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Chapter 31—The Mother
To a great extent, what the parents are the children will be. The
physical conditions of the parents, their dispositions and appetites,
their mental and moral tendencies, are, to a greater or less degree,
reproduced in their children.
The nobler the aims, the higher the mental and spiritual endow-
ments, and the better developed the physical powers of the parents,
the better will be the life equipment they give their children. In
cultivating that which is best in themselves, parents are exerting an
influence to mold society and to uplift future generations.
Fathers and mothers need to understand their responsibility. The
world is full of snares for the feet of the young. Multitudes are
attracted by a life of selfish and sensual pleasure. They cannot
discern the hidden dangers or the fearful end to the path that seems
to them the way of happiness. Through the indulgence of appetite
and passion, their energies are wasted and millions are ruined for
this world and for the world to come. Parents should remember that
their children must encounter these temptations. Even before the
birth of the child, the preparation should begin that will enable it to
fight successfully the battle against evil.
Responsibility rests especially upon the mother. She, by whose
lifeblood the child is nourished and its physical frame built up,
imparts to it also mental and spiritual influences that tend to shape
both mind and character. It was Jochebed, the Hebrew mother, who,
strong in faith, was “not afraid of the king’s command.”
Hebrews
11:23
. To her was born Moses, the deliverer of Israel. It was Hannah,
the woman of prayer and self-sacrifice and heavenly inspiration, who
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gave birth to Samuel, the Heaveninstructed child, the incorruptible
judge, the founder of Israel’s sacred schools. It was Elizabeth, the
kinswoman and kindred spirit of Mary of Nazareth, who was the
mother of John, the Savior’s herald.
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