第28章 儿童的第一所学校
§1
第28章 儿童的第一所学校
§2
Chap. 28 - The Childs First School
§3
上帝原定的教育计划——那在伊甸园所创立的教育制度，原是以家庭为中心。亚当“是上帝的儿子，”至高者的儿女乃是从他们的“父”受教导。他们的学校，实实在在说来乃是一所家庭学校。[1]
§4
Gods Original Plan for Education.--The system of education established in Eden centered in the family. Adam was the son of God (Luke 3:38), and it was from their Father that the children of the Highest received instruction. Theirs, in the truest sense, was a family school. {AH 181.1}[1]
§5
在堕落以后所设适合人类情况的神圣教育计划中，基督乃是“父”的代表，是人神之间的连系；他也是人类的大教师。他命定人作他的代表。家庭即学校，父母乃教师。[2]
§6
In the divine plan of education as adapted to mans condition after the fall, Christ stands as the representative of the Father, the connecting link between God and man; He is the great teacher of mankind. And He ordained that men and women should be His representatives. The family was the school, and the parents were the teachers. {AH 181.2}[2]
§7
先祖时代所通行的乃是以家庭为中心的教育，上帝为这样创立的学校，曾预备了最适于发展品格的环境。在他指导下的民众，仍然实行他在太初时所命定的生活计划。那些离弃上帝的人，却为自己建造城邑，群聚其中，以使现代城市成为人间傲物及祸薮之豪华奢侈与罪行为荣。但坚守上帝之生活原则的人，却住在田野与山林之间。他们是耕种田地和牧养牛羊的人；并在这种自由独立的生活中，运用其操作，研究，及默想的时机，得以认识上帝，并将他的一切作为与方法教导自己的儿女。这便是上帝所要在以色列民中设立的教育方法。[3]
§8
The education centering in the family was that which prevailed in the days of the patriarchs. For the schools thus established, God provided the conditions most favorable for the development of character. The people who were under His direction still pursued the plan of life that He had appointed in the beginning. Those who departed from God built for themselves cities, and, congregating in them, gloried in the splendor, the luxury, and the vice that make the cities of today the worlds pride and its curse. But the men who held fast Gods principles of life dwelt among the fields and hills. They were tillers of the soil and keepers of flocks and herds; and in this free, independent life, with its opportunities for labor and study and meditation, they learned of God and taught their children of His works and ways. This was the method of education that God desired to establish in Israel. {AH 181.3}[3]
§9
在通常生活中，家庭既是学校，也是教会，父母乃为教授世俗和宗教之事的教师。[4]
§10
In ordinary life the family was both a school and a church, the parents being the instructors in secular and in religious lines. {AH 182.1}[4]
§11
家庭乃学校——主基于他的智慧，已命定家庭要作为最伟大的教育机构。儿童的教育要在家庭中开始。这是他的第一所学校。在此，有他的双亲为导师，他要学习那作他终身指南的课目——恭敬、孝顺、虔诚、自制等课目，家庭教育的影响乃是或为善或为恶的决定力。从各方面看来，这种影响乃是暗中积渐而致的，然而若循正途发挥，就必成为维护真理与正义的一种无远弗届的能力。儿童在此若未受到正当的教育，撒但就必借着他所拣选的媒介来施行他的教育。如此看来，家庭中的学校乃是多么重要的啊！[5]
§12
The Family Circle a School.--In His wisdom the Lord has decreed that the family shall be the greatest of all educational agencies. It is in the home that the education of the child is to begin. Here is his first school. Here, with his parents as instructors, he is to learn the lessons that are to guide him throughout life--lessons of respect, obedience, reverence, self-control. The educational influences of the home are a decided power for good or for evil. They are in many respects silent and gradual, but if exerted on the right side, they become a far-reaching power for truth and righteousness. If the child is not instructed aright here, Satan will educate him through agencies of his choosing. How important, then, is the school in the home! {AH 182.2}[5]
§13
当视家庭为一所训练学校，要在此教导你的儿女准备妥当，履行他们对家庭，对社会，对教会所有的义务。[6]
§14
Look upon the family circle as a training school, where you are preparing your children for the performance of their duties at home, in society, and in the church. {AH 182.3}[6]
§15
家庭教育乃属首要——今日青年们的家庭教育与训练已被忽视了，这乃是众所公认的一项可悲的事实。[7]
§16
Home Education First in Importance.--It is a sad fact, almost universally admitted and deplored, that the home education and training of the youth of today have been neglected. {AH 182.4}[7]
§17
再没有什么工作园地，较比交与建立并维护家庭者去努力的范围更重要的了。再没有什么托付世人的使命，较比父母所从事的工作含有更伟大，更久远的效果的了。社会将来的命运乃取决于今日的青年和儿童，而这些青年和儿童将来如何，则端乎家庭如何而定。为患于人类的疾病、灾祸和罪孽，大部分都当归咎于家庭中缺乏正当的教导。假若家庭生活是纯洁而正直的，假若从家庭中出去的子女已有相当的准备，足以应付人生的责任和危机，则世上将可见到何等样的改变啊！[8]
§18
There is no more important field of effort than that committed to the founders and guardians of the home. No work entrusted to human beings involves greater or more far-reaching results than does the work of fathers and mothers. {AH 182.5}[8]
§19
其他一切都属次要——每一个诞生于世的孩子，都是耶稣基督的产业，而且都当借着教训和榜样加以教育，使之敬爱并顺从上帝；然而大多数的父母竟忽略了上帝所托付的使命，没有从儿女悟性初启之时，开始教导并训练他们认识并敬爱基督。父母们都当借着辛勤的努力，去守护这敞开而易受感化的心志，并使家庭生活中的任何事物都次于上帝所吩咐他们克尽的明确义务——遵照主的教训和警戒养育他们的儿女。[9]
§20
It is by the youth and children of today that the future of society is to be determined, and what these youth and children shall be depends upon the home. To the lack of right home training may be traced the larger share of the disease and misery and crime that curse humanity. If the home life were pure and true, if the children who went forth from its care were prepared to meet lifes responsibilities and dangers, what a change would be seen in the world! {AH 182.6}[9]
§21
作父母的也不可让业务的挂虑，属世的习俗与准则，以及风行的时尚等，在他们身上占有控制的力量，以至儿女们在幼稚时期就被忽略了，而在他们年事渐长之时仍未施予正当的教导。[10]
§22
All Else to Be Secondary.--Every child brought into the world is the property of Jesus Christ, and should be educated by precept and example to love and obey God; but by far the largest number of parents have neglected their God-given work, by failing to educate and train their children, from the first dawning of reason, to know and love Christ. By painstaking effort parents are to watch the opening, receptive mind and make everything in the home life secondary to the positive duty enjoined upon them by God--to train their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. {AH 183.1}[10]
§23
今日世上的罪行何以如此之多，最大的一个原因就是：一般父母们的心意专注于其他的事情，而不重视那最重要的——就是如何能使自己忍耐而慈祥地从事教导儿女认识主道的工作。若能揭开幔子，我们就必看出许许多多走错了路的孩子们，全都是由于这样的忽略，而与一切良善的感化力隔绝了。父母们哪，在你们的经验中有这等情形发生，你们还能忍受么？你们不应该有那么重大的工作，来拦阻你们不能为儿女用相当的工夫，使他们明白全然顺从并信靠主的意义。[11]
§24
Parents should not permit business cares, worldly customs and maxims, and fashion to have a controlling power over them, so that they neglect their children in babyhood and fail to give their children proper instruction as they increase in years. {AH 183.2}[11]
§25
而你们的辛劳能得到什么报偿呢？你们必发现自己的孩子经常承欢膝下，甘心乐意地在你们所倡导的事工上与你们合作。你们也必发觉如此你们的工作便轻省得多了。[12]
§26
One great reason why there is so much evil in the world today is that parents occupy their minds with other things than that which is all-important--how to adapt themselves to the work of patiently and kindly teaching their children the way of the Lord. If the curtain could be drawn aside, we should see that many, many children who have gone astray have been lost to good influences through this neglect. Parents, can you afford to have it so in your experience? You should have no work so important that it will prevent you from giving to your children all the time that is necessary to make them understand what it means to obey and trust the Lord fully. . . . {AH 183.3}[12]
§27
在家庭学校中代替上帝作教师——就特殊的意义而言，作父母的都应该视自己为上帝的代理者，要教导自己的儿女遵行主道，像亚伯拉罕所作的一样。他们须殷勤地查考《圣经》，以便知道何为主的道，并以之教导自己的家人。弥迦曾说：“他向你所要的是什么呢？只要你行公义、好怜悯、存谦卑的心、与你的上帝同行。”父母们若要作教师，必须先作学习者，不断地从上帝的圣言中聚敛亮光，借着教训和榜样，将这宝贵的亮光运用在教育自己儿女的工作上。[13]
§28
And what will you reap as a reward of your effort? You will find your children right by your side, willing to take hold and co-operate with you in the lines that you suggest. You will find your work made easy. {AH 184.1}[13]
§29
由上帝所赐与我的亮光中，我明白夫妇二人在家庭中都要作传道士、医生、护士，和教师，将他们的儿女和自己以及上帝系结起来，教导他们避免那与他们身体里面所有上帝的作为相冲突的习惯，并善自摄护身体的每一个器官。[14]
§30
Gods Teaching Agents in the Home School.--Parents should in a special sense regard themselves as agents of God to instruct their children, as did Abraham, to keep the way of the Lord. They need to search the Scriptures diligently, to know what is the way of the Lord, that they may teach it to their household. Micah says, What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? [Micah 6:8.] In order to be teachers, parents must be learners, gathering light constantly from the oracles of God and by precept and example bringing this precious light into the education of their children. {AH 184.2}[14]
§31
在这训练子女的工作上，母亲应该经常居于优越的地位上；父亲虽也负有严肃而艰巨的责任，但母亲因随时与她的儿女同在一起，特别是他们还在年幼的时候，因此必须经常作他们的特别教师与友伴。她应当极度谨慎地培养自己儿女整饬有序的特性，指导他们养成良好的习惯与爱好；她应当训练他们勤恳、自立，并帮助别人；生活、行为与操作，经常都要像在上帝面前一样。[15]
§32
From the light that God has given me, I know that the husband and the wife are to be in the home minister, physician, nurse, and teacher, binding their children to themselves and to God, training them to avoid every habit that will in any way militate against Gods work in the body, and teaching them to care for every part of the living organism. {AH 184.3}[15]
§33
年长的姊妹对幼小的弟妹们能产生一种强大的感化力。年轻的目睹年长的榜样，必因模仿的原理而收诱导之效，远胜于反复的训诫。年长的女儿必须常常自觉身负一种基督徒的本分，要帮助母亲分担她那许多劳苦的重荷。[16]
§34
The mother must ever stand pre-eminent in this work of training the children; while grave and important duties rest upon the father, the mother, by almost constant association with her children, especially during their tender years, must always be their special instructor and companion. She should take great care to cultivate neatness and order in her children, to direct them in forming correct habits and tastes; she should train them to be industrious, self-reliant, and helpful to others; to live and act and labor as though always in the sight of God. {AH 184.4}[16]
§35
作父母的应当常常在家。借着教训和榜样，教导儿女敬畏上帝；教导他们作聪明、和蔼、而亲切的人；培养殷勤、节俭，和克己的习惯。借着在家中给予儿女慈爱，同情和鼓励，父母便能为他们预备一个安全可贵的避难所，脱离许多属世的试探。[17]
§36
The elder sisters can exert a strong influence upon the younger members of the family. The younger, witnessing the example of the older, will be led more by the principle of imitation than by oft-repeated precepts. The eldest daughter should ever feel it a Christian duty devolving upon her to aid the mother in bearing her many toilsome burdens. {AH 185.1}[17]
§37
进入教会小学之前的准备——我们的男孩和女孩，都要在家庭学校中准备妥当进入教会小学。父母们要时常把这件事放在心上，并且既在家庭中身为教师，就当将一切的能力献给上帝，俾达成他们高尚圣洁的使命。家中所施予之勤奋诚笃的训诲，乃是儿童参与学校生活之前的最佳准备。[18]
§38
Parents should be much at home. By precept and example they should teach their children the love and the fear of God; teach them to be intelligent, social, affectionate; to cultivate habits of industry, economy, and self-denial. By giving their children love, sympathy, and encouragement at home, parents may provide for them a safe and welcome retreat from many of the worlds temptations. {AH 185.2}[18]
§39
当尊上帝的训诲为至上——我们有《圣经》所启示的，指导众人——包括父母和子女——的原则，一种不可丝毫偏离的高尚圣洁的标准。上帝的训诲必须尊为至上。但愿父母们将上帝的圣言展陈于鉴察人心之主面前，诚心地求问：“上帝所说的是什么？”[19]
§40
Preparation for the Church School.--It is in the home school that our boys and girls are to be prepared to attend the church school. Parents should constantly keep this in mind and, as teachers in the home, should consecrate every power of the being to God, that they may fulfill their high and holy mission. Diligent, faithful instruction in the home is the best preparation that children can receive for school life. {AH 185.3}[19]
§41
当教导你的儿女爱真理，因为真理的本身就是真理，并且因为他们要靠着真理得以成圣，而在不久的将来，能在那大检阅中站立得住，那时就要决定他们有无资格承当更高尚的工作，并成为王室的分子，天上大君的儿女。[20]
§42
Gods Injunctions to Be Paramount.--We have Bible rules for the guidance of all, both parents and children, a high and holy standard from which there can be no swerving. Gods injunctions must be paramount. Let the father and mother of the family spread out Gods word before Him, the searcher of hearts, and ask in sincerity, What hath God said? {AH 185.4}[20]
§43
为未来的战争作准备——撒但正在部署他的战阵；我们个人是否都已预备好应付目前可怖的战争呢？我们是否在预备我们的儿女以应付那最大的危机呢？我们是否在预备自己和自己的家属能洞察仇敌的方位与战略呢？我们的儿女是否也在培养果断的习惯，俾在一切有关原则与本分的事上能坚立不移呢？我祈愿大家都能明了一切的时兆，也愿我们和我们的儿女都预备妥当，俾在战争的日子上帝能作我们的避难所和保障。[21]
§44
Teach your children to love truth because it is truth, and because they are to be sanctified through the truth and fitted to stand in the grand review that shall erelong determine whether they are qualified to enter into higher work and become members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King. {AH 186.1}[21]