Manuscript Releases, vol. 7 [Nos. 419-525]

Importance of Home School During Child's First Ten Years

I am unable to sleep after half past twelve o'clock. In the night season I was presenting before the parents of the Los Angeles church a message given me by the Lord in regard to their sinful neglect to train their children from their very infancy to form characters that will meet the approval of God. Parents should regard nothing as of sufficient consequence to take the place of their work for their children. 7MR 14.2

Please read the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters of Deuteronomy.... Parents are to take every precaution to prevent their children from growing up with objectionable traits of character. Parents are to control themselves, for the sake of Him in whom they claim to believe as their Creator and their Redeemer. Parents, unless you prepare yourselves for the present and the future life, you will not be admitted into the city of God. The words addressed by Paul to Timothy are addressed to every member of the church, “Take heed to thyself and to the doctrine.” “Thyself” comes first. The soul-temple must be cleansed. The inner lamp must be trimmed. Piety, virtue, and godliness must be revealed in the home life. God will not accept the most splendid service unless the one who offers it is first consecrated to Him by the entire surrender of the soul. Unless the root be holy, there can be no acceptable fruit. The great apostle, in commending the churches of Macedonia to his Corinthian converts for their benevolence and Christian liberality, tells in emphatic words the secret of the value of their good works, “They first gave their own selves to the Lord.” 7MR 14.3

Jesus requires of the parents in Los Angeles a thorough change of their attitude in the home. He has entrusted them with the responsibility of training their children for Him. These children are His property, and by diligent training of their capabilities, they are to be carefully improved, that not one of them shall be lost. This responsibility no father or mother can safely neglect. If they shirk the God-given work which they should do in the church in their own house, God will be robbed of the influence which should be exerted for Him in the home and out of the home. By failing to bring their children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, parents rob God of His entrusted talents. 7MR 15.1

All are to put their capabilities to the very best use. Parents, invest wisely every talent that God has entrusted to you. Cultivate piety at home. Cherish and exemplify in the home life the sacred principles of truth. All are to be workers. The children are to be taught to bear their weight of responsibility, to do little deeds of service. Their hands and minds are to be kept employed in useful duties.... 7MR 15.2

For the first ten years of a child's life the home is to be its school. In the home parents and children are to learn together the way of the Lord. A child's rebellion and disobedience require discipline. But in administering this discipline, let parents understand their own relation to the heavenly Father. Do they not often draw apart from God, refusing obedience to His commandments? Let these words be studied, “He that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.”—Manuscript 79, 1901, 1-3, 8. (“Testimony to the Parents of the Los Angeles Church,” August 18, 1901.) 7MR 15.3