Spalding and Magan's Unpublished Manuscript Testimonies - Ellen G. White

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 counsellor, they bring them up in
the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
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
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