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Child’s First School
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these give physical training. Under ordinarily favorable circum-
stances a child naturally gains healthful vigor and a proper devel-
opment of the bodily organs. Yet even in physical lines the child
should be carefully trained.
Soul culture, which gives purity and elevation to the thoughts
and fragrance to word and act, requires more painstaking effort. It
takes patience to keep every evil motive weeded from the garden
of the heart. The spiritual training should in no case be neglected;
for “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
Psalm 111:10
.
By some, education is placed next to religion, but true education is
religion. The Bible should be the child’s first textbook. From this
book, parents are to give wise instruction. The word of God is to be
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made the rule of the life. From it the children are to learn that God
is their Father; and from the beautiful lessons of His word they are
to gain a knowledge of His character. Through the inculcation of its
principles they are to learn to do justice and judgment.
For some reason many parents dislike to give their children
religious instruction, and they leave them to pick up in Sabbath
school the knowledge which it is their privilege and duty to impart.
Such parents fail to fulfill the responsibility laid upon them, to give
their children an all-around education. God commands His people
to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
What does this mean—the nurture and admonition of the Lord? It
means to teach them to order the life by the requirements and lessons
of the word; to help them to gain a clear understanding of the terms
of entrance into the city of God. Not to all who would enter will the
gates of that city be opened, but to those only who have studied to
know God’s will, and have yielded their lives to His control.
Parents, let the instruction you give your children be simple, and
be sure that it is clearly understood. The lessons that you learn from
the word you are to present to their young minds so plainly that
they cannot fail to understand. By simple lessons drawn from the
word of God and their own experience, you may teach them how to
conform their lives to the highest standard. Even in childhood and
youth they may learn to live thoughtful, earnest lives that will yield
a rich harvest of good.
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