Chapter 34—Father’s Position and Responsibilities
True Definition of Husband—The home is an institution of God.
God designed that the family circle, father, mother, and children,
should exist in this world as a firm
The work of making home happy does not rest upon the mother
alone. Fathers have an important part to act. The husband is the house-
band of the home treasures, binding by his strong, earnest, devoted
affection the members of the household, mother and children, together
in the strongest bonds of union
His name, “house-band,” is the true definition of husband.... I saw
that but few fathers realize their responsibility
The Head of the Family Firm—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 father should do his part toward making home happy. What-
ever his cares and business perplexities, they should not be permitted
to overshadow his family; he should enter his home with smiles and
[212]
pleasant words
The Lawmaker and Priest—All members of the family center in
the father. He is the lawmaker, illustrating in his own manly bearing the
sterner virtues: energy, integrity, honesty, patience, courage, diligence,
and practical usefulness. The father is in one sense the priest of the
household, laying upon the altar of God the morning and evening
1
Manuscript 36, 1899
.
2
The Signs of the Times, September 13, 1877
.
3
Testimonies For The Church 1, 547
.
4
The Ministry of Healing, 390, 392
.
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