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Counsels on Health
living to themselves, not to Christ. They have not been created anew
in Christ Jesus unto purification and holiness.
Some are very untidy in person. They need to be guided by the
Holy Spirit to prepare for a pure and holy heaven. God declared that
when the children of Israel came to the mount, to hear the proclamation
of the law, they were to come with clean bodies and clean clothes.
Today His people are to honor Him by habits of scrupulous neatness
and purity.
Christians will be judged by the fruit they bear. The true child of
God will be neat and clean. While we are to guard against needless
adornment and display, we are in no case to be careless and indifferent
in regard to outward appearance. All about our persons and our homes
is to be neat and attractive. The youth are to be taught the importance
of presenting an appearance above criticism, an appearance that honors
God and the truth.
The Mother’s Example
The mother’s dress should be simple, but neat and tasty. The
mother who wears torn, untidy clothes, who thinks any dress good
enough for home wear, no matter how soiled or dilapidated it may be,
gives her children an example that encourages them in untidiness. And
more than this, she loses her influence over them. They cannot help
seeing the difference between her appearance and the appearance of
those who dress neatly; and their respect for her is weakened. Moth-
ers, make yourselves attractive, not by wearing elaborately trimmed
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garments, but by wearing those that are neat and well fitting. Let your
appearance teach a lesson of neatness. You cannot afford to lose the
respect of your children.
From their infancy, children should be taught lessons of purity.
Mothers cannot too early begin to fill the minds of their children with
pure, holy thoughts. And one way of doing this is to keep everything
about them clean and pure. Mothers, if you desire your children’s
thoughts to be pure, let their surroundings be pure. Let their sleeping
rooms be scrupulously neat and clean. Teach them to care for their
clothing. Each child should have a place of his own to care for his
clothes. Few parents are so poor that they cannot afford to provide