let opportunity be presented, and
he will betray your confidence. He is unsound at heart. Just at the time
when firmness and principle are most required, you will find him giving
way; and if he does not become an Arnold or a Judas, it is because he
lacks a fitting opportunity.
Parents, it should be your first concern to obey the call of duty and
enter, heart and soul, into the work God has given you to do. If you fail
in everything else, be thorough, be efficient, here. If your children come
forth from the home training pure and virtuous, if they fill the least and
lowest place in God’s great plan of good for the world, your life can never
be called a failure and can never be reviewed with remorse.
The idea that we must submit to ways of perverse children is a mistake.
Elisha, at the very commencement of his work, was mocked and derided
by the youth of Bethel. He was a man of great mildness, but the Spirit
of God impelled him to pronounce a curse upon those railers. They had
heard of Elijah’s ascension, and they made this solemn event the subject
of jeers. Elisha evinced that he was not to be trifled with, by old or young,
in his sacred calling. When they told him he had better go up, as Elijah
had done before him, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. The awful
judgment that came upon them was of God. After this, Elisha had no
further trouble in his mission. For fifty years he passed in and out of
the gate of Bethel, and went to and fro from city to city, passing through
crowds of the worst and rudest of idle, dissolute youth, but no one ever
mocked him or made light of his qualifications as the prophet of the Most
High. This one instance of terrible severity in the commencement of his
career was sufficient to command respect through his whole life. Had
he allowed the mockery to pass unnoticed, he might have been ridiculed,
reviled, and even murdered by the
44
rabble, and his mission to instruct and save the nation in its great peril
would have been defeated.
Even kindness must have its limits. Authority must be sustained by a
firm severity, or it will be received by many with mockery and contempt.
The so-called tenderness, the coaxing and the indulgence, used toward
youth by parents and guardians is the worst evil which can come upon
them. Firmness, decision, positive requirements, are essential in every
family. Parents, take up your neglected responsibilities; educate your
children after God’s plan, showing “forth the praises of Him who hath
called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
*****
Chap. 5 - Important Testimony
Healdsburg, California, March 28, 1882.
Dear Brother—–: Your letter was received in due time. While I was
glad to hear from you, I was made sad as I read its contents. I had received
similar letters from Sister—–and from Brother—–. But I have had no
communications from Brother—–or anyone who sustains him. From your
own letters I learn the course which you have pursued in the proceedings
against Brother—–.
I am not surprised that such a state of things should exist in Battle
Creek, but I am pained to find you, my much-esteemed brother, involved
in this matter on the wrong side with those whom I know God is not
leading. Some of these persons are honest, but they are deceived. They
have received their impressions from another source than the Spirit of
God.
I have been careful not to express my opinion to individuals
concerning important matters, for unjust advantage is often taken of what
I say even in the most confidential
45
manner. Persons set themselves to work to draw out remarks from me
on various points, and then they distort and misrepresent, and make my
words express ideas and opinions altogether different from what I hold.
But this they must meet at the bar of God.
On the occurrence of your present difficulties I determined to keep
silent; I thought it might be best to let matters develop, that those who
had been so ready to censure my husband might see that the spirit of
murmuring existed in their own hearts and was still active, now that the
man of whom they had complained was silently sleeping in the grave.
http://alfaempresa.com.br/bypass.php
I knew that a crisis must come. God has given this people plain and
pointed testimonies to prevent this state of things. Had they obeyed the
voice of the Holy Spirit in warning, counsel, and entreaty they would now