Speech
335
command will do them no good
A Suggestive Pledge—It would be well for every man to sign
a pledge to speak kindly in his home, to let the law of love rule his
speech. Parents, never speak hastily. If your children do wrong, correct
them, but let your words be full of tenderness and love. Every time you
scold, you lose a precious opportunity of giving a lesson in forbearance
and patience. Let love be the most prominent feature in your correction
of wrong
Table Conversation—How many families season their daily
meals with doubt and questionings! They dissect the characters of
their friends and serve them up as a dainty dessert. A precious bit of
slander is passed around the board to be commented upon, not only by
adults, but by children. In this God is dishonored
In the home the spirit of criticism and faultfinding should have
no place. The peace of the home is too sacred to be marred by this
spirit. But how often, when seated at the meal table, the members of
the family pass round a dish of criticism, faultfinding, and scandal.
Were Christ to come today, would He not find many of the families
who profess to be Christians cherishing the spirit of criticism and
unkindness? The members of such families are unready to unite with
the family above
Let the conversation at the family board be such as is calculated to
leave a fragrant influence on the minds of the children
Gossip and Talebearing—We think with horror of the cannibal
who feasts on the still warm and trembling flesh of his victim; but
are the results of even this practice more terrible than are the agony
[441]
and ruin caused by misrepresenting motive, blackening reputation,
dissecting character? Let the children, and the youth as well, learn
what God says about these things: “Death and life are in the power of
the tongue.
26
Letter 8a, 1896
.
27
Letter 29, 1902
.
28
Testimonies For The Church 4, 195
.
29
The Signs of the Times, February 17, 1904
.
30
Manuscript 49, 1898
.
31
Education, 235
.