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generally leave this path all at once. They are won away by degrees.
Having taken one wrong step, they lose the witness of the Spirit to their
acceptance with God. Thus they fall into a state of discouragement and
distrust. They dislike religious services because conscience condemns
them. They have fallen into the snare of Satan, and there is only one way
of escape. They must retrace their steps and with humility of soul confess
and forsake their halfhearted course. Let them renew their first experience
which they have made light of, cherish every divine aspiration, and let
those holy emotions which God’s Spirit only can inspire, reign in their
souls. Faith in Christ’s power will impart strength to sustain, and light to
guide.
This practical instruction in religious experience is what Christian
parents should be prepared to give their children. God requires this of
you, and you neglect your duty if you fail to perform this work. Instruct
your children in regard to God’s chosen methods of discipline and the
conditions of success in the Christian life. Teach them that they cannot
serve God and have their minds absorbed in overcareful provision for this
life; but do not let them cherish the thought that they have no need to toil,
and may spend their leisure moments in idleness. God’s word is plain
on this point. Jesus, the Majesty of heaven, has left an example for the
youth. He toiled in the workshop at Nazareth for His daily bread. He
was subject to His parents, and sought not to control His own time or to
follow His own will. By a life of easy indulgence a youth can never attain
to real excellence as a man or as a Christian. God does not promise us
ease, honor, or wealth in His service; but He assures us that all needed
blessings will be ours, with “persecutions,” and in the world to come “life
everlasting.” Nothing less than entire consecration to His service will
Christ accept. This is the lesson which every one of us must learn.
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Those who study the Bible, counsel with God, and rely upon Christ
will be enabled to act wisely at all times and under all circumstances.
Good principles will be illustrated in actual life. Only let the truth for this
time be cordially received and become the basis of character, and it will
produce steadfastness of purpose, which the allurements of pleasure, the
fickleness of custom, the contempt of the world-loving, and the heart’s
own clamors for self-indulgence are powerless to influence. Conscience
must be first enlightened, the will must be brought into subjection. The
love of truth and righteousness must reign in the soul, and a character will
appear which heaven can approve.
We have marked illustrations of the sustaining power of firm, religious
principle. Even the fear of death could not make the fainting David drink
of the water of Bethlehem, to obtain which, valiant men had risked their
lives. The gaping lions’ den could not keep Daniel from his daily prayers,
nor could the fiery furnace induce Shadrach and his companions to fall
down before the idol which Nebuchadnezzar set up. Young men who
have firm principles will eschew pleasure, defy pain, and brave even the
lions’ den and the heated fiery furnace rather than be found untrue to God.
Mark the character of Joseph. Virtue was severely tested, but its triumph
was complete. At every point the noble youth endured the test. The same
lofty, unbending principle appeared at every trial. The Lord was with him,
and His word was law.
Such firmness and untarnished principle shines brightest in contrast
with the feebleness and inefficiency of the youth of this age. With
but few exceptions, they are vacillating, varying with every change of
circumstance and surroundings, one thing today and another tomorrow.
Let the attractions of pleasure or selfish gratification be presented, and
conscience will be sacrificed to gain the coveted indulgence. Can such a
person be trusted? Never! In the absence of
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temptation he may carry himself with such seeming propriety that your