Parents should feel the responsibility of educating their children. Mothers are not to be given up to the following of fashion, but to be queens in their households. They are to train their children to be obedient to all the statutes and commandments of the Lord, keeping before their tender minds the fact that the sin of Adam and Eve opened upon our world the flood-gates of disappointment, sorrow, and suffering as the result of disobeying God's requirements.ChristianEducator November 1, 1897, par. 1

In the old dispensation the significance of the typical sacrifices was often brought before the minds of the children, for they prefigured the great sacrifice that was to be made for the redemption of man. The same lessons are essential in our time, that a foundation may be laid for prosperous households. “And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”ChristianEducator November 1, 1897, par. 2

If parents had always followed the directions of God, and had aimed to reach the high standard of life and character which is presented in the law of God, we should have altogether a different world, and should breathe in a holier, purer atmosphere. Parents should educate their children, teaching them that the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul, that each member of the household might say, “I will walk in mine house in a perfect way, I will behave myself wisely.” The reason why the world is so wicked, and the earth is defiled under the inhabitants thereof, is that there is so little respect for the law of the Lord. The reason there is so little respect for the Lord God of Hosts is that children are brought up to have little respect for their parents. All family government is to be shaped after the direction given by Jesus Christ through Moses to the heads of households. In homes where children and parents are followers of Jesus Christ there will be the doing of his word, that they may receive the blessings promised to the obedient, and avoid the curse that is the sure result of disobedience. If there is not a law in the household after the similitude of the law of God, there will be dissension, selfishness, and unhappiness. The Lord will work with parents as they work with him to be doers of his will.ChristianEducator November 1, 1897, par. 3

There should be no disorder, no haphazard work in the family; for those who profess to be followers of Christ are to reveal the fact to the church, to the world, and to the heavenly universe. There are a great many families under the displeasure of God, because they follow their own imperfect way, and do not obey the words of Christ given for the instruction of parents in the Old Testament. “That thou mightest fear, the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, 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 thine house, and on thy gates.”ChristianEducator November 1, 1897, par. 4

Mrs. E. G. White

August 1, 1897

October 1, 1898