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The Child’s First School, October 11
And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the
peace of thy children.
Isaiah 54:13
.
It is your duty [parents] to do all you possibly can to carry out God’s
purpose for your children revealed in His Word. When the Lord sees that you
are in earnest in striving to save their souls, He will give you grace and power
to enable you to accomplish this work.
God has given His people great light on His Word. But this light is a
benefit to the believer only as he practices the truth, purifying his soul by
obedience. Is Satan always to triumph because parents misrepresent God
by following worldly plans, failing to show the power of Christ to cleanse
the heart? The whole church suffers when the children of one family are
unruly. Christ is soon to come. Our schools are to reach the high standard of
dependence on Bible principles.
Parents need a much deeper sense of what it means to be Christlike. They
need to see the importance of laboring for the salvation of their children. God
demands from them much greater consecration than they have ever shown
before. Unless they reform in many ways, the school will not accomplish
what it should.
The home is the child’s first school. God will hold those parents account-
able who do not discipline their children in accordance with His instruction.
Parents are to seek God earnestly and obey Him implicitly, and they are to
require obedience from their children. Do not think that you can neglect
your children, and then secure their future safety by sending them to [church]
school and Sabbath school. God calls upon you to do your neglected work.
In the home, practice temperance in all things. And sustain the teachers who
are trying to give your children a true education....
The light which shines from the cross of Calvary shows the work which
God requires to be earnestly and vigilantly done as long as time shall last.—
Letter 134, October 11, 1901
, to the teachers and students of the Healdsburg
School.
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