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The Adventist Home
I have been shown families where the husband and father has
not preserved that reserve, that dignified, godlike manhood which is
befitting a follower of Christ. He has failed to perform the kind, tender,
courteous acts due to his wife, whom he has promised before God and
angels to love, respect, and honor while they both shall live. The girl
employed to do the work has been free and somewhat forward to dress
his hair and to be affectionately attentive, and he is pleased, foolishly
pleased. In his love and attention to his wife he is not as demonstrative
as he once was. Be sure that Satan is at work here. Respect your
hired help, treat them kindly, considerately, but go no farther. Let your
deportment be such that there will be no advances to familiarity from
them
Maintain Family Privacy—Oh, how many lives are made bitter
by the breaking down of the walls which inclose the privacies of every
family, and which are calculated to preserve its purity and sanctity! A
third person is taken into the confidence of the wife, and her private
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family matters are laid open before the special friend. This is the
device of Satan to estrange the hearts of the husband and wife. Oh,
that this would cease! What a world of trouble would be saved! Lock
within your own hearts the knowledge of each other’s faults. Tell
your troubles alone to God. He can give you right counsel and sure
consolation which will be pure, having no bitterness in it
When a woman relates her family troubles or complains of her
husband to another man, she violates her marriage vows; she dishonors
her husband and breaks down the wall erected to preserve the sanctity
of the marriage relation; she throws wide open the door and invites
Satan to enter with his insidious temptations. This is just as Satan
would have it. If a woman comes to a Christian brother with a tale of
her woes, her disappointments and trials, he should ever advise her,
if she must confide her troubles to someone, to select sisters for her
confidants, and then there will be no appearance of evil whereby the
cause of God may suffer reproach
How to Be Kept From Straying—I speak to our people. If you
draw close to Jesus and seek to adorn your profession by a well-ordered
life and godly conversation, your feet will be kept from straying into
29
Testimonies For The Church 2, 461
.
30
Testimonies For The Church 2, 462
.
31
Testimonies For The Church 2, 306
.