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Gold, Silver, Precious Stones
P.O. Box 240
Harvest, AL 35749

"To Parents," The Gospel Messenger vol. 6 no. 5 (May 1884)

AUTHOR:

Mitchell, William M.

For near two years past we have been sending out monthly letters through the Gospel Messenger to children, and we are glad to say to you that, from almost every direction of our wide-spread circulation, we are receiving words of encouragement and approval from parents, for this method of encouragement and instruction to their children, respecting the important duties that rest upon them in early life.

But however highly appreciated these letters of instruction to children may be, they should only be regarded in the light of helps to you as parents, to enable you the better to discharge the divine and God-given right of training and ruling your own children. Upon you as parents the responsibility rests. God has established this natural relation by giving you children, and nothing short of a direct act of Providence can dissolve this relation so as to free the parent from its responsibilities. No change can be made by man, no matter how much legislation may be upon the subject, without involving us in sin against God, and thereby bringing all the evils on parents, children and society generally that are sure to follow the transgression of any divinely established law.

For many years past we have deeply deplored the widespread evils resulting to society from parental neglect in the education, training and government of their children. And we should be much better satisfied as to our individual responsibility could we feel assured that we had discharged our own duty up to the measure of our responsibilities. In this, however, we feel deeply conscious that we have fallen far short. But however far short any of us may have fallen from the divine standard in training our own children in morals, manners, truth, honesty, justice, temperance, modesty, industry and economy, or however incompetent we may feel to the task, we cannot free ourselves from the obligation of it.