6
Country Living
ually swelling. Every day brings the record of violence,—robberies,
murders, suicides, and crimes unnamable.
Life in the cities is false and artificial. The intense passion for
money getting, the whirl of excitement and pleasure seeking, the thirst
for display, the luxury and extravagance, all are forces that, with the
great masses of mankind, are turning the mind from life’s true purpose.
They are opening the door to a thousand evils. Upon the youth they
have almost irresistible power.
One of the most subtle and dangerous temptations that assails the
children and youth in the cities is the love of pleasure. Holidays are
numerous; games and horse racing draw thousands, and the whirl of
excitement and pleasure attracts them away from the sober duties of
life. Money that should have been saved for better uses is frittered
away for amusements.
Through the working of trusts, and the results of labor unions
and strikes the conditions of life in the city are constantly becoming
more and more difficult. Serious troubles are before us; and for many
families removal from the cities will become a necessity.
The physical surroundings in the cities are often a peril to health.
The constant liability to contact with disease, the prevalence of foul air,
impure water, impure food, the crowded, dark, unhealthful dwellings,
are some of the many evils to be met.
It was not God’s purpose that people should be crowded into cities,
huddled together in terraces and tenements. In the beginning He placed
our first parents amidst the beautiful sights and sounds He desires us to
rejoice in today. The more nearly we come into harmony with God’s
original plan, the more favorable will be our position to secure health of
body, and mind, and soul.—
The Ministry of Healing, 363-365
(1905).
A Loitering Spirit
I could not sleep past two o’clock this morning. During the night
season I was in council. I was pleading with some families to avail
themselves of God’s appointed means, and get away from the cities
to save their children. Some were loitering, making no determined
efforts.
The angels of mercy hurried Lot and his wife and daughters by
taking hold of their hands. Had Lot hastened as the Lord desired him