease to be active. It is open to influences,
good or bad. As the human countenance is stamped by the sunbeam
on the polished plate of the artist, so are thoughts and impressions
stamped on the mind of the child; and whether these impressions are
of the earth earthy, or moral and religious, they are well-nigh inef-
faceable. When reason is awakening, the mind is most susceptible;
and so the very first lessons are of great importance. These lessons
have a powerful influence in the formation of character. If they are
of the right stamp, and if, as the child advances in years, they are
followed up with patient perseverance, the earthly and the eternal
destiny will be shaped for good. This is the word of the Lord: “Train
up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not
depart from it.”
Proverbs 22:6
.
Parents, give your children to the Lord, and ever keep before their
minds that they belong to Him, that they are the lambs of Christ’s
flock, watched over by the True Shepherd. Hannah dedicated Samuel
to the Lord; and it is said of him, “Samuel grew, and the Lord was
with him, and did let none of his words [the Lord’s words through
Samuel] fall to the ground.”
1 Samuel 3:19
. In the case of this
prophet and judge in Israel are presented the possibilities that are
placed before the child whose parents co-operate with God, doing
their appointed work.
Children are a heritage from the Lord, and they are to be trained
for His service. This is the work that rests upon parents and teachers
with solemn, sacred force, which they cannot evade or ignore. To
neglect this work marks them as unfaithful servants; but there is a
[144]
reward when the seed of truth is early sown in the heart and carefully
tended.
Christ concludes the parable: “But when the fruit is brought
forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is
come.”
Mark 4:29
. When the harvest of the earth is reaped, we shall