| 452 a portion unto mine elders, who are commanded to return; and he that is able, let him return it by the way of the agent, and he that is not, of him it is not required. And now I speak of the residue who are to come unto this land. Behold they have been sent to preach my gospel among the congregations of the wicked: wherefore, I give unto them a commandment thus: Thou shalt not idle away thy time: neither shalt thou bury thy talent that it may not be known.
And after thou hast come up unto the land of Zion, and hast proclaimed my word, thou shalt speedily return proclaiming my word among the congregations of the wicked. Not in haste, neither in wrath nor with strife: and shake off the dust of thy feet against those who receive thee not, not in their presence, lest thou provoke them, but in secret, and wash thy feet as a testimony against them in the day of judgment. Behold this is sufficient for you, and by the mouth of my servant Joseph Smith, jr. it shall be mode [made] known concerning Sidney Rigdon and Oliver Cowdry [Cowdery], the residue hereafter; even so: Amen.
TO PARENTS.
There is no parent possessing even good moral feelings, who does not desire to see his children become good, great, and useful in society; and admitting the position that the better children are trained or brought up, the more interesting they are, and the more useful they are prepared to be in their sphere of action through life, the parent has liberal ground to hope for the consummation of an object so desirable. The minds of children are susceptible of cultivation, not only for the growth, but also for change, or improvement of the will or disposition, if needful; and every mother and father of children, and especially the "Saints" may be able to judge by the common results of the works of mankind, and to understand by divine revelation and experience, what general habits or ideas should be found, or instilled into the minds of their children, that they may be inclined to lead an honorable and useful life; and few, if any who have the care of children, can, with all the vocabulary of information before them that history, divine revelation, and experience has spread over the world, be ignorant of the responsibility that rests upon them to train up their children in the way they should go. Children are not accountable for the deeds of their parents; but if through neglect, or example, they are encouraged in vice, they will grow up, perhaps to pierce the heart of the heedless father and care worn mother, with shame; and bring their grey [gray] hairs down with sorrow to the grave; for the child becomes, perhaps a vagabond, to regale himself upon the sneers and universal disgust of a virtuous community, until he finds a pauper's end; or a criminal, to atone under the penalty of his country's laws for the work of his guilty hands; or a tyrant in power, to make the people mourn under the dread sway of his scepter, in the cruel exercise of the poisonous principles that were fostered in his heart while dandling upon his mother's lap, or sporting in wanton strife under a father's heedless eye.
Thousands are brought to these varying and disgraceful points of character, with all their attendant train of evils, where the very essence and power thereof is first planted, or suffered to grow in the mind of the offspring, through the neglect or example of the parent, until the current becomes of such force and magnitude as to defy the power of human skill to prevent its desoluting [desolating] march.
But, is there no remedy for these things? If, then, we hope or look for a remedy, where shall we go? Surely to the parent; to the tribunal where all the inflictions of the human mind can be corrected while it is in the milk of formation, and weighed while in the mould of habit; for
"Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined."
So early habits lead the human mind.
Could parents only appreciate the ceaseless round of good that would result from the proper cultivation of the human mind while in the infant or juvenile state, the grand bane of virtue and happiness, the web of fashion and indifference, is probably not so perfectly interwoven with all sense of the duty and privileges of our race, as to cause them to forego the use of any lawful means for the consequent prevention of an almost incalculable amount of shame and needless suffering. But even while in consideration of so desirable an object as the universal honor and happiness of mankind, the necessity of the proper cultivation of the youthful mind is admitted. It would be to organize a complete system to apply successively, as the rule of in all particular cases in the government of children; for as children differ in temper or turn of mind, so must the rule or particular mode of government differ also. Nevertheless, there are some general rules that will apply in all cases; and such was the apostle Paul's manner of instruction to parents; hence he says: "Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged." This rule will in the government of all children, and accordingly, no child should be punished for a crime, until
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