Testimonies for the Church, Volume 2 - Ellen G. White

exercised your authority as a father, as a priest of
the household, to command and have your words
as law in your family. Your own, and also your
wife's, mistaken fondness for your children has led
you to neglect the solemn obligation devolving
upon you as parents.
A double obligation rested upon you, Brother
B, as a minister of God, to rule well your own
house and bring your children into subjection. But
you have been pleased with their aptness and have
excused their faults. Sin in them did not appear
very sinful. You have displeased God and nearly
ruined your children by your neglect of duty, and
you have continued this neglect after the Lord had
reproved and counseled you. The injury done to the
cause of God by your influence as a family in the
different places where you have lived has been
greater than the good that you have accomplished.
You have been blinded and deceived by Satan in
regard to your family. You and your wife have
made your children your equals. They have done
about as they pleased. This has been a sad
drawback to you in your work as a minister of
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