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Education
understood that into these hours no troubled, unkind thoughts are to
intrude; that parents and children assemble to meet with Jesus, and to
invite into the home the presence of holy angels. Let the services be
brief and full of life, adapted to the occasion, and varied from time to
time. Let all join in the Bible reading and learn and often repeat God’s
law. It will add to the interest of the children if they are sometimes
permitted to select the reading. Question them upon it, and let them ask
questions. Mention anything that will serve to illustrate its meaning.
When the service is not thus made too lengthy, let the little ones take
part in prayer, and let them join in song, if it be but a single verse.
To make such a service what it should be, thought should be given
to preparation. And parents should take time daily for Bible study with
their children. No doubt it will require effort and planning and some
sacrifice to accomplish this; but the effort will be richly repaid.
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As a preparation for teaching His precepts, God commands that
they be hidden in the hearts of the parents. “These words, which I
command thee this day, shall be in thine heart,” He says; “and thou
shalt teach them diligently.”
Deuteronomy 6:6, 7
. In order to interest
our children in the Bible, we ourselves must be interested in it. To
awaken in them a love for its study, we must love it. Our instruction
to them will have only the weight of influence given it by our own
example and spirit.
God called Abraham to be a teacher of His word, He chose him to
be the father of a great nation, because He saw that Abraham would
instruct his children and his household in the principles of God’s
law. And that which gave power to Abraham’s teaching was the
influence of his own life. His great household consisted of more than
a thousand souls, many of them heads of families, and not a few but
newly converted from heathenism. Such a household required a firm
hand at the helm. No weak, vacillating methods would suffice. Of
Abraham God said, “I know him, that he will command his children
and his household after him.”
Genesis 18:19
. Yet his authority was
exercised with such wisdom and tenderness that hearts were won. The
testimony of the divine Watcher is, “They shall keep the way of the
Lord, to do justice and judgment.”
Genesis 18:19
. And Abraham’s
influence extended beyond his own household. Wherever he pitched
his tent, he set up beside it the altar for sacrifice and worship. When the
tent was removed, the altar remained; and many a roving Canaanite,