Testimonies for the Church Vol 1 - Lansing SDA Church

364 Testimonies for the Church Volume 1[388][389]them to open a door for injurious influences, for others to poison theiryoung minds before you awake to their danger.Satan and his host are making most powerful efforts to sway theminds of the children, and they must be treated with candor, Christiantenderness, and love. This will give you a strong influence over them,and they will feel that they can repose unlimited confidence in you.Throw around your children the charms of home and of your society.If you do this, they will not have so much desire for the society ofyoung associates. Satan works through these, leading them to influenceand corrupt the minds of one another. It is the most effectual way inwhich he can work. The young have a powerful influence over oneanother. Their conversation is not always choice and elevated. Evilcommunications are breathed into the ear, which, if not decidedlyresisted, find a lodgment in the heart, take root, and spring up to bearfruit and corrupt good manners. Because of the evils now in the world,and the restriction necessary to be placed upon the children, parentsshould have double care to bind them to their hearts and let them seethat they wish to make them happy.Parents should not forget their childhood years, how much theyyearned for sympathy and love, and how unhappy they felt whencensured and fretfully chided. They should be young again in theirfeelings and bring their minds down to understand the wants of theirchildren. Yet with firmness, mixed with love, they should requireobedience from their children. The parents’ word should be implicitlyobeyed.Angels of God are watching the children with the deepest interestto see what characters they develop. If Christ dealt with us as weoften deal with one another and with our children, we would stumbleand fall through utter discouragement. I saw that Jesus knows ourinfirmities, and has Himself shared our experience in all things but insin; therefore He has prepared for us a path suited to our strength andcapacity, and, like Jacob, has marched softly and in evenness with thechildren as they were able to endure, that He might entertain us by thecomfort of His company, and be to us a perpetual guide. He does notdespise, neglect, or leave behind the children of the flock. He has notbidden us move forward and leave them. He has not traveled so hastilyas to leave us with our children behind. Oh, no; but He has evened thepath to life, even for children. And parents are required in His name to