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Before the Baby Comes, May 4
Judges 13
Teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born.
Judges 13:8
.
God Himself appeared to the wife of Manoah and told her that she should
have a son, and that he should be a great man and should deliver Israel. Then He
gave her special instructions regarding her diet.... Let us regard this as instruction
given to every mother in our world. If you want your children to have well-
balanced minds, you must be temperate yourselves. Keep your own heart and
affections sound and healthful, that you may impart to your offspring a healthful
mind and body
Every mother may understand her duty. She may know that the character
of her children will depend vastly more upon her habits before their birth and
her personal efforts after their birth, than upon external advantages or disadvan-
tages.... The mother who is a fit teacher for her children must, before their birth,
form habits of self-denial and self-control; for she transmits to them her own
qualities, her own strong or weak traits of character
Unwise advisers will urge upon the mother the necessity of gratifying every
wish and impulse, but such teaching is false and mischievous. The mother is
by the command of God Himself placed under the most solemn obligation to
exercise self-control. And fathers as well as mothers are involved in this respon-
sibility. Both parents transmit their own characteristics, mental and physical,
their dispositions and appetites, to their children
Many make the subject of temperance a matter of jest. They claim that
the Lord does not concern Himself with such minor matters as our eating and
drinking. But if the Lord had no care for these things, He would not have
revealed Himself to the wife of Manoah, giving her definite instructions, and
twice enjoining upon her to beware lest she disregard them
The effect of prenatal influences is by many parents looked upon as a matter
of little moment; but heaven does not so regard it.... In the words spoken to the
Hebrew mother, God speaks to all mothers in every age
[131]
7
Manuscript 12, 1887
.
8
Counsels on Diet and Foods, 218, 219
.
9
Patriarchs and Prophets, 561
.
10
Temperance, 233, 234
.
11
The Ministry of Healing, 372
.
135