Mother and Her Child
179
her body and her spirit, which have been ransomed from the slavery of
Satan. There is One who stands higher than the husband to the wife; it
is her Redeemer, and her submission to her husband is to be rendered
as God has directed—“as it is fit in the Lord.”
We must have the Spirit of God, or we can never have harmony in
the home. The wife, if she has the spirit of Christ, will be careful of
her words; she will control her spirit, she will be submissive, and yet
will not feel that she is a bondslave, but a companion to her husband.
If the husband is a servant of God, he will not lord it over his wife; he
will not be arbitrary and exacting. We cannot cherish home affection
with too much care; for the home, if the Spirit of the Lord dwells
there, is a type of heaven. If one errs, the other will exercise Christlike
forbearance and not draw coldly away
Parenthood
Every woman about to become a mother, whatever may be her sur-
roundings, should encourage constantly a happy, cheerful, contented
disposition, knowing that for all her efforts in this direction she will
be repaid tenfold in the physical, as well as the moral, character of
her offspring. Nor is this all. She can, by habit, accustom herself to
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cheerful thinking, and thus encourage a happy state of mind and cast
a cheerful reflection of her own happiness of spirit upon her family
and those with whom she associates. And in a very great degree will
her physical health be improved. A force will be imparted to the life-
springs, the blood will not move sluggishly, as would be the case if she
were to yield to despondency and gloom. Her mental and moral health
are invigorated by the buoyancy of her spirits. The power of the will
can resist impressions of the mind and will prove a grand soother of
the nerves. Children who are robbed of that vitality which they should
have inherited of their parents should have the utmost care. By close
attention to the laws of their being a much better condition of things
can be established.
She who expects to become a mother should keep her soul in the
love of God. Her mind should be at peace; she should rest in the love
of Jesus, practicing the words of Christ. She should remember that the
mother is a laborer together with God.
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The Adventist Home, 110-118