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Counsels for the Church
and to manage wisely in the training of her children. If this is the case,
the father should take more of the burden upon his soul. He should be
determined to make the most decided efforts to save his children
[147]
Counsel in the Number of Children
Children are the heritage of the Lord, and we are answerable to
Him for our management of His property. In love, faith, and prayer let
parents work for their households, until with joy they can come to God
saying, “Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me.”
God would have parents act as rational beings and live in such a
manner that each child may be properly educated, that the mother may
have strength and time to employ her mental powers in disciplining
her little ones for the society of the angels. She should have courage
to act nobly her part and to do her work in the fear and love of God,
that her children may prove a blessing to the family and to society.
The husband and father should consider all these things lest the
wife and mother of his children be overtaxed and thus overwhelmed
with despondency. He should see to it that the mother of his children
is not placed in a position where she cannot possibly do justice to
her numerous little ones, so that they have to come up without proper
training.
There are parents who, without consideration as to whether or
not they can do justice to a large family, fill their houses with these
helpless little beings, who are wholly dependent upon their parents for
care and instruction. This is a grievous wrong, not only to the mother,
but to her children and to society.
A child in the mother’s arms from year to year is great injustice
to her. It lessens, and often destroys, social enjoyment and increases
domestic wretchedness. It robs their children of that care, education,
and happiness which parents should feel it their duty to bestow upon
them.
[Parents] should calmly consider what provision can be made for
their children. They have no right to bring children into the world to
be a burden to others.
How little is the destiny of the child considered! The gratification
of passion is the only thought, and burdens are brought upon the wife
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The Adventist Home, 216-221