Appeal to Mothers

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«Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me; for of such is the kingdom of Heaven.»

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In the days of Christ, mothers brought their children to him, that he might lay his hands upon them in blessing. By this act they showed their faith in Jesus, and the intense anxiety of their hearts for the present and future welfare of the little ones committed to their care. But the disciples could not see the need of interrupting the Master just for the sake of noticing the children, and as they were sending these mothers away Jesus rebuked the disciples, and commanded the crowd to make way for these faithful mothers with their little children. Said he, «Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me; for of such is the kingdom Heaven.»

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As the mothers passed along the dusty road, and drew near the Savior, he saw the unbidden tear and the quivering lip, as they offered a silent prayer in behalf of the children. He heard the words of rebuke from the disciples, and promptly countermanded the order. His great heart of love was open to receive the children. One after another, he took them in his arms and blessed them, while one little child lay fast asleep, reclining against his bosom. Jesus spoke words of encouragement to the mothers in reference to their work, and oh, what a relief was thus brought to their minds. With what joy they dwelt upon the goodness and mercy of Jesus, as they looked back to that memorable occasion. His gracious words had removed the burden from their hearts and inspired them with fresh hope and courage. All sense of weariness was gone.

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This is an encouraging lesson to mothers for all time. After they have done the best they can do for the good of their children, they may bring them to Jesus. Even the babes in the mother’s arms are precious in his sight. And as the mother’s heart yearns for the help she knows she cannot give, the grace she cannot bestow, and she casts herself and children into the merciful arms of Christ, he will receive and bless them, he will give peace, hope, and happiness to mother and children.

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This is a precious privilege which Jesus has granted to all mothers. But to lead them to Jesus is not all that is required. God has given the mother a work to do. These children are to be educated and trained to become disciples of Christ, «that our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth, that our daughters may be as corner-stones polished after the similitude of a palace.» This work of molding, refining, and polishing, is the mother’s. The character of the child is to be developed. The mother must engrave upon the tablet of the heart lessons as enduring as eternity; and she will surely meet the displeasure of the Lord if she neglects this sacred work or allows anything to interfere with it. She must allow the ever-changing and never-satisfying fashions to come and go, letting the hearts of the devotees of fashion be set on these if they will. But the Christian mother has her God-appointed work, which she will not neglect if she is closely connected with God and imbued with his Spirit.

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The example of the parents, in word and deportment, should be without fault; for this is the copy which is given their little ones to imitate. If parents desire their children to be right and do right, they must be right themselves in theory and in practice. Courtesy, even in little things, should be manifested by the parents toward each other. Universal kindness should be the law of the house. No rude language should be indulged, no bitter words should be spoken. Parents should exercise self-control, patience, forbearance, gentleness, and love, in dealing with their children. They should remember that the example they give their children, they will see reproduced in them.

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The parents should be models of truthfulness, for this is the daily lesson to be impressed upon the heart of the child. Undeviating principle should govern parents in all the affairs of life, especially in the education and training of their children. «Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right.»

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An eminent divine was once asked how old a child must be before there was reasonable hope of his being a Christian. «Age has nothing to do with it,» was the answer. «Love to Jesus, trust, repose, confidence, are all qualities that agree with the child’s nature. As soon as a child can love and trust his mother, then can he love and trust Jesus as the friend of his mother. Jesus will be his friend, loved and honored.»

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In view of the foregoing truthful statement, can parents be too careful in presenting precept and example before those watchful little eyes and sharp senses? Our religion should be made practical. It is needed in our homes as much as in the house of worship. There should be nothing cold, stern, and forbidding in our demeanor; but we should show, by kindness and sympathy, that we possess warm, loving hearts. Jesus should be the honored guest in the family circle. We should talk with him, bring all our burdens to him, and converse of his love, his grace, and his perfection of character. What a lesson may be daily given by godly parents in taking all their troubles to Jesus, the burden-bearer, instead of fretting and scolding over cares and perplexities they cannot help. The minds of the little ones may be taught to turn to Jesus as the flower turns its opening petals to the sun.

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The lessons given Joseph in his youth by Jacob in expressing his firm trust in God and relating to him again and again the precious evidences of his loving-kindness and unceasing care, were the very lessons he needed in his exile among an idolatrous people. In the testing time he put these lessons to a practical use. When under the severest trial he looked to his Heavenly Father, whom he had learned to trust. Had the precepts and example of the father of Joseph been of an opposite character, the pen of inspiration would never have traced upon the pages of sacred history the story of integrity and virtue that shines forth in the character of Joseph. The early impressions made upon his mind garrisoned his heart in the hour of fierce temptation, and led him to exclaim, «How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?»

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Childhood is the season in which the most abiding impressions may be made. What the child sees and hears is drawing deep lines upon the tender mind, which no after circumstances in life can entirely efface. The intellect is now taking shape, and the affections receiving direction and strength. Repeated acts in a given course become habits. These may be modified by severe training, in after life, but are seldom changed. The whole future course of thousands is determined by the education received from the parents in childhood. At an early age the path of virtue is entered upon, which leads to honor and eternal life; or the path of disobedience and vice, which leads to unhappiness, dishonor, and the ruin of the soul.

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The mother’s work is given her of God, to bring up her children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The love and fear of God should ever be kept before their tender minds. When corrected, they should be taught to feel that they are admonished of God, that he is displeased with deception, untruthfulness, and wrong-doing. Thus the minds of little ones may be so connected with God that all they do and say will be in reference to his glory; and in after years they will not be like the reed in the wind, continually wavering between inclination and duty.

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If in their tender years, the minds of children are filled with pleasant images of truth, of purity and goodness, a taste will be formed for that which is pure and elevated, and their imagination will not become easily corrupted or defiled. While if the opposite course is pursued, if the minds of the parents are continually dwelling upon low scenes; if their conversation lingers over objectionable features of character; if they form a habit of speaking complainingly of the course others have pursued, the little ones will take lessons from the words and expressions of contempt, and will follow the pernicious example. The evil impress, like the taint of the leprosy, will cleave to them in after life.

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The seeds sown in infancy by the careful, God-fearing mother will become trees of righteousness, which will blossom and bear fruit; and the lessons given by a God-fearing father by precept and example, will, as in the case of Joseph, yield an abundant harvest by-and-by. Will parents review their work in the educating and training of their children, and consider whether they have done their whole duty in hope and faith that these children may be a crown of rejoicing in the day of the Lord Jesus? Have they so labored for the welfare of their children that Jesus can look down from Heaven and by the gift of his Spirit sanctify their efforts? Parents, it may be yours to prepare your children for the highest usefulness in this life, and to share at last the glory of that which is to come. —

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Mothers, God would have your children start out on the journey of life with a good inheritance. He has a work for man to do in the world; and in order to perform this work for the benefit of his fellow-men and the glory of God, he must have physical, mental, and moral power.

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Many whom God would use as his instruments have been disqualified at their birth by the previous wrong habits of the parents. When the Lord would raise up Samson as a deliverer of his people, he enjoined upon the mother correct habits of life before the birth of her child.

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The angel of God appeared to the wife of Manoah and informed her that she should have a son; and in view of this he gave her the important directions: «Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing.» And he informed her that her son would be a Nazarite from his birth, and that God would work through him to deliver Israel from the oppression of the Philistines. The woman sought her husband, and after describing the heavenly visitant, she repeated the message of the angel. Then Manoah entreated the Lord, «Let the man of God which thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born.»

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And when, in answer to this petition, the angel again appeared, Manoah’s earnest, anxious inquiry was, «How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto him?» The angel answered, «Of all that I said unto the woman, let her beware. She may not eat of anything that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her, let her observe.»

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In instructing this one mother, the Lord gave a lesson to all who should be mothers till the close of time. Had the wife of Manoah followed the prevailing customs, her system would have been weakened by violation of nature’s laws, and her child would have suffered with her the penalty of transgression. The basis of a right character in the future man is made firm by habits of strict temperance in the mother prior to the birth of her child. The divine command was very explicit, prohibiting the use of the fruit of the vine. Every drop of liquor taken by the mother as a gratification of the appetite is endangering the physical, mental, and moral health of her offspring, and is a direct sin against God.

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This lesson should not be regarded with indifference. Parents who indulge in excess of eating and drinking, or in the gratification of the animal propensities, transmit their corrupted blood and vitiated appetites to their children, who have less self-control and less power to resist temptation than the parents had. Many children die in infancy, while many more are ruined for time and eternity, in consequence of the sinful indulgences of the parents.

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The thoughts and feelings of the mother will also have a powerful influence upon the legacy she gives her child. Strong traits of character, as well as perverted appetites, are transmitted from parents to children. Thus, many have received as a birthright almost unconquerable tendencies to evil. If the mother allows her mind to dwell upon herself, if she becomes peevish and fault-finding, the disposition of her child will testify to the fact. If she suffers strange freaks of appetite to control her, she will see the same reproduced in her offspring.

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The enemy of souls understands this matter much better than many parents do, and he is ever ready with his temptations, while custom and tradition have a strong influence upon the mind of the mother. She does not always flee to God for grace that she may be an overcomer, but follows impulse rather than principle; and she sees reflected in the character of her child her own defects prior to its birth. Fathers as well as mothers are involved in this responsibility. Unwise advisers will urge upon the mother the gratification of every wish and impulse as essential to the well-being of her offspring. But in the light of facts presented to us in Bible history, the mother is by the command of God himself laid under the most solemn obligation to restrain perverted appetite.

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One great cause of the degeneracy of the race is the deplorable ignorance of parents in regard to the effect of their own condition upon the future well-being of their children. The mother is frequently overtaxed; too many burdens are allowed to rest upon her prior to the birth of her children. Care is not exercised to make her surroundings as cheerful and pleasant as possible. An opposite course should be pursued. We should not then see so many with diseased bodies and ill-balanced minds, unfitted for any responsible position.

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The strange lack of principle which characterizes the men and women of this generation is heart-sickening to those who are endeavoring to advance the cause of reform. They do not seek to become intelligent in regard to the laws which govern them. They do not study how they may preserve to themselves a good physical constitution, which is the foundation of mental and moral power. The anxious inquiry is, «What shall we eat, and what shall we drink, and wherewithal shall we be clothed?»

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If we tell the liquor-drinker and tobacco-devotee that his indulgence in these poisons is gradually and surely wearing away the life-forces, he will say, «I know it, but I cannot give up the indulgence. I would rather die before my time and enjoy these stimulants while I do live.» Those who are content thus to shorten their own existence must answer to God for the life which he gave them to devote wholly to his service.

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But man’s accountability extends beyond his own well-being. Those parents who gratify inclination at the expense of health, in the use of tea, coffee, tobacco, and liquor, because the habit has become second nature, are not only working against their own physical life and moral advancement, but they leave their appetite, and their want of moral power to overcome these indulgences, to their children. Thus the evil of their course is accumulating and multiplying; society is demoralized, the church is cursed, and God is dishonored.

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The constant inquiry of every one should be, What is duty? What shall I do to benefit my children and society, and to glorify God? If we would reach a high standard in moral and spiritual attainments, we must live for this every day. Our present course of action may be determining the course of hundreds. We must render an account to God for the good we might have done but failed to perform because we had placed ourselves, through sinful indulgence, in a position of physical and mental weakness, where he could not accept our service. Many have but little sense of their sin in robbing God by selfish extravagance, and indulgence of perverted appetite. The cause of reform to-day is suffering for the want of men and women of integrity and moral worth.

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The will of God has been plainly expressed to all mothers; he would have them, by precept and example, advocates of health reform. They should plant their feet firmly upon principle, in no case to violate the physical laws which God has implanted in their beings. «Standing by a purpose true,» with firm integrity, mothers will have moral power and grace from Heaven to let their light shine forth to the world, both in their own upright course and in the noble character of their children.

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We have now brought before the reader what God has spoken in reference to the course of the mother before the birth of her children. But this is not all. The angel Gabriel was sent from the heavenly courts to give directions for the treatment of children after their birth, that parents might become intelligent upon this important subject.

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About the time of Christ’s first advent, an angel appeared to Zacharias with a cheering message, telling him that his wife should bear a son, whose name should be called John. «And,» said the angel, «thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost.»

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Thus Gabriel enjoined upon Zacharias that John should be brought up with strictly temperate habits, that he might be fitted for the important work of reform which God would lay upon him to prepare the way for Christ. When the voice of the reformer was lifted up in the wilderness, intemperance in every form existed among the people. Indulgence in wine and luxurious food was lessening physical strength and debasing the morals, so that the most revolting crimes did not appear sinful. While the voice of John was to be heard in stern rebuke to the people for their sinful indulgence, his own abstemious habits were also to be a reproof of the excesses of his time.

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Important results were to be realized in the lives of Samson and John, which could not be reached without strict obedience to the laws of life and health. Hence, temperate habits were indispensable to them. The communications from Heaven were not given solely for those two marked characters, but were to be handed down through successive generations to our time.

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If parents would have their children come up with pure morals and firm integrity of purpose, with power to sway rather than to be swayed, they must have a full sense of their own responsibilities, and ever stand for the right. The education and training of their children must commence in infancy if they would qualify them for usefulness in this life, and give them a fitness for the immortal life.

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The training of John was not to be in accordance with the ordinary customs of society. He was to be instrumental in giving new direction to the thoughts of the people of his day, and awakening them to the necessity of a nobler type of manhood. God would have the character of his servant moulded after the Divine Model. The wilderness was his schoolroom, the mountains his familiar haunts. There he learned to deny himself, and to cultivate simplicity of diet and of dress. His habits of life were so pure and natural that his ideas were not perverted, and his character was not warped by the wrong influences which he was afterward called to meet.

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The great book of nature, with its inexhaustible stores, was open before the prophet. He was fitted through privation and hardship to control his physical and mental powers, that he might stand among the people as unmoved by surrounding circumstances as the rocks and mountains of the wilderness. The world’s Redeemer said of John, «Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.» —