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bring courage to the heart of the desponding and discouraged, and
the happiness and sunshine brought into the family by kind acts and
encouraging words will repay the effort tenfold.
The husband should remember that much of the burden of training
his children rests upon the mother, that she has much to do with
molding their minds. This should call into exercise his tenderest
feelings, and with care should he lighten her burdens. He should
encourage her to lean upon his large affections, and direct her mind
to heaven, where there is strength and peace and a final rest for the
weary.
He should not come into his home with a clouded brow, but should
with his presence bring sunlight into the family and should encourage
his wife to look up and believe in God. Unitedly they can claim the
promises of God and bring His rich blessing into the family. Unkind-
ness, complaining, and anger shut Jesus from the dwelling. I saw that
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angels of God will flee from a house where there are unpleasant words,
fretfulness, and strife.—
Testimonies for the Church 1:306, 307
(1862).
Husband Head of Household—The husband and father is the
head of the household. The wife looks to him for love and sympathy
and for aid in the training of the children; and this is right. The children
are his as well as hers, and he is equally interested in their welfare.
The children look to the father for support and guidance; he needs to
have a right conception of life and of the influences and associations
that should surround his family; above all, he should be controlled
by the love and fear of God and by the teaching of His Word, that he
may guide the feet of his children in the right way.—
The Ministry of
Healing, 390
(1905).
Wife a “Help Meet” for Husband—God Himself gave Adam a
companion. He provided “an help meet for him”—a helper corre-
sponding to him—one who was fitted to be his companion and who
could be one with him in love and sympathy. Eve was created from a
rib taken from the side of Adam, signifying that she was not to control
him as the head, nor to be trampled under his feet as an inferior, but
to stand by his side as an equal, to be loved and protected by him.
A part of man, bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh, she was his
second self, showing the close union and the affectionate attachment
that should exist in this relation.—
Patriarchs and Prophets, 46
(1890).