While Abraham required his children
to respect parental authority, his daily life testified that that
authority was not a selfish or arbitrary control, but was founded
in love, and had their welfare and happiness in view.
What a contrast between the course of Isaac and that pursued
by the youth of our time, even among professed Christians!
Young people too often feel that the bestowal of their affections
is a matter in which self alone should be consulted--a matter that
neither God nor their parents should in any wise control.
Long
before they have reached manhood or womanhood they think
themselves competent to make their own choice, without the aid
of their parents.
A few years of married life are usually sufficient
to show them their error, but often too late to prevent its baleful
results.
If there is any subject which should be carefully considered
and in which the counsel of older and more experienced persons
should be sought, it is the subject of marriage; if ever the Bible
was needed as a counselor, if ever divine guidance should be
sought in prayer, it is before taking a step that binds persons
together for life." E.G.W.
