第03章 父母的训练
§1
第03章 父母的训练
§2
Chap. 3—Parental Training
§3
我蒙指示，许多自称相信现代严肃信息的父母们，并没有为上帝训练自己的儿女。他们没有约束自己，而且对于任何想要约束他们的人，感到恼怒。他们没有每日用活泼的信心将儿女绑在主的坛上。这些青年人中，有许多被容许干犯第四条诫命，在上帝的圣日寻求他们自己的快乐。他们在安息日上街去找自己的娱乐，而不觉得良心有愧。许多孩子去他们喜欢去的地方，行他们喜欢行的事；而他们的父母十分怕他们不高兴，便效法以利的管理，不给他们下任何命令。{5T36.3}[1]
§4
I have been shown that very many of the parents who profess to believe the solemn message for this time have not trained their children for God. They have not restrained themselves and have been irritated with anyone who attempted to restrain them. They have not by living faith daily bound their children upon the altar of the Lord. Many of these youth have been allowed to transgress the fourth commandment by seeking their own pleasure upon God’s holy day. They have felt no compunctions of conscience in going about the streets on the Sabbath for their own amusement. Many go where they please and do what they please, and their?parents are so fearful of displeasing them that, imitating the management of Eli, they lay no commands upon them.?{5T 36.3}[1]
§5
这些青少年终于完全不尊重安息日，对于宗教聚会或圣洁永恒的事物，也毫无兴趣。如果父母稍微向他们表示异议，他们就提说某些教友的过失来为自己辩护。父母们一开始不但没有制止这类论调，反而跟孩子们想的一样；以为如果这个人或那个人是完全的，他们的孩子就会做正确的事了。他们不该这样做，反而应该教导孩子们，别人的罪不是他们犯罪的理由。基督才是唯一的真模范。即使许多人犯错，也不是他们可以犯一个错误的正当理由，丝毫不能减轻他们的罪责。上帝已经赐给他们一个完全的、高尚的、崇高的标准，是他们必须达到的，与别人可能采取的做法无关。但是许多父母因对孩子溺爱，似乎丧失了理智和判断。撒但反过来又藉着这些放任自流，娇生惯养的青少年，来有效地毁灭父母。我蒙指示，看到上帝的忿怒曾临到怀疑悖逆的人古以色列人身上。教导儿女的职责曾清楚明白地吩咐给他们，这职责对当代信主的父母同样有约束力。“我的民哪，你们要留心听我的训诲，侧耳听我口中的话。我要开口说比喻；我要说出古时的谜语，是我们所听见、所知道的，也是我们的祖宗告诉我们的。我们不将这些事向他们的子孙隐瞒，要将耶和华的美德和祂的能力，并祂奇妙的作为，述说给后代听”（诗78:1-4）。{5T37.1}[2]
§6
These youth finally lose all respect for the Sabbath and have no relish for religious meetings or for sacred and eternal things. If their parents mildly remonstrate with them, they shield themselves by telling of the faults of some of the church members. In place of silencing the first approach to anything of the kind, the parents think just as their children think; if this one or that one were perfect, their children would be right. Instead of this they should teach them that the sins of others are no excuse for them. Christ is the only true pattern. The wrongs of many would not excuse one wrong in them or lessen in the least their guilt. God has given them one standard, perfect, noble, elevated. This they must meet, irrespective of the course which others may pursue. But many parents seem to lose reason and judgment in their fondness for their children, and, through these indulged, selfish, mismanaged youth, Satan in turn works effectually to ruin the parents. I was referred to the wrath of God which came upon the incredulous and disobedient of ancient Israel. Their duty to instruct their children was plainly enjoined upon them. It is just as binding upon believing parents in this generation. “Give ear, O My people, to My law: incline your ears to the words of My mouth. I will open My mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength, and His wonderful works that He hath done.”?{5T 37.1}[2]
§7
父母对儿女怎样言传身教，儿女就会怎样。因此父母非常需要训练儿女为上帝服务。儿女从小就应受教，认识宗教义务的神圣性。这在他们的教育中是最重要的部分。我们应该首先履行对上帝的本分。应该从操行上教导并促使他们严格遵守上帝的律法。“因为，祂在雅各中立法度，在以色列中设律法；是祂吩咐我们祖宗要传给子孙的，使将要生的后代子孙可以晓得；他们也要起来告诉他们的子孙，好叫他们仰望上帝，不忘记上帝的作为，惟要守祂的命令。不要象他们的祖宗，是顽梗悖逆、居心不正之辈，向着上帝，心不诚实”（诗78:5-8）。{5T37.2}[3]
§8
Children are what their parents make them by their instruction, discipline, and example. Hence the overwhelming importance of parental faithfulness in training the young for the service of God. Children should early be taught the sacredness of religious obligations. This is a most important?part of their education. Our duty to God should be performed before any other. The strict observance of God’s law, from principle, should be taught and enforced. “For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments: and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God.”?{5T 37.2}[3]
§9
从这里可以看到父母们所肩负的重大责任。若让儿女们放任自流，不受约束而长大成人，一般来说，他们今后的人生就会走上帝谴责的道路。他们会渴望轻浮的享乐和无信仰的同伴。他们既蒙允许忽视宗教义务，放纵属肉体之心的种种倾向，撒但就控制了他们的思想和操行。在某地，父母们已经给了撒但充足的空间去如此行事。那个地方的人退后离开上帝，多半都是父母们忽视训练儿女过一种尽责、虔诚生活的结果。这些儿女的状况是可悲的。他们自称是基督徒；但他们的父母却没有负起责任，教导他们如何成为基督徒——如何叙述上帝的仁慈怜悯，如何赞美祂，如何在他们的生活中表现基督的生活。{5T38.1}[4]
§10
Here is seen the great responsibility devolving upon parents. Children who are allowed to come up to manhood or womanhood with the will undisciplined and the passions uncontrolled, will generally in afterlife pursue a course which God condemns. These are eager for frivolous enjoyments and irreligious associates. They have been allowed to neglect religious duties and indulge the inclinations of the carnal heart, and, as a consequence, Satan controls the mind and principles. In ----- parents have given him ample room thus to work. Most of the backsliding from God that has occurred in that place has come in consequence of the parents’ neglect to train their children to a conscientious, religious life. The condition of these children is lamentable. They profess to be Christians; but their parents have not taken upon themselves the burden of teaching them how to be Christians—how to recount the mercies of God, how to praise Him, how to exemplify in their lives the life of Christ.?{5T 38.1}[4]
§11
当这些孩子入学与别的学生交往时，那些认真努力要作基督徒的孩子，就会羞于在这些已有那么多亮光的孩子面前实行自己的信仰。他们羞于与众不同，否认自己的信念，因此他们就在最需要武装的时候，在黑暗权势藉着这些没有宗教信仰的同伴诱导他们远离基督的时候，丢盔弃甲。他们踏上了一条充满危险的路径，没有宗教原则的保护和支持，因为他们以为，把宗教带进教室、操场、和他们一切的交往中，是艰难或不愉快的。他们就这样把自己的心灵暴露在撒但的毒箭面前。这些青少年的卫士在哪儿呢？谁用一只手紧紧握住了上帝的宝座，用另一只手抱住这些青少年，把他们拉向基督呢？就在这里，这些孩子需要认识宗教的力量，需要被一只坚定的手拉住。{5T38.2}[5]
§12
When these children enter school and associate with other students, those who have been really trying to be Christians are ashamed to act out their faith in the presence of those who have had so much light. They are ashamed to appear singular?and deny inclination, and so they throw away their armor at the very time when it is most needed, when the powers of darkness are working through these irreligious companions to lead them away from Christ. They enter upon a path that is full of danger without the protection and support of religious principle, because they think it will be difficult or unpleasant to carry their religion with them to the schoolroom, the playground, and into all their associations. Thus they lay bare their soul to the shafts of Satan. Where are the guardians of these youth? Who have taken a firm hold of the throne of God with one hand while with the other they encircle these youth to draw them to Christ? It is just here that these children need to know the power of religion, need to be held back with a firm hand.?{5T 38.2}[5]
§13
那些久已拒绝上帝指导和保护的人，许多都在轻浮自私的娱乐之途上奔跑。他们中有更多的人堕入了更为低级的行为中，玷污了自己的身子。结果，他们的心被污染了，对宗教产生厌恶。有些人在这条堕落的路上已走得那么远，那么认真地走了所多玛人的路，以致现今几近咒诅了，责备和警告的声音对他们已失去效力。他们将永不得赎了，而他们的父母在他们的灭亡上是有罪责的。他们付出巨大的牺牲——健康、内心的平安和永远的生命——所换来的低级娱乐，至终乃是痛苦辛酸。{5T39.1}[6]
§14
Many of those who have so long rejected divine guidance and guardianship are rushing on in the path of levity and selfish pleasure, yea, more, into baser acts and defilement of the body. As a consequence their minds are polluted, and religion is distasteful to them. Some have gone so far in this downward course, and followed so earnestly in the path of the Sodomites, that they are today nigh unto cursing, and the voice of reproof and warning is lost upon them. They will never be redeemed, and the parents are guilty of their ruin. The debasing enjoyments for which they have made such an enormous sacrifice—health, peace of mind, and eternal life—are bitterness in the end.?{5T 39.1}[6]
§15
父母们哪，为基督的缘故，不要在你们最重要的工作上，就是在为今生和永恒而塑造儿女品格的工作上犯错。你们若忽略给予儿女忠诚的指导，或放纵那种不明智的感情，闭眼不见他们的缺点，不给他们适当的约束，结果将是他们的堕落败坏。你们所行的，可能使他们将来的生涯完全误入歧途。你们在为他们决定前途，决定他们要为基督、为世人，并为自己的生命做什么。{5T39.2}[7]
§16
Parents, for Christ’s sake do not blunder in your most important work, that of molding the characters of your children for time and for eternity. An error on your part in neglect of faithful instruction, or in the indulgence of that unwise affection which blinds your eyes to their defects and prevents you from giving them proper restraint, will prove their ruin. Your course may give a wrong direction to all their future career. You determine for them what they will be and what?they will do for Christ, for men, and for their own souls.?{5T 39.2}[7]
§17
当以诚实和忠信对待儿女。要勇敢而耐心地工作。不怕任何十字架，不惜付出时间和辛劳、承受责任和痛苦。你们儿女的将来，将要证明你们工作的性质。你们儿女谐和匀称的美好品格，最能显出你们忠于基督的心。他们是基督的产业，用祂自己的血买来的。倘若他们所有的感化力全在基督这边，他们便是祂的同工，帮助别人寻获生命的道路。你们若疏忽上帝所委托的工作，那么你们不明智的教养方式，就会使他们置身于那班与基督分离并促进黑暗国度权势的人中。{5T40.1}[8]
§18
Deal honestly and faithfully with your children. Work bravely and patiently. Fear no crosses, spare no time or labor, burden or suffering. The future of your children will testify the character of your work. Fidelity to Christ on your part can be better expressed in the symmetrical character of your children than in any other way. They are Christ’s property, bought with His own blood. If their influence is wholly on the side of Christ they are His colaborers, helping others to find the path of life. If you neglect your God-given work, your unwise course of discipline places them among the class who scatter from Christ and strengthen the kingdom of darkness.?{5T 40.1}[8]
§19
我说的事是我知道的；我向你们证实的事是我见过的，我说在我们的青少年中间，在自称是基督徒父母们的受教育的儿女们中间，在上帝眼中正犯下严重的罪行。这种罪行是那么普遍，构成了末日的征兆之一。它充满罪恶的倾向，要予以坚决的揭露和谴责。它就是轻乎或藐视他们早期献身上帝之誓约的罪。圣灵曾感动他们为了信仰的事业完全站在以马内利大君血染的旌旗之下。但父母们远离上帝，忙于属世的业务，或对自己的宗教经验充满怀疑和不满，以致完全不适于教导儿女。在这些青少年的经验中，需要一只明智的坚定的手向他们指出正路，忠告和限制他们步入歧途。{5T40.2}[9]
§20
I speak the things I know; I testify to you the things which I have seen when I say there is among our youth, among educated young men of professedly Christian parents, a grievous offense in the sight of God, which is so common that it constitutes one of the signs of the last days. It is so full of evil tendencies as to call for decided exposure and denunciation. It is the sin of regarding with levity or contempt their early vows of consecration to God. In a religious interest the Holy Spirit moved upon them to take their stand wholly under the bloodstained banner of Prince Immanuel. But the parents were so far from God themselves, so busily engaged in worldly business, or so filled with doubts and dissatisfaction in regard to their own religious experience, that they were wholly unfitted to give them instruction. These youth, in their inexperience, needed a wise, firm hand to point out the right way and to bar with counsel and restraint the wrong way.?{5T 40.2}[9]
§21
要表显出宗教的生活与世俗和寻欢作乐的截然不同。凡愿作基督门徒的人，必须背起十字架跟从耶稣。我们的救主没有为取悦自己而生活，我们也不可为取悦自己而生活。高尚的属灵造诣需要完全献身于上帝。但是父母们却没有这样教育孩子，因为这与自己的生活相矛盾。于是孩子们只能按自己的条件来认识基督徒的生活。当他们受到寻求世俗友伴，参加属世的娱乐的试探时，宠爱他们的父母，既不愿制止他们的任何放纵，在这件事上他们即便说了或做了什么，也不过是采取一种含糊不清的立场，让孩子们自己判断他们所想要所走的道路是否符合基督徒的生活和品格。{5T40.3}[10]
§22
A religious life should be shown to be in marked contrast to a life of worldliness and pleasure seeking. He who would be the disciple of Christ must take up the cross and bear it after Jesus. Our Saviour lived not to please Himself, neither must we. High spiritual attainments will require entire?consecration to God. But this instruction has not been given the youth because it would contradict the life of the parents. Therefore the children have been left to gain a knowledge of the Christian life as best they could. When tempted to seek the society of worldlings and participate in worldly amusements, the fond parents, disliking to deny them any indulgence, have—if they have said or done anything in the matter—taken a position so indefinite and undecided that the children have judged for themselves that the course they desired to pursue was in keeping with the Christian life and character.?{5T 40.3}[10]
§23
他们一旦走上这条路上，通常就会继续走下去，直到属世的成分占了优势，他们就嘲笑自己从前的信念了。他们鄙视自己心地柔软时所表现的单纯，并且给自己找藉口，躲避教会和被钉之救赎主的神圣要求。这等人决不能成为他们原可成为的人，除非他们的天良未泯，他们最圣洁、最温柔的感情尚未迟钝。他们如果在以后的岁月中成为基督的门徒，也仍必带有疤痕。那是他们因不尊敬神圣的事物而在心灵上留下的。{5T41.1}[11]
§24
Having once started in this way, they usually continue in it until the worldly element prevails and they sneer at their former convictions. They despise the simplicity manifested when their hearts were tender, and they find excuse to elude the sacred claims of the church and of the crucified Redeemer. This class can never become what they might have been had not the convictions of conscience been stifled, the holiest, tenderest affections blunted. If in after years they become followers of Christ, they will still bear the scars which irreverence for sacred things has made upon their souls.?{5T 41.1}[11]
§25
父母们看不到这些问题，未能预见自己行为的结果。他们不觉得自己的孩子在属灵生命上需要最温柔的教养和最细心的训练。他们看不到儿女从特殊的意义上说是基督的产业，是祂的血所买来的，是祂恩典的战利品，也是上帝手中合用的器皿，要用来建立祂的国度。撒但总是企图把这些青少年从基督手里夺走，父母们没有看出，那大仇敌正在把他邪恶的旗帜插在他们周围。他们是那么盲目，竟以为那是基督的旗帜。{5T41.2}[12]
§26
Parents do not see these things. They do not foresee the result of their course. They do not feel that their children need the tenderest culture, the most careful discipline in the divine life. They do not look upon them as being in a peculiar sense the property of Christ, the purchase of His blood, the trophies of His grace, and as such, skillful instruments in God’s hands to be used for the upbuilding of His kingdom. Satan is ever seeking to wrest these youth from the hands of Christ, and parents do not discern that the great adversary is planting his hellish banners close by their sides. They are so blinded they think it is the banner of Christ.?{5T 41.2}[12]
§27
撒但用野心，闲懒，怀疑或自我放纵，引诱青少年人离开主的赎民所当行的圣洁窄路。他们一般不是突然离开这条道路的，而是逐渐被引诱离开的。他们既迈出错误的一步，就丧失了使他们蒙上帝悦纳的圣灵见证。他们就这样堕入了灰心不信的状态中。他们不喜欢宗教侍奉，因为良心在谴责他们。他们已经落入了撒但的网罗，只有一条逃脱之路。他们必须以谦卑的心承认并离弃他们的三心二意。他们要恢复所轻视起初经验，珍爱每一神圣的渴望，让唯有上帝的灵才能激发的神圣情感在他们心中作王。信靠基督的能力，会赐人力量支持人，赐人亮光指导人。{5T41.3}[13]
§28
By ambition or indolence, skepticism or self-indulgence, Satan allures the young from the narrow path of holiness cast up for the ransomed of the Lord to walk in. They do not?generally leave this path all at once. They are won away by degrees. Having taken one wrong step, they lose the witness of the Spirit to their acceptance with God. Thus they fall into a state of discouragement and distrust. They dislike religious services because conscience condemns them. They have fallen into the snare of Satan, and there is only one way of escape. They must retrace their steps and with humility of soul confess and forsake their halfhearted course. Let them renew their first experience which they have made light of, cherish every divine aspiration, and let those holy emotions which God’s Spirit only can inspire, reign in their souls. Faith in Christ’s power will impart strength to sustain, and light to guide.?{5T 41.3}[13]
§29
在宗教经验上的这种实际指导，乃是基督徒父母应该预备给自己的儿女的。上帝向你们提出这样的要求。你们如果没有做到，就是疏忽了自己的职责。要教导儿女上帝所选用的教育方法，以及基督徒人生成功的条件。要教导他们不能既事奉上帝，又过分关注今生的物质；但也不要让他们以为无须操劳，可以浪费其余暇的光阴于怠惰无益的事上。关于这一点，上帝的话是有明训的。天上的至尊耶稣，为青少年留下了榜样。祂在拿撒勒的工场里为日用的饮食劳碌。祂服从祂的双亲，并不企求支配自己的时间或随从自己的意愿。青少年若度随意放任的人生，无论是作为一个人还是作为一个基督徒，都不能达到真正的卓越。上帝并没有应许为祂服务可享受安逸，名望或财富；然而祂却向我们保证，所需要的一切福惠必定赐给我们，在今世要“受逼迫”，而在来世要享受“永生”。人若非全然献身于祂的服务，基督就决不会悦纳。这乃是我们每个人所必须学习的教训。{5T42.1}[14]
§30
This practical instruction in religious experience is what Christian parents should be prepared to give their children. God requires this of you, and you neglect your duty if you fail to perform this work. Instruct your children in regard to God’s chosen methods of discipline and the conditions of success in the Christian life. Teach them that they cannot serve God and have their minds absorbed in overcareful provision for this life; but do not let them cherish the thought that they have no need to toil, and may spend their leisure moments in idleness. God’s word is plain on this point. Jesus, the Majesty of heaven, has left an example for the youth. He toiled in the workshop at Nazareth for His daily bread. He was subject to His parents, and sought not to control His own time or to follow His own will. By a life of easy indulgence a youth can never attain to real excellence as a man or as a Christian. God does not promise us ease, honor, or wealth in His service; but He assures us that all needed blessings will be ours, with “persecutions,” and in the world to come “life everlasting.” Nothing less than entire consecration to His service will Christ accept. This is the lesson which every one of us must learn.?{5T 42.1}[14]
§31
那些研究圣经，求问上帝，依赖基督的人，必能随时随地聪明行事。良好的原则必在实际的生活中证明出来。唯有真诚地接受现代真理，并使之成为品格的基础，它才会产生坚定的意志。这种意志是娱乐的引诱、习尚的变易、爱世界之辈的藐视、以及自我放纵的内心呼喊，都无力影响的。良知必须先蒙启迪，意志也必须予以驯服。对真理和公义的爱，必须在人心中占统治地位，然后，才会显露出一种天庭所赞许的品格来。{5T43.1}[15]
§32
Those who study the Bible, counsel with God, and rely upon Christ will be enabled to act wisely at all times and under all circumstances. Good principles will be illustrated in actual life. Only let the truth for this time be cordially received and become the basis of character, and it will produce steadfastness of purpose, which the allurements of pleasure, the fickleness of custom, the contempt of the world-loving, and the heart’s own clamors for self-indulgence are powerless to influence. Conscience must be first enlightened, the will must be brought into subjection. The love of truth and righteousness must reign in the soul, and a character will appear which heaven can approve.?{5T 43.1}[15]
§33
我们有显著的例证，说明坚定的宗教原则所具有的支持力。即使对死亡的恐惧，也不能使渴想喝水的大卫，去喝三个勇士冒生命的危险去伯利恒城门旁井里打来的水。那敞开的狮子洞，不能拦阻但以理的每日祈祷，烈火的窑也不能使沙得拉和他的同伴跪拜尼布甲尼撒所立的偶像。凡持守坚定原则的青少年，必远避娱乐，藐视痛苦，甚至敢冒狮子洞和烈火窑的危险，也不显示对上帝不忠。且注意约瑟的品格，美德虽受到严重的考验，但它的胜利却是完全的。这个高贵的青年在每一点上都经受了试验。在每一试炼上，这同一高尚不屈的原则都表现出来了。主与他同在，祂的话就是律法。{5T43.2}[16]
§34
We have marked illustrations of the sustaining power of firm, religious principle. Even the fear of death could not make the fainting David drink of the water of Bethlehem, to obtain which, valiant men had risked their lives. The gaping lions’ den could not keep Daniel from his daily prayers, nor could the fiery furnace induce Shadrach and his companions to fall down before the idol which Nebuchadnezzar set up. Young men who have firm principles will eschew pleasure, defy pain, and brave even the lions’ den and the heated fiery furnace rather than be found untrue to God. Mark the character of Joseph. Virtue was severely tested, but its triumph was complete. At every point the noble youth endured the test. The same lofty, unbending principle appeared at every trial. The Lord was with him, and His word was law.?{5T 43.2}[16]
§35
与当代青年的软弱无能相比较，这样坚定不移、毫无污点的原则，显得光芒万丈。只有少数的例外，他们基本上都是优柔寡断，随着境遇和环境的变化而改变，今天这样，明天那样。只要有享乐的引诱或自我的满足出现，良心就会被牺牲，去获得所渴望的放纵。这种人是值得信任的吗？不！在没有试探的时候，他能使自己在表面上表现得很得体，以致你的怀疑和猜疑会显得不公正；然而一旦机会来临，他就会辜负你的信任。他在内心里是不健全的。就在最需要坚定和原则的时候，你会发现他撤退了；他没有成为阿诺德（注：美国独立战争时的叛将）或犹大，那是因为没有合适的机会。{5T43.3}[17]
§36
Such firmness and untarnished principle shines brightest in contrast with the feebleness and inefficiency of the youth of this age. With but few exceptions, they are vacillating, varying with every change of circumstance and surroundings, one thing today and another tomorrow. Let the attractions of pleasure or selfish gratification be presented, and conscience will be sacrificed to gain the coveted indulgence. Can such a person be trusted? Never! In the absence of?temptation he may carry himself with such seeming propriety that your doubts and suspicions appear unjust; but let opportunity be presented, and he will betray your confidence. He is unsound at heart. Just at the time when firmness and principle are most required, you will find him giving way; and if he does not become an Arnold or a Judas, it is because he lacks a fitting opportunity.?{5T 43.3}[17]
§37
父母们哪，你们首先应该关心的，乃是要顺从责任的呼召，并且全心全意地投入上帝已经赐给你们去做的工作。即使你在所有别的事上都失败了，也要在这件事上做得彻底有效。如果你们从家庭训练出来的孩子是纯洁善良的，如果他们在上帝使世界受益的伟大计划中充任最低微的职位，你们的一生也绝不能被称作是失败的，回顾时也决不会懊悔。{5T44.1}[18]
§38
Parents, it should be your first concern to obey the call of duty and enter, heart and soul, into the work God has given you to do. If you fail in everything else, be thorough, be efficient, here. If your children come forth from the home training pure and virtuous, if they fill the least and lowest place in God’s great plan of good for the world, your life can never be called a failure and can never be reviewed with remorse.?{5T 44.1}[18]
§39
那种认为必须顺着任性乖张的孩子的想法是错误的。以利沙在刚刚开始工作时，受到伯特利童子的戏笑嘲弄。他本是一个非常温和的人，但上帝的灵催促他咒诅那些骂他的童子。他们曾经听说以利亚升天的事情，但他们竟然把这件严肃的事，当作嘲笑的口实。以利沙表明，他决不容许任何人嘲笑他所接受的神圣使命，不论是大人还是儿童。当他们告诉他，最好是像以利亚那样上去时，他就奉主的名咒诅了他们。临到这些童子头上的可怕刑罚，乃是出于上帝。这事以后，以利沙在完成他的使命方面，没有遇见过任何更深的麻烦。有五十年之久，他在伯特利的城门走进走出，从这城到那城来往奔走，面对过许许多多最恶劣、最粗野，无所事事，放荡不羁的青少年群伙，却再没有一个人敢嘲笑他，或轻视他作为至高者先知的资格了。在他先知生涯一开始的时候，所发生的这一件可怕的严打事件，足够为他博得了人们对他的毕生尊敬。要是他容让这场嘲笑过去，不予注意，他就会一直被乌合之众嘲笑、辱骂、甚至谋杀，他要教导并拯救国家于大危险中的使命就会失败了。{5T44.2}[19]
§40
The idea that we must submit to ways of perverse children is a mistake. Elisha, at the very commencement of his work, was mocked and derided by the youth of Bethel. He was a man of great mildness, but the Spirit of God impelled him to pronounce a curse upon those railers. They had heard of Elijah’s ascension, and they made this solemn event the subject of jeers. Elisha evinced that he was not to be trifled with, by old or young, in his sacred calling. When they told him he had better go up, as Elijah had done before him, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. The awful judgment that came upon them was of God. After this, Elisha had no further trouble in his mission. For fifty years he passed in and out of the gate of Bethel, and went to and fro from city to city, passing through crowds of the worst and rudest of idle, dissolute youth, but no one ever mocked him or made light of his qualifications as the prophet of the Most High. This one instance of terrible severity in the commencement of his career was sufficient to command respect through his whole life. Had he allowed the mockery to pass unnoticed, he might have been ridiculed, reviled, and even murdered by the?rabble, and his mission to instruct and save the nation in its great peril would have been defeated.?{5T 44.2}[19]
§41
即使是亲切也须有其限度。当以坚决严正来保持权威，否则许多孩子会报以取笑与轻蔑。所谓之温慈，就一般父母和监护人对青年所行的而言，无异是哄骗与放任，这乃是能加于他们身上的最大祸害。坚定、果断、肯定的要求，这都是每个家庭所不可或缺的。父母们哪，要负起你们疏忽了的责任；依照上帝的计划教育你们的儿女，宣扬“那召你们出黑暗入奇妙光明者的美德”（彼前2:9）。{5T45.1}[20]
§42
Even kindness must have its limits. Authority must be sustained by a firm severity, or it will be received by many with mockery and contempt. The so-called tenderness, the coaxing and the indulgence, used toward youth by parents and guardians is the worst evil which can come upon them. Firmness, decision, positive requirements, are essential in every family. Parents, take up your neglected responsibilities; educate your children after God’s plan, showing “forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”?{5T 45.1}[20]