Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students - Ellen G. White

lessons of obedience to His will.
Physical training, the development of the body,
is far more easily given than spiritual training. The
nursery, the playground, the workshop; the sowing
of the seed, and the gathering of the harvest--all
these give physical training. Under ordinarily
favorable circumstances a child naturally gains
healthful vigor and a proper development of the
bodily organs. Yet even in physical lines the child
should be carefully trained.
Soul culture, which gives purity and elevation
to the thoughts and fragrance to word and act,
requires more painstaking effort. It takes patience
to keep every evil motive weeded from the garden
of the heart. The spiritual training should in no case
be neglected; for “the fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom.” (Psalm 111:10) By some,
education is placed next to religion, but true
education is religion. The Bible should be the
child’s first textbook. From this book, parents are
to give wise instruction. The word of God is to be
made the rule of the life. From it the children are to
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