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Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene
selfishness. They need line upon line, precept upon precept, here a
little and there a little.
The Hebrews were taught how to train their children so that
they might avoid the idolatry and wickedness of the heathen nations:
“Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your
soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as
frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children,
speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou
walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”
[
Deuteronomy 11:18, 19
.]
Woman should fill the position which God originally designed for
her, as her husband’s equal. The world needs mothers who are mothers
not merely in name, but in every sense of the word. We may safely say
that the distinctive duties of woman are more sacred, more holy, than
those of man. Let woman realize the sacredness of her work, and in
the strength and fear of God take up her life mission. Let her educate
her children for usefulness in this world, and for a home in the better
world.
The position of a woman in her family is more sacred than that
of the king upon his throne. Her great work is to make her life an
example such as she would wish her children to copy. And by precept
as well as example, she is to store their minds with useful knowledge,
and lead them to self-sacrificing labor for the good of others. The great
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stimulus to the toiling, burdened mother should be that every child
who is trained aright, and who has the inward adorning, the ornament
of a meek and quiet spirit, will shine in the courts of the Lord.
I entreat Christian mothers to realize their responsibility, and to
live, not to please themselves, but to glorify God. Christ pleased not
himself, but took upon him the form of a servant. He left the royal
courts, and clothed his divinity with humanity, that by his own example
he might teach us how we may be exalted to the position of sons and
daughters in the royal family, children of the heavenly King. But what
are the conditions upon which we may obtain this great blessing?—
“Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and
touch not the unclean; and I will receive you, and will be a father unto
you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters.” [
2 Corinthians 6:17, 18
.]
Christ humbled himself from the position of one equal with God
to that of a servant. His home was in Nazareth, a place proverbial for