Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 25 (1910 - 1915)

Lt 22, 1912

Burden, Brother and Sister [J. A.]

St. Helena, California

May 16, 1912

Previously unpublished.

Elder J. A. Burden
Loma Linda, California

Dear Brother and Sister Burden:

I would be pleased to see and talk with you this morning. I wish to say to you, Hold fast to all the God-given light you have. Do not allow anything to confuse your mind. It is a sacred work in which you are engaged. No haphazard work must be done. 25LtMs, Lt 22, 1912, par. 1

If you have a work to do in gathering means for the carrying on of the work at Loma Linda, the Lord will impart to you wisdom to do it. There is certainly need of means, if the work is done that we anticipate. 25LtMs, Lt 22, 1912, par. 2

My brother and sister, the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit is needed to accompany the ministry of the Word. I feel deeply the need of the work that God requires shall be taken up in every household. As you labor for the advancement of the work in those lines to which you are specially called, seek to impress upon parents the great need of faithful work in the home. Help them to see how they can take their children with them in their service for Christ. If their religious impressions are true, if they have learned of the great Teacher, they will not correct their children in anger. To manifest anger is to give evidence of an unbalanced judgment; to indulge in scolding and fretting and unholy passion is to dishonor before the children the One whom they profess to serve. 25LtMs, Lt 22, 1912, par. 3

Parents should be taught to seek prayerfully for calmness of spirit, for well-balanced judgment, for a firm control of temper. To scold and shake an erring child is to lose the opportunity to express in the right way the patience and forbearance that should ever characterize the Christian. It is to give a wrong mold to the character which it is the privilege of the parent to fashion after the perfect pattern. When the patience is worn out, and the temper beyond control, [it] is no time to administer correction. Only harm will be the result of punishment given under such conditions; for it gives satanic agencies a chance to work upon the mind. Let the mother do the work of correction at a time when she can sit down with the child and talk calmly about the wrong that has been done, showing him how the Holy Spirit of God has been grieved. 25LtMs, Lt 22, 1912, par. 4

Parents need to inquire diligently into their own habits and example; they need to watch closely the habits of their children. They should keep their children with them as much as possible. They should not send them away from home to school until they have learned to understand the difference between right and wrong. O that parents might understand the far-reaching results of godly training given patiently and kindly, and with eternity in view. 25LtMs, Lt 22, 1912, par. 5