Knowledge of Practical Duties of Life
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the capabilities of all who will educate themselves to industrious
habits. We are to be “not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving
the Lord.” God will bless all who will guard their influence in this
respect.—
The Review and Herald, March, 13, 1900
.
Every Israelite Required to Teach Children a Trade—In Israel,
industrial training was regarded as a duty. Every father was required
to teach his sons some useful trade. The greatest men in Israel were
trained to industrial pursuits. A knowledge of the duties pertaining
to housewifery was considered essential for every woman. And skill
in these duties was regarded as an honor to women of the highest
station.—
The Ministry of Healing, 185, 186 (1905)
.
Women of Sharp Intellect Needed to Manage Business
Following is a portion of a letter written in February 1884 to the
matron of the St. Helena Health Retreat. Mrs. White pleads with this
woman to make a decided impact on the work of God, to train young
women to be useful, and to use her own talents to her best ability
.
You should not follow your own inclinations. You should be very
careful to set a right example in all things. Do not be inactive. Arouse
your dormant energies. Make yourself a necessity to your husband by
being attentive and helpful. Be a blessing to him in everything. Take
up the duties essential to be done. Study how to perform with alacrity
the plain, uninteresting, homely, but most needful duties which relate
to domestic life. Your inactivity has been indulged and cultivated when
it should be guarded against strictly and with a determined effort.
My sister, your mind will bear taxing. If you take up the burdens
that you should, you can be a blessing to the [St. Helena] Health Re-
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treat. But the indulgence of your sluggish temperament is a detriment
to you, physically, mentally, and spiritually. You need the quickening,
converting power of God. You need to stand firmly and truly for God
and the right. You need to be vitalized by the grace of Christ. Will you
wake up, and put to the task your almost-paralyzed energies, seeking to
do all the good in your power? You must exercise the living machinery,
or else you will not be able to throw off the waste matter, and you will
fall short of gaining health....
Time is precious, time is golden; it should not be devoted to little,
unimportant things, which serve only to gratify the taste. You can be