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Choice and Preparation of the Home
257
Through the working of trusts, and the results of labor unions
and strikes, the conditions of life in the city are constantly becoming
more and more difficult. Serious troubles are before us; and for
many families removal from the cities will become a necessity.
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The physical surroundings in the cities are often a peril to health.
The constant liability to contact with disease, the prevalence of
foul air, impure water, impure food, the crowded, dark, unhealthful
dwellings, are some of the many evils to be met.
It was not God’s purpose that people should be crowded into
cities, huddled together in terraces and tenements. In the beginning
He placed our first parents amidst the beautiful sights and sounds
He desires us to rejoice in today. The more nearly we come into
harmony with God’s original plan, the more favorable will be our
position to secure health of body, and mind, and soul.
An expensive dwelling, elaborate furnishings, display, luxury,
and ease, do not furnish the conditions essential to a happy, useful
life. Jesus came to this earth to accomplish the greatest work ever
accomplished among men. He came as God’s ambassador, to show
us how to live so as to secure life’s best results. What were the
conditions chosen by the infinite Father for His Son? A secluded
home in the Galilean hills; a household sustained by honest, self-
respecting labor; a life of simplicity; daily conflict with difficulty
and
“That they may teach the young women to be sober,
to love their husbands, to love their children, to be dis-
creet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their
own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.”
Titus 2:4, 5
.
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hardship; self-sacrifice, economy, and patient, gladsome service; the
hour of study at His mother’s side, with the open scroll of Scripture;
the quiet of dawn or twilight in the green valley; the holy ministries
of nature; the study of creation and providence; and the soul’s com-
munion with God—these were the conditions and opportunities of
the early life of Jesus.
So with the great majority of the best and noblest men of all
ages. Read the history of Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph, of Moses,