The Church School Question

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I promised that I would speak this morning in regard to the necessity of withdrawing our children from the public schools, and of providing suitable places where they can be educated aright. I have felt surprised at the apparently indifferent attitude of some, notwithstanding the oft-repeated warnings given that parents must provide for their families not merely with reference to their present interests, but especially with reference to their future, eternal interests. The characters that we form in this life are to decide our destiny. If we choose, we may live a life that measures with the life of God.

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The Home A School Every Christian family is a church in itself. The members of the family are to be Christlike in every action. The father is to sustain so close a relation to God that he realizes his duty to make provision for the members of his family to receive an education and training that will fit them for the future, immortal life. His children are to be taught the principles of heaven. He is the priest of the household, accountable to God for the influence that he exerts over every member of his family. He is to place his family under the most favorable circumstances possible, so that they shall not be tempted to conform to the habits and customs, the evil practices and lax principles, that they would find in the world.

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Influence of the Home Setting a right example in the home, parents are able to exert a good influence in the church. . . . Into the home there must be brought the heavenly rule. This will fit us for church relationship as laborers together with God, and will make us examples to the world.

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The Lord desires us to understand that we must place our children in right relation to the world, the church, and the family. Their relation to the family is the first point to be considered. Let us teach them to be polite to one another, and polite to God. «What do you mean,» you may inquire, «by saying that we should teach them to be polite to God?» I mean that they are to be taught to reverence our heavenly Father, and to appreciate the great and infinite sacrifice that Christ has made in our behalf.

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Christ placed Himself at the head of humanity in order that He might exemplify what humanity could be in connection with divinity. Teach them that together, as children and parents, it is your privilege to be members of the church of God—living stones in His beautiful temple.

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Companionship of Angels Parents and children are to sustain so close a relation to God that the heavenly angels can communicate with them. These messengers are shut out from many a home where iniquity and impoliteness to God abound. Let us catch from His Word the spirit of heaven, and bring it into our life here below.

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Miracle-Working Powers Some may say, «If we believe the Bible, why does not the Lord work miracles for us?» He will, if we will let Him. When a human mind is allowed to come under the control of God, that mind will reveal the miracle-working power of God; the power of that mind in action is like the miracle-working power of God.

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In our prayers we are to hold on by faith to the children in our home; and we are to do faithfully the duties that belong to us. From the light that God has given me, I know that the husband and the wife are to be, in the home, minister, physician, nurse, and teacher, binding their children to themselves and to God, training them to avoid every habit that will in any way militate against God’s work in the body, and teaching them to care for every part of the living organism. Parents are under a most solemn responsibility to keep themselves in physical soundness and in spiritual health, that the light of heaven may shine into the chambers of the mind and illuminate the soul temple. Such parents are able to give their children instruction from babyhood as to what God wants them to do. Taking His Word as their counselor, they bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

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Not Allowed to Drift Many parents allow their children to drift, as it were, hither and thither. But this is not right. Parents are held accountable to God for the salvation of their children. They are also held accountable for their physical health. In every way possible they should help them to grow up with a sound constitution. They should teach them not to indulge appetite or to imperil their physical and mental capabilities by wrong habits; for God desires to use all their powers. Every word spoken by fathers and mothers has its influence over the children, for good or for evil. If the parents speak passionately, if they show the spirit shown by the children of this world, God counts them as the children of this world, not as His sons and daughters.

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Politeness and Courtesy Parents, from the moment that we are born again into the kingdom of heaven, we are in God’s service. Our lives are to be such that He can approve. The principles of heaven are to be brought into the government of the home. Every child is to be taught to be polite, compassionate, loving, pitiful, courteous, tenderhearted. Peter speaks of these characteristics of a Christian, and also instructs us how to rid ourselves of all evil by living on the plan of addition. «Giving all diligence,» he says, «add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity [love].»

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We want the knowledge of our Saviour. Is it not best for every one of us to begin to teach our children to be polite in the home and polite to God? Is not this the work that as «laborers together with God» it is our bounden duty to do?

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From the light that God has given me for years, I know that the households of His people are in great need of purification. The end is nearer than when we first believed. As fathers and mothers, we are to purify ourselves, even as Christ is pure; that is, we are to be perfect in our sphere, even as God is perfect in His sphere. Instead of backsliding, we should now be conformed to the will of heaven, the heavenliness of heaven. Let us put away the spirit of murmuring and complaining, remembering that by cherishing such a spirit we are disrespectful to God. We are living in His dwelling place; we are members of His family—His by creation and by redemption.

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Everyone is to cherish feelings of respect and tenderness for those with whom he associates. In our relations with one another we should be careful never to mar and scar the life and the spirit of others. When in life and character we show the miracle-working power of God, the world will take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus and learned of Him. . . .

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We are not to feel that we have reached perfection. We need to be melted over, that we may be purified from all dross. We are in need of the rich blessings that Heaven is so ready to bestow, the blessings promised to every believer.

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Faith to Be Exercised The Lord withholds from us no good thing. He declares, «Ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.» He does not tell us to restrict our asking to certain things, but assures us that He will bless us according to the riches of His grace. He is more willing to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him than parents are to give good gifts to their children. To show his willingness, He refers to the tender relationship that a father sustains to his son. «What man is there of you,» He says, «whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?»

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Parents can learn this lesson in all its significance. Children who ask for something that is not for their best good are not to be rebuffed, but kindly told, «That would not be for your good. You cannot have it, because it would injure you. But although we cannot give it to you, we will try in every way possible to make you happy.»

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Lessons in Fellowship The father should always feel kindly disposed toward his children. How sad it is that the father’s disposition is not always that which it should be! The father of the boys is to come into close connection with his sons, giving them the benefit of his larger experience, and talking with them in such simplicity and tenderness that he binds them to his heart. He is to let them see that he has their best interest, their happiness, in view all the time.

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Parents, let us constantly keep before our children the relation that we sustain to our heavenly Father. Let us tell them that we are His children, and that we desire to treat them as He treats us. He does not indulge us in injurious things. He gives us only the things that are for our best good. He says, «Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.»

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We are all amenable to God. When we take into consideration our accountability to Him for every action, when we remember that we are «a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men,» we will desire to be purged from our fretfulness and harshness, our lack of sympathy and tenderness for one another. These evils are as tares amid the wheat, and must be destroyed.

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Children to be Shielded From Contaminating Influences Upon fathers and mothers devolves the responsibility of giving a Christian education to the children entrusted to them. They are never to neglect their children. In no case are they to let any line of business so absorb mind and time and talents that their children, who should be led into harmony with God, are allowed to drift until they are separated far from Him. They are not to allow their children to slip out of their grasp into the hands of unbelievers. They are to do all in their power to keep them from imbibing the spirit of the world. They are to train them to become helpers together with God. They are God’s human hand, fitting themselves and their children for an endless life in the heavenly home. . . .

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Some fathers and mothers are so indifferent, so careless, that they think it makes no difference whether their children attend a church school or a public school. «We are in the world,» they say, «and we cannot get out of it.» But, parents, we can get a good way out of the world, if we choose to do so. We can avoid seeing many of the evils that are multiplying so fast in these last days. We can avoid hearing about much of the wickedness and crime that exist.

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Evils of Newspapers Everything that can be done should be done to place ourselves and our children where we shall not see the iniquity that is practiced in the world. We should carefully guard the sight of our eyes and the hearing of our ears, so that these awful things shall not enter our minds. When the daily newspaper comes into the house, I feel as if I wanted to hide it, that the ridiculous, sensational things in it may not be seen. It seems as if the enemy is at the foundation of the publishing of many things that appear in newspapers. Every sinful thing that can be found is uncovered and laid bare before the world.

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An Unmistakable Distinction The line of demarcation between those who serve God and those who serve Him not, is ever to remain distinct. The difference between believers and unbelievers should be as great as the difference between light and darkness. When God’s people take the position that they are the temple of the Holy Ghost, Christ Himself abiding within, they will so clearly reveal Him in spirit, words, and actions, that there will be an unmistakable distinction between them and Satan’s followers. . . .

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A Lesson from Israel While the judgments of God were falling upon the land of Egypt, the Lord directed the Israelites not only to keep their children within their houses, but to bring in even their cattle from the fields. . . .

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As the Israelites kept their children within their houses during the time when the judgments of God were in the land of Egypt, so in this time of peril we are to keep our children separate and distinct from the world. We are to teach them that the commandments of God mean much more than we realize. Those who keep them will not imitate the practices of the transgressors of God’s law.

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Bible Principles Diligently Taught Parents must regard God’s Word with respect, obeying its teachings. To the parents in this day, as well as to the Israelites, God declares: «These words . . . shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.» . . .

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Christian parents, you must make provision for your children to be educated in Bible principles. And do not rest satisfied merely with having them study the Word in the church school. Teach the Scriptures to your children yourselves when you sit down, when you go out, when you come in, and when you walk by the way. Walk with your children much oftener than you do. Talk with them. Set their minds running in a right channel. As you do this, you will find that the light and the glory of God will come into your homes. But how can you expect His blessing when you do not teach your children aright? . . .

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A Reformation Necessary Seventh-day Adventists must move in a way altogether different from the way in which they have been moving, if they expect the approval of God to rest upon them in their homes.

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Every faithful parent will hear from the lips of the Master the words, «Well done, good and faithful Lord; . . . enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.» May the Lord help us to be good and faithful servants in our dealings with one another. He tells us to «consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works,» helping and strengthening one another.— MS. 100, 1902 . —

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Regarding Children Christ is waiting in gracious mercy, waiting to make you vessels unto honor. The Holy Ghost inspired Paul to lift up his voice in earnest, solemn words, saying, «None of us liveth to himself.» We should take these words to heart. Money has been worse than thrown away for needless adornment of yourselves and your children. You should turn this current of means into the channel that reaches the treasury of the Lord.

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God requires that you should educate and discipline your children for His work; and the very first lesson that you should teach them is that of self-denial and self-sacrifice. You should set before them the great Pattern, Christ Jesus, and imitate Him yourselves, and teach your children to walk in His footsteps.

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We may manufacture many wants, we may place snares before our children by allowing them to gratify their every desire. We may curtail their usefulness by granting them the free use of means that they may make a display.

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Children are a gift of God to increase the experience and happiness of parents. Parents through discipline may become more useful in teaching their children to be Christ’s children and so increase their influence for good.

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Instead of denying self, how many will give a trifle to the cause of God, and then indulge their children in the gratification of selfish desires, thus educating them to place their influence on Satan’s side. It would be better had such parents never been born, for if the grace of Christ’s has never controlled your souls, how can you expect it to control the souls of your children?

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Self-indulgence is the curse of our families, and as a consequence, the curse of our churches.

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The world lives for pleasure, for selfishness, and how can we hope to draw the world to Christ, when we also live for the gratification of self? Christ has said, «Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.»— MS. 53, 1895 . — In this connection see also: F. E., pp. 64-70, «The Home and the School.» F. E., pp. 149-161, «Home Education.» Ed., pp. 186-189, «Family Study.» C. T., pp. 173-177, «The Work of the Church School.» C. T., pp. 150-157, «Co-operation Between the Home and the School.» 6T., pp. 193-205, «Church Schools.» 6T., p. 119, «Teaching Home Religion.»