The two verses referred to above tell the literal truth: “Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto demons, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with blood.” For other references to this horrible custom see Deut. 12:30, 31; 2 Kings 3:27; 17:17; Eze. 16:20, 21. Offering human sacrifices has been common among all idolatrous nations in the past, and but very recently in India. It has been generally connected with sun-worship in grossest forms, and even breaks out every now and then among fanatics calling themselves Christian. When Israel of old went into idolatry, they did as the idolaters did.
Dear Editor: I would like to have you explain Heb. 6:4-6. Do not those of whom it speaks of falling away entirely reject the truth and God’s mercy, and go clear back to the world? I suppose these have reached a higher degree of attainment than the ones brought to view in Hosea 14:4, have they not? Can any be spoken of as falling away as long as they have a desire to do what is right, and have not rejected God’s mercy? A. C. L.
The text reads as follows:—
“For as touching those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good Word of God, and the powers of the age to come, and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame.”
1. All who “fall away” beyond hope of salvation reject the means of salvation.
2. Those who have received the wonderful blessings mentioned above, but who fail to advance, fail to go on to fuller growth and larger life and usefulness, who, rather, fall away, must expect to die. They will not receive what God has to give.
3. Note that God wishes and endeavors to bring them back, but finds it impossible to renew them unto repentance. It is God who gives repentance. (Acts 5:31; 11:18), but such will not receive it. They have turned backward, crucifying to themselves the Son of God afresh, and by their life, putting Him to an open shame.
4. And this is the force of the illustration used in the next two verses. Picture a land drinking in of the rain of heaven, and bringing forth fruit useful and desirable. So it ought to be with the Christian receiving blessing from God. But the land which continually brings forth thorns and thistles, is rejected.
5. The question is not so much a matter of attainment on the part of the man as it is the received blessing, light, and opportunity bestowed of God. Every converted soul receives of every blessing named; but he must go on to full growth. That sin is unpardonable which is unrepentable, and it is unrepentable because the heart is not open to receive the repentance which God is waiting to give.
WAXING WORSE AND WORSE.
The statement of the apostle Paul concerning the passing of the years in the Christian era is that “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.” In the same chapter he names eighteen different sins among those who have a form of godliness, but deny its power. (See 2 Timothy 3.) The days just prior to His second coming Jesus likens to the days of Noah, when the ark was building (Matt. 24:37-39); and the inspired record of those days is that “the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence” (Gen. 6:11). To demonstrate the truth of all this in these days needs only the news and comments of the optimistic daily press. Column after column is filled with record of crime and scandal. Page after page is spotted with the evil, violent doings of men educated in modern schools, and in Christian churches and Sunday-schools, reared in homes surrounded by all the refinements of civilization. For instance, the Tribune, of this city, has for its leading editorial, in the last number which came to us, an article entitled, “A Carnival of Crime,” in which it says:—
Within a week three murders have been committed in different parts of California by highwaymen in the act of making “hold-ups.” This is a bloody record, and one that reflects sorely on the good name of the State.
It is an axiom with economists and criminologists that crime flourishes and increases with decline of prosperity—that hard times produce crime, and that in good times crime is less frequent. Alas the theory, the epidemic of murder and robbery that is sweeping over California is contemporaneous with marked prosperity.
Conditions generally are exceedingly prosperous. Wages are good, work plenty, and hours short. Yet every city of the State is infested with bold bands of footpads, burglars, and thieves, while the mountain highways are beset with robbers. Possibly many of these criminals are recent arrivals from the East, but some of the recent murders indicate the prentice hand.
Taking the view, from the surrounding circumstances, that many of the recent crimes have been committed by young men inexperienced in crime, one is moved to inquire why the criminal ranks should be reinforced by the youth of the country, at a time when poverty can not be the incentive. Has the intoxication of a material age made drunk and desperate the young to an extent that they can no longer wait for honest effort to make its gainful return? A madness of greed seems to be upon the country. A passion for display and extravagance has flamed up, and created a lust for quickly-gained wealth. This passion is corrupting womanhood and manhood. Virtue and honesty are giving way before it, and the records of the divorce court tell the story of the downfall of the one, while the annals of crime relate destruction of the latter.
We are living too fast—living too loud and luxuriously, and the murders in pursuit of robbery are but incident to sexual demoralization and other vices peculiar to an age given over to license and materiality.
This is a sad and discordant note in the jubilant “Easter” anthems; but who can say that it is not a true picture of conditions as they are. In the same paper, referring to a recent trial in the East involving murder, suicide, and divorce, all the parties to which are educated and wealthy, the editor calls it “a quagmire of filth,” “redolent of a society that has forgotten what virtue in women and honor in men mean, a society that is fair outside, but is cankered and corrupt at the core.”
The school policy of France has been reiterated and emphasized by the government. The vote in the Chamber of Deputies on the 19th ult., says a press despatch, “gives definite form to the present policy of the government to terminate the existence of the religious-teaching orders, and to substitute a system of government schools. The principle of this change was formulated under the premiership of M. Waldeck-Rousseau, but its actual enforcement was left to the present Combes ministry. The law is very brief and negative in its terms, simply refusing authorization to teach to all the male religious-teaching orders. The effect of this is to place the orders outside the pale of the law, and their further existence is through sufferance. There remains to be determined the time the orders will be allowed to wind up their affairs, and terminate their work. Many of the orders, anticipating the Chamber vote of yesterday, have already completed their plans to retire from the field. It is expected that a few months will almost suffice to execute the changes. Numerous incidental questions are involved in the transference of the pupils and the effect on the extensive properties, and notices of several interpellations have been given, with the view of securing delay, permitting an adjustment of the new conditions. The statements of M. Combes and other ministerialists, however, indicate the prompt carrying out of the premier’s policy. The premier argued that the suppression of the congregations was not a suppression of the liberty of teaching. The State had the right to regulate public instruction, to look into its character, and forbid the teaching of doctrines contrary to republican principles. This was what the State was doing, and the country had encouraged the government’s policy in all the recent elections which had resulted in favor of a republican policy.”
SUNDAY CONCERT CONTROVERSY IN SACRAMENTO.
MINISTERS of the Gospel often take occasion to censure the secular press, and their censure is sometimes well deserved. On the other hand, the press sometimes very aptly points out the fallacy of those ministers who assume that their position on public affairs is entitled to more than ordinary consideration. A case in point is the opposition of the Ministerial Union of Sacramento to open-air concerts on the plaza of that city on Sunday evenings. Be it remembered that such concerts are not objected to because they are in themselves bad, but because they are given for the pleasure of the people on Sunday.
The daily Bee replies to the onslaughts of the union in quite forcible, logical terms, also noting the fact that there are some ministers who favor the musical entertainment. We cull a few pointed remarks pertaining to the Sabbath question and equal rights, which it would be well for ministerial unions all over the country to ponder. On this feature of the discussion the Bee says:—
The plea of the Ministerial Union that these Sunday concerts are a “direct violation of the law of God as revealed in His Word concerning the sanctity of the Sabbath” and are “hurtful to the moral sense of hundreds of our best citizens” can be disposed of in a few words.
There is no law of God making Sunday holy. If God’s words be written true in the Bible, He made Saturday holy, and man was impious when he altered His decree.
Sunday open-air concerts are not hurtful to the moral sense of the great majority of the citizens of this community, men or women. That they are distasteful to a number of good people is undoubtedly true. But those good people have no more right to interfere with the innocent enjoyment of other people numerically far stronger and morally equally as good, by stopping Sunday concerts, than the Jews would have to demand the cessation of all toil and all amusement on Saturday, their Sabbath, and the Sabbath ordained by the Most High.
The members of the Ministerial Union, the enthusiastic members of all the Churches, have as much right as any other citizens, but they have no more rights than the humblest citizen.
It would be well for them to always remember this when they think hereafter of curtailing or stopping the innocent enjoyment of others because it does not fit in with their own narrow views.
Besides, if it be a question of desecration, the people have no more right to desecrate the Sabbath of the Jews than the Sunday of the Christians. And those ministers certainly present a weak plea and put themselves upon a very pitiful exhibition, when they demand that the Sunday evening open-air concerts be suppressed because they can not compete with them!
Were it not that the secular press, and men who do not pose as the moral monitors of the people, are often able to discern correct principles of equality and justice and morality, and have the courage to express them, the ministerial unions would soon dominate the public in every department of life.
High License and the Liquor Traffic
Many temperance people are deceived by the idea that it is good temperance policy to make men pay a high money price for the privilege of selling liquors to the public. But money never made any immorality right. At least one mayor of a city has found this out by experience, and other people might know the same thing if they would but calmly consider the situation. Mayor Hardy, of Lincoln, Neb., is reported by the Kansas Prohibitionist to have said: “I9thought at the time I had done a good thing to lessen the saloons from twenty-five to five, but when I found that it did not lessen the curse, I saw my mistake. High license is one of the devil’s best devices to deceive good temperance people.” Selling indulgences to commit sin is a papal principle, and was used with considerable effect as a scheme to head off the Reformation in Luther’s time. Protestants have always deemed that a very wicked policy; but it is the same evil principle in the municipal council to-day that it was in the Papacy at that time.
The following, from the New York World, entitled, “A Necessity and a Luxury,” is a good commentary on Joel 3:9-12:—
The British naval estimates of $180,000,000 are “unparalleled in peace or war,” and the secretary, in bringing them before parliament, felt compelled to apologize for this “enormous and unproductive expenditure.” Yet the British Empire depends for its existence on its fleet.
The secretary of the Admiralty said that there would be under construction on April 1 “the enormous total” of eleven battle-ships, twenty-five cruisers, four scouts, two sloops, and twenty-nine torpedo-boats, destroyers, and submarines. Omitting torpedo craft, that makes an aggregate of forty-two vessels.
On the same date the United States, to which a great navy is a luxury, not a necessity, will have under construction fourteen battle-ships, seventeen cruisers, three gunboats, and two training vessels—a total of thirty-five ships, probably exceeding in tonnage the forty-two on which England relies to protect her world-girdling empire.
THROWING OFF THE GUISE.
By G.
The rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in this city, as reported in the Tribune, preached a sermon on the 22d ult., in which he took the ground that the Episcopal Church was essentially Catholic, and not a Protestant denomination. He contended that the word Protestant was a misnomer, and should be dropped as misleading and non-descriptive. A direct quotation from the discourse is as follows:—
The teachings of the Book of Common Prayer in use daily in our church is essentially Catholic. Even so great a non-conformist as the late John Parker declared that the Book of Common Prayer was steeped in Catholicism. We can come to a conclusion as to the standing of a church by studying its doctrine and its theology, and if we study the teaching of the Protestant-Episcopal Church we can arrive at but one conclusion—that the church is essentially Catholic in everything but name.
The professed Protestants of other denominations who persist in the observance of Lent and Easter and Sunday and other Roman festivals, and in the neglect and perversion of the legitimate ordinance of the church of Christ, thus making of no effect the commandments of God, will, sooner or later, be also pulling down the thin wall that nominally separates them from the Roman church. It is only a question of time, and a very short time. No prospective consummation is more clearly pointed out in the prophetic Word, or more plainly indicated in the signs of the times. G.
California’s New Liquor Law.
—Following is the text of the liquor law enacted at the recent session of the Legislature of California:—
SECTION 1. Every person who sells, gives, or delivers to any minor child, male or female, under the age of eighteen years, any intoxicating drink in any quantity whatsoever, or who, as proprietor or manager of any saloon or public house where intoxicating liquors are sold, permits any such minor child under the age of eighteen years to visit said saloon or public house where intoxicating liquors are sold, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not more than $300, or by imprisonment in the County Jail for a period not exceeding 150 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment; provided that this act shall not apply to the parents of such children or to guardians of their wards.
SEC. 2. All acts in conflict with this act are hereby repealed.
SEC. 3. This act shall take effect immediately upon its passage.
Baseball and Sunday Concerts.
In Memphis a minister has agitated the question and carried it, of baseball games on Sundays outside of hours devoted to church service and the closing of saloons. But in Sacramento the clergymen, in the words of the Oakland Tribune, “view the open saloon with equanimity, but hold up their hands with horror at the idea of a band playing popular airs for public entertainment on Sunday. It is a good deal like gagging at a pill, and then swallowing the box.” But the simple fact is, if the moral view were normal, these political clergymen would discern that what is evil in itself one day is evil on all days. Is it love of right which moves to such agitation? or is it the worship of an unbiblical institution?
New York City’s Sunday-Law Agitation
New York City is again in the throes of a Sunday-law agitation. The purpose is to enforce an old section of the Penal Code forbidding amusements of nearly all kinds on Sunday. The claim is that the agitation is not in any sense a religious one, but based entirely on the right of actors to one day's rest in seven. But, in the face of this claim, there stands out the peculiar fact that the crusade is led by the Sabbath Alliance of the Clergy and the Actors' Church Alliance. None but these religious classes seem to be impressed with the idea that the need of rest or the right to rest one day in seven must necessarily be confined to Sunday. They are the only class who insist that one man can not rest unless every other man is compelled to rest. They refuse to recognize that there is any practical benefit to be derived from resting on any other day. Commenting on this movement, the World says:—
The real fact is that this prohibition of any public amusement except concerts on Sunday night is a survival of the old Puritan spirit. It is a concession to Sabbatarianism, and, as such, is an invasion of the rights of citizens, and an assumption by the State of authority to compel people to observe a certain day in a manner which neither their conscience nor their customs require. This is contrary to the spirit of our democratic government, which guarantees freedom of belief, thought, and speech, and specifically separates Church and State.
The Labor Controversy.
Each week furnishes its quota of strikes and controversies over hours, wages, and relations between employer and employee. During the week there have been a number of important developments in these matters. Perhaps one of the most important is the decision of the great cotton, woolen, and silk mills of Lowell, Mass., to close on March 30. The union operatives had made a demand for an increase of ten per cent in wages, with a threat to strike on that date if the demand was not conceded. Between 18,000 and 20,000 persons were employed in these mills, and their wages aggregate $138,000 per week. The mill owners have decided to close down for a long period. The large leather manufacturing concerns of Chicago, on whom the union tanners have made a demand for a ten per cent increase in pay, have declared that they would move their plants from Chicago before they would agree to the demand. The manufacturers formed an employers’ association for the purpose of withstanding the unions. A strike is expected there in a few days. In Seattle and Tacoma, Wash., a strike of street-car employees is now on. The strikers demand the recognition of their union, and the companies refuse to grant it. Cars are running in both places, tho the companies have not been able to secure sufficient men to operate their full number. Representatives of the various coal-mining companies in California have formed an organization for the purpose of protecting themselves against the unions. One of their declarations of principles is that in the employment of laborers they will “not discriminate against non-union men.” The Wagon-makers’ Union of Chicago has declared a strike, tying up commercial interests amounting to $25,000,000, and some of the vehicle manufacturers are threatening to remove their plants from Chicago. The structural iron-makers of Chicago are threatening to strike for an increase of ten per cent in wages. The work of the American Bridge Company is seriously interfered with, owing to a strike of its employees, and it is seeking to fill the places of the strikers with non-union men.
The Irish Land Bill
The Irish land question has been a long-standing issue, and a bone of contention not only between landlord and tenant, the high-born and the low-bred, but between the British Government and the Irish people. But all people whose sympathies are with the masses as against their oppression by the classes, all who oppose the idea that the land belongs to a few favored monopolists who thereby inherit the right to control the destiny of their less fortunate neighbors, will rejoice that there is a prospect for the uplifting of the poor tillers of the soil in Ireland. The Irish land bill now before Parliament is a government proposition to loan money to the tenant class to enable individuals to purchase small holdings from the landlords. The transactions are to be under the direction of a land commission, who will regulate terms and prices; in other words, prevent impositions upon would-be purchasers. It is the first measure yet proposed which has come anywhere near a basis of settlement acceptable to both parties. While it is not exactly what either party would like to have—as no arrangement can give to people of this world all that they want—there is at least a spirit of friendliness connected with the movement such as has not characterized any effort at conciliation in the past. The tenants in some quarters object that there is no clause in the bill compelling the landlords to sell. But it is claimed on the other hand that many of them will so profit by the proposed terms that they will be glad to sell, and time and experience will bring others to see the expediency of selling at least part of their vast holdings. There is no class of people to whom the idea of owning a home, be it ever so small, is so dear as to the Irish; and it is pleasing to know that the government is disposed to open the way for the gratification of their fondest desire. And may it be so, that having achieved even a small victory in this line, the Irish mind may have sufficient rest to take a calm view of the greater importance of securing an inheritance in the everlasting kingdom.
Trusts and the Courts
Trusts.—The great asphalt trust has been deprived of its powers by a recent court decision, and now, says a Philadelphia despatch, the whole country is thrown open to real competition in the matter of street-paving. A Chicago despatch of March 24 announces that the consolidation of all the telegraph and telephone companies of the United States is under serious consideration. The report is that the Postal and Western Union will be absorbed by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company. Another despatch of the same date announces the incorporation of the National Packing Company, with a capital of $15,000,000, and J. P. Lyman as president. It includes several concerns in Chicago, Omaha, and other places. The papers were taken out in New Jersey, and the trust is expected to do a business of $140,000,000 a year. A short time ago several coal corporations and individual operators were tried in the State Court of Illinois on a charge of combining to raise the price of coal and to restrict the output, thus bringing on the coal famine in Chicago. The case was dismissed on the ground that the offense was against the Federal law and not against the law of Illinois. Now, however, that the case has been heard in a United States Circuit Court, the decision of Judge Kohlsaat has been rendered against the coal companies, and they have been enjoined not to enter into any combination to fix prices of coal in a manner to destroy competition.
In Central America
In Central America.—Advices from Honduras indicate that the revolutionists, the supporters of the newly-elected president, are gradually but surely getting control of Honduras. One port after another has been captured and is being administered by the revolutionists. The forces of the latter have captured a city within eighteen miles of the capital. General Matos, leader of the Venezuelan revolutionists, has promised the government of Venezuela that in case President Castro’s resignation is accepted he will use his influence with his followers to bring the revolution to a close. The day following this declaration of General Matos, President Castro withdrew his resignation. His inability to suppress the insurrection and the unwillingness of the revolutionists to yield as long as he is in power, make the prospect for peace there very unpromising. The threatened rebellion in Nicaragua has at last broken out, as the result of President Zelaya’s assistance to the government forces of Honduras, which are opposing president-elect Bonilla. The Nicaraguan government has weakened itself by sending help to Honduras, and this, it is claimed, is giving the rebels a temporary advantage.
The Wireless Telegraph.
The London Times has begun a regular wireless telegraph service. News from this side of the Atlantic is now printed by the Times, through the Marconi stations on regular contract, the same as with the cable companies, and it is stated that the charges are but little more than the regular cable rate between London and Paris. This marks a new epoch in the publication of news. The wireless telegraph is now being turned to commercial use in this country. The great meat-packing firm of Armour & Co. has established wireless telegraph stations at their different headquarters in certain large cities, and report that the experiment is a success. More than a hundred patents have been taken out at Washington during the year covering different appliances used in different systems of wireless telegraphy.
France and the Catholic Schools.
The French government has taken serious issue with the papal schools and orders of that country. Some doubts were heard in regard to whether France would be able to carry out her declared purpose of closing the institutions of the religious orders; but the institutions have been closed, and the members of the orders have sought or are seeking homes in other lands. There arrived at St. John, N. B., on March 29, twenty-one members of one of the orders expelled from France. These were on their way to Three Rivers, Quebec, where eight houses of the order have been established. The French Chamber of Deputies, on March 24, by a vote of 304 to 246, rejected all applications for authorization of the religious teaching orders, and declined to consider the proposition of allowing the orders to remain in France. A number of nuns were brought into the police court of Paris on March 26 and fined for violation of the law against associations. Their departure from the court was the occasion of demonstrations for and against the Catholic orders. The premier will at once notify all the congregations of the action taken by the government, and the minister of justice will at once begin the prosecution of all the congregations which refuse to disband, while the courts will appoint liquidators to take charge of the property of the dissolved orders. The teaching orders will be allowed to remain in France until July, unless regular public schools in their locality are available before that time. Where schools are available now the orders will be compelled to leave within one month. This action of the French government is taken very much to heart by the Holy See, and it is reported that diplomatic relations between France and the Vatican are near to the breaking point.
Serious Rioting.
At Port of Spain, Trinidad, W. I., on March 23 a serious riot occurred, in which twelve persons were killed and about sixty wounded. The people had been protesting to the officials against a certain law which reduced their water allowance, at the same time increasing the cost. The protests seem to have been unheeded, and a large mob assaulted the government buildings, destroying the contents of the offices and setting fire to the buildings. The police, reinforced by a company of militia and marines from a British ship lying in the harbor, were compelled to fire on the people. The court-house, which cost $350,000, is reported destroyed, together with the contents of the vaults and the records of the colonial office. Order has been restored, but the people are demanding the recall of their governor. At Batoum and Baku, Russia, the center of the Russian petroleum industry, riots have occurred which only the military could suppress. The reports concerning it are censored by the Russian government, and details are not obtainable. In the province of Oofa, Russia, a strike riot has occurred, in which twenty-eight persons were killed, and fifty-eight injured.
In the West Indies
In the West Indies.—Another revolution has broken out in San Domingo. After considerable fighting, the city of San Domingo itself has been taken by the revolutionists. The garrison of Fort San Carlos has declared itself in favor of the revolutionists, and the inhabitants of near-by villages are helping to strengthen the revolution. Two of the three war-vessels of San Domingo are held by the rebels, and in the fighting with the government forces on land the latter have lost heavily. Both the minister of war and minister of foreign affairs, who had taken refuge at the United States consulate, have surrendered to the rebels.
The Boycott Injustice.
More and more frequently is the labor element resorting to the boycott to enforce its demands or to punish any apparent discrimination against itself. Men who have paid their municipal licenses for the purpose of doing business, and by that act are entitled to the protection of the municipality, are set upon by the boycott, their business held up as unfair, and at times virtually ruined, and all without any recourse whatever. Recently, at Indianapolis, Indiana, the miners' union requested a merchant whom they patronized to arbitrate their differences with their employers. He accepted the task. His decision, after a careful investigation of the case, was against the union. That union at once declared his award unfair, and declared a fine of $5 upon any member of the union who should patronize his store. They posted pickets in front of the store, warning the people not to trade with this man who had consented to arbitrate their cause, and thus drove away his trade. The boycott, under any circumstances, is unfair and essentially unchristian, and the wickedness of the principle that actuates, it was never better illustrated than in the case cited.
Naval Expansion in the West Indies
Secretary Moody has selected Guantanamo, Cuba, as the principal United States naval station in the West Indies. Twenty square miles of land is to be purchased on both sides of the bay, as well as several small islands. When the necessary legislation has been secured, barracks and strong fortifications will be erected. The Navy Department has called for bids for the construction of the three 16,000-ton battle-ships whose construction Congress has authorized. They will be the most powerful vessels in the navy. They will carry 44 heavy guns from 12-inch down to 3-inch, besides 30 guns of smaller caliber. The names of these vessels will be the Kansas, Vermont, and Minnesota. The Mississippi and Idaho will be 13,000-ton vessels.
THE HOME-LIFE.
By Ellen G. White
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
We have only one life to live, only one probation in which to form characters that God can approve. Let parents take heed, first to themselves, and then to their children. Let them learn from the Word of God what their duty is. The work committed to them is a most solemn and important one,—a work that they can not neglect without incurring heavy guilt. They should make all else secondary to the training of their children, remember that as these children are in the home, so they will be when they go out into the world.
Too much importance can not be placed on the early training of children. The lessons that the child learns during the first seven years of its life have more to do with the formation of character than all that it learns in future years.
To the mother is entrusted an important part in the training of her children. But all the responsibility does not rest on her. Father and mother should unite in this great work. The husband should show his wife that he appreciates her. If he wishes to keep her fresh and gladsome, so that she will be as sunshine in the home, let him help her to bear her burdens.
Parents, make home happy for your children. By this I do not mean that you are to indulge them. The more they are indulged, the harder they will be to manage, and the more difficult it will be for them to live true, noble lives when they go out into the world. If you allow them to do as they please, their purity and loveliness of character will quickly fade. Teach them to obey. Let them see that your word must be respected. This may seem to bring them a little unhappiness now, but it will save them from much unhappiness in the future. Let the home government be just and tender, full of love and compassion, yet firm and true. Do not permit one disrespectful word or disobedient act.
Patience and Kindness in Correction.
Do not become impatient with your children when they err. When you correct them, do not speak abruptly and harshly. This confuses them, making them afraid to tell the truth. Remember that in them you are meeting your own traits of character,—traits that you have given them. Therefore be very kind, very compassionate, very careful to do nothing that will arouse the worst passions of the human heart. Be so calm, so free from anger, that they will be convinced that you love them, even tho you punish them.
Never forget the words, “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones. For I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven.”
Let the mother teach her children to be her willing helpers, gladly assisting her to bear life's burdens. Let cheerfulness reign in the home. The mother should put forth every effort to make home the most pleasant place in the world for her children. Let the long winter evenings be devoted to useful reading, or to some other form of self-improvement.
From the child's earliest years he is to be made acquainted with the things of God. In simple words let the mother tell him about Christ's life on earth. And more than this, let her bring into her daily life the teachings of the Saviour. Let her show her child, by her own example, that this life is a preparation for the life to come, a period granted to human beings in which they may form characters that will win for them entrance into the city of God.
