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Changes Our Rudeness to Refinement, April 16
Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to
that which is good.
Romans 12:9
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Habits, often repeated, make character. Children who allow themselves
to speak rudely to one another, and to be impolite at home, are forming
habits that will cling to them in after life, and that will be most difficult
to overcome. They do not show that they fear the Lord. They do not
manifest refinement of character; their disposition becomes coarse, lacking
in civility and that which constitutes refinement of manners; and all this
casts a reflection upon the home training. In the behavior of children away
from home, strangers can read, as in an open book, the history of the home
life. They read there of duties left undone, of want of thoughtfulness,
of lack of self-forgetfulness, of a disposition toward strife, fretfulness,
impatience; while those who show that they have the fear of the Lord
before them will, in character and in words, testify of a home where love
is cherished, where there is peace, where patience is cultivated, where
attention is given to the little proprieties of life, each mindful of his duty
to make others happy....
Are you all preparing to become members of the heavenly family? Are
you seeking in the home life to be fitted to become members of the Lord’s
family? If so, make the home life happy by mutual self-sacrifice. If we
want Jesus in our home, let kind words only be spoken there. The angels
of God will not abide in a home where there is strife and contention. Let
love be cherished, and peace and Christian politeness, and angels will be
your guests
If children and youth seek to be kind and courteous at home thought-
fulness will become an abiding habit. Every-day politeness will cause
them to be always polite. Home is the very place in which to practice
self-denial and thoughtfulness to each member of the family; thus it is
with the family in heaven, thus it will be when the scattered families of
earth are reunited in the heavenly home
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The Youth’s Instructor, April 14, 1886
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The Youth’s Instructor, April 14, 1886
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