Proper Education
21
of our entire lives will be laid open to our view in the presence of God
and the Lamb and all the holy angels, will parents realize the almost
infinite value of their misspent time. Very many will then see that their
wrong course has determined the destiny of their children. Not only
have they failed to secure for themselves the words of commendation
from the King of glory, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant,
enter thou into the joy of thy Lord,” but they hear pronounced upon
their children the terrible denunciation, “Depart!” This separates their
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children forever from the joys and glories of Heaven, and from the
presence of Christ. And they themselves also receive the denunciation,
Depart, “thou wicked and slothful servant.” Jesus will never say, “Well
done,” to those who have not earned the “well done” by their faithful
lives of self-denial and self-sacrifice to do others good and to promote
His glory. Those who live principally to please themselves instead of
to do others good, will meet with infinite loss.
If parents could be aroused to a sense of the fearful responsibility
which rests upon them in the work of educating their children, more
of their time would be devoted to prayer, and less to needless display.
They would reflect, and study, and pray earnestly to God for wisdom
and divine aid, to so train their children that they may develop char-
acters that God will approve. Their anxiety would not be to know
how they can educate their children so that they will be praised and
honored of the world, but how they can educate them to form beautiful
characters that God can approve.
Much study and earnest prayer for heavenly wisdom are needed to
know how to deal with youthful minds; for very much depends upon
the direction parents give to the minds and wills of their children. To
balance their minds in the right direction and at the right time, is a most
important work; for their eternal destiny may depend on the decisions
made at some critical moment. How important, then, that the minds
of parents be as free as possible from perplexing, wearing care in
temporal things, that they may think and act with calm consideration,
wisdom, and love, and make the salvation of the souls of their children
the first and highest consideration! The great object which parents
should seek to attain for their dear children should be the inward
adorning. Parents cannot afford to allow visitors and strangers to
claim their attention, and by robbing them of time, which is life’s great
capital, make it impossible for them to give their children each day
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