Counsels for the Church - Ellen G. White

If parents allow their children to receive an education with the world,
and make the Sabbath a common day, then the seal of God cannot be placed
upon them. They will be destroyed with the world; and will not their blood
rest upon the parents? But if we faithfully teach our children God's
commandments, bring them into subjection to parental authority, and then by
faith and prayer commit them to God, he will work with our efforts; for he
has promised it. And when the overflowing scourge shall pass through the
land, they with us may be hidden in the secret of the Lord's pavilion.
A Day of Rest From Worldly Pursuits
It is the grossest presumption for mortal man to venture upon a
compromise with the Almighty in order to secure his own petty, temporal
interests. It is as ruthless a violation of the law to occasionally use the
Sabbath for secular business as to entirely reject it; for it is making the Lord's
commandments a matter of convenience. "I the Lord thy God am a jealous
God," is thundered from Sinai. No partial obedience, no divided interest, is
accepted by Him who declares that the iniquities of the fathers shall be
visited upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate
Him, and that He will show mercy unto thousands of them that love Him and
keep His commandments. It is not a small matter to rob a neighbor, and great
is the stigma attached to one who is found guilty of such an act; yet he who
would scorn to defraud his fellow man will without shame rob his heavenly
Father of the time that He has blessed and set apart for a special purpose.
The words and thoughts should be guarded. Those who discuss business
matters and lay plans on the Sabbath, are regarded of God as though they
engaged in the actual transaction of business. To keep the Sabbath holy, we
should not even allow our minds to dwell upon things of a worldly character.
God has spoken, and He means that man shall obey. He does not inquire
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