288
The Adventist Home
invest means in personal conveniences when the cause of God needed
money to carry it forward. I tried to show him that it was necessary
for the health as well as the morals of his children that he should make
home pleasant and provide conveniences to lighten the labor of his
wife
Wife’s Allowance for Personal Use—You must help each other.
Do not look upon it as a virtue to hold fast the purse strings, refusing
to give your wife money
You should allow your wife a certain sum weekly and should let
her do what she please with this money. You have not given her
opportunity to exercise her tact or her taste because you have not a
proper realization of the position that a wife should occupy. Your wife
has an excellent and a well-balanced mind
Give your wife a share of the money that you receive. Let her
have this as her own, and let her use it as she desires. She should
have been allowed to use the means that she earned as she in her
judgment deemed best. If she had had a certain sum to use as her own,
without being criticized, a great weight would have been lifted from
her mind
[379]
Seek Comfort and Health—Brother P has not made a judicious
use of means. Wise judgment has not influenced him as much as have
the voices and desires of his children. He does not place the estimate
that he should upon the means in his hands, and expend it cautiously
for the most needful articles, for the very things he must have for
comfort and health. The entire family need to improve in this respect.
Many things are needed in the family for convenience and comfort.
The lack of appreciating order and system in the arrangement of family
matters leads to destructiveness and working to great disadvantage
We cannot make the heart purer or holier by clothing the body in
sackcloth or depriving the home of all that ministers to comfort, taste,
or convenience
20
Letter 9, 1888
.
21
Letter 65, 1904
.
22
Letter 47, 1904
.
23
Letter 157, 1903
.
24
Testimonies For The Church 2, 699
.
25
The Review and Herald, May 16, 1882
.