The Husband's Equal. --Woman should fill the position which God originally
designed for her, as her husband's equal. The world needs mothers who are
mothers not merely in name but in every sense of the word. We may safely say
that the distinctive duties of woman are more sacred, more holy, than those of
man. Let woman realise the sacredness of her work and in the strength and fear
of God take up her life mission. Let her educate her children for usefulness in
this world and for a home in the better world.
The wife and mother should not sacrifice her strength and allow her powers to
lie dormant, leaning wholly upon her husband. Her individuality cannot be merged
in his. She should feel that she is her husband's equal-- to stand by his side,
she faithful at her post of duty and he at his. Her work in the education of her
children is in every respect as elevating and ennobling as any post of duty he
may be called to fill, even if it is to be the chief magistrate of the nation.
The Queen of the Home. --The king upon his throne has no higher work than has
the mother. The mother is queen of her household. She has in her power the
moulding of her children's characters, that they may be fitted for the higher,
immortal life. An angel could not ask for a higher mission; for in doing this
work she is doing service for God. Let her only realise the high character of
her task, and it will inspire her with courage. Let her realise the worth of her work and put on the whole armour of God, that she
may resist the temptation to conform to the world's standard. Her work is for
time and for eternity.
The mother is the queen of the home, and the children are her subjects. She
is to rule her household wisely, in the dignity of her motherhood. Her influence
in the home is to be paramount; her word, law. If she is a Christian, under
God's control, she will command the respect of her children.
The children are to be taught to regard their mother, not as a slave whose
work it is to wait on them, but as a queen who is to guide and direct them,
teaching them line upon line, precept upon precept.
A Graphic Comparison of Values. --The mother seldom appreciates her own work
and frequently sets so low an estimate upon her labour that she regards it as
domestic drudgery. She goes through the same round day after day, week after
week, with no special marked results. She cannot tell at the close of the day
the many little things she has accomplished. Placed beside her husband's
achievement, she feels that she has done nothing worth mentioning.
The father frequently comes in with a self-satisfied air and proudly recounts
what he has accomplished through the day. His remarks show that now he must be
waited upon by the mother, for she has not done much except take care of the
children, cook the meals, and keep the house in order. She has not acted the
merchant, bought nor sold; she has not acted the farmer, in tilling the soil;
she has not acted the mechanic--therefore she has done nothing to make her
weary. He criticizes and censures and dictates as though he was the lord of
creation. And this is all the more trying to the wife and mother, because she has become
very weary at her post of duty during the day, and yet she cannot see what she
has done and is really disheartened.
Could the veil be withdrawn and father and mother see as God sees the work of
the day, and see how His infinite eye compares the work of the one with that of
the other, they would be astonished at the heavenly revelation. The father would
view his labours in a more modest light, while the mother would have new courage
and energy to pursue her labour with wisdom, perseverance, and patience. Now she
knows its value. While the father has been dealing with the things which must
perish and pass away, the mother has been dealing with developing minds and
character, working not only for time but for eternity.
God Has Appointed Her Work. --Would that every mother could realise how great
are her duties and her responsibilities and how great will be the reward of
faithfulness.
The mother who cheerfully takes up the duties lying directly in her path will
feel that life is to her precious, because God has given her a work to perform.
In this work she need not necessarily dwarf her mind nor allow her intellect to
become enfeebled.
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 wrongdoing. 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.
To lead them to Jesus is not all that is required. . . . 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 moulding,
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. . . . 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.
Her Grand and Noble Commission. --There are opportunities of inestimable
worth, interests infinitely precious, committed to every mother. The humble
round of duties which women have come to regard as a wearisome task should be
looked upon as a grand and noble work. It is the mother's privilege to bless the
world by her influence, and in doing this she will bring joy to her own heart.
She may make straight paths for the feet of her children through sunshine and
shadow to the glorious heights above. But it is only when she seeks, in her own
life, to follow the teachings of Christ that the mother can hope to form the
character of her children after the divine pattern.
Amid all the activities of life the mother's most sacred duty is to her
children. But how often is this duty put aside that some selfish gratification
may be followed! Parents are entrusted with the present and eternal interests of their
children. They are to hold the reins of government and guide their households to
the honour of God. God's law should be their standard, and love should rule in
all things.
No Work Is Greater or Holier. --If married men go into the work, leaving
their wives to care for the children at home, the wife and mother is doing fully
as great and important a work as the husband and father. Although one is in the
missionary field, the other is a home missionary, whose cares and anxieties and
burdens frequently far exceed those of the husband and father. Her work is a
solemn and important one. . . . The husband in the open missionary field may
receive the honours of men, while the home toiler may receive no earthly credit
for her labour. But if she works for the best interest of her family, seeking to
fashion their characters after the divine Model, the recording angel writes her
name as one of the greatest missionaries in the world. God does not see things
as man's finite vision views them.
The mother is God's agent to Christianise her family. She is to exemplify
Biblical religion, showing how its influence is to control us in its everyday
duties and pleasures, teaching her children that by grace alone can they be
saved, through faith, which is the gift of God. This constant teaching as to
what Christ is to us and to them, His love, His goodness, His mercy, revealed in
the great plan of redemption, will make a hallowed, sacred impress on the heart.
The training of children constitutes an important part of God's plan for
demonstrating the power of Christianity. A solemn responsibility rests upon
parents to so train their children that when they go forth into the world, they will do good and not evil to those with whom they associate.
A Co-worker With the Minister. --The minister has his line of work, and the
mother has hers. She is to bring her children to Jesus for His blessing. She is
to cherish the words of Christ and teach them to her children. From their
babyhood she is to discipline them to self-restraint and self-denial, to habits
of neatness and order. The mother can bring up her children so that they will
come with open, tender hearts to hear the words of God's servants. The Lord has
need of mothers who in every line of the home life will improve their God-given
talents and fit their children for the family of heaven.
The Lord is served as much, yea, more, by faithful home work than by the one
who teaches the word. As verily as do the teachers in the school, fathers and
mothers are to feel that they are the educators of their children.
The Christian mother's sphere of usefulness should not be narrowed by her
domestic life. The salutary influence which she exerts in the home circle she
may and will make felt in more widespread usefulness in her neighbourhood and in
the church of God. Home is not a prison to the devoted wife and mother.
She Has a Life Mission. --Let woman realise the sacredness of her work and,
in the strength and fear of God, take up her life mission. Let her educate her
children for usefulness in this world and for a fitness for the better world. We
address Christian mothers. We entreat that you feel your responsibility as
mothers and that you live not to please yourselves, but to glorify God. Christ
pleased not Himself, but took upon Him the form of a servant.
The world teems with corrupting influences. Fashion and custom exert a strong
power over the young. If the mother fails in her duty to instruct, guide, and
restrain, her children will naturally accept the evil and turn from the good.
Let every Mother go often to her Saviour with the prayer, "Teach us, how
shall we order the child, and what shall we do unto him?" Let her heed the
instruction which God has given in His word, and wisdom will be given her as she
shall have need.
Sculpturing a Likeness of the Divine. --There is a God above, and the light
and glory from His throne rests upon the faithful mother as she tries to educate
her children to resist the influence of evil. No other work can equal hers in
importance. She has not, like the artist, to paint a form of beauty upon canvas;
nor, like the sculptor, to chisel it from marble. She has not, like the author,
to embody a noble thought in words of power; nor, like the musician, to express
a beautiful sentiment in melody. It is hers, with the help of God, to develop in
a human soul the likeness of the divine.
The mother who appreciates this will regard her opportunities as priceless.
Earnestly will she seek, in her own character and by her methods of training, to
present before her children the highest ideal. Earnestly, patiently,
courageously, she will endeavour to improve her own abilities, that she may use
aright the highest powers of the mind in the training of her children. Earnestly
will she inquire at every step, "What hath God spoken?" Diligently she
will study His word. She will keep her eyes fixed upon Christ, that her own
daily experience, in the lowly round of care and duty, may be a true reflection
of the one true Life.
The Faithful Mother Enrolled in Book of Immortal Fame. --Self-denial and the
cross are our portion. Will we accept it? None of us need expect that when the
last great trials come upon us, a self-sacrificing, patriotic spirit will be
developed in a moment because needed. No, indeed, this spirit must be blended
with our daily experience and infused into the minds and hearts of our children,
both by precept and example. Mothers in Israel may not be warriors themselves,
but they may raise up warriors who shall gird on the whole armour and fight
manfully the battles of the Lord.
Mothers, to a great degree the destiny of your children rests in your hands.
If you fail in duty, you may place them in the ranks of the enemy and make them
his agents to ruin souls; but by a godly example and faithful discipline you may
lead them to Christ and make them the instruments in His hands of saving many
souls.
Her work [the Christian mother's], if done faithfully in God, will be
immortalized. The votaries of fashion will never see or understand the immortal
beauty of that Christian mother's work, and will sneer at her old-fashioned
notions and her plain, unadorned dress; while the Majesty of heaven will write
the name of that faithful mother in the book of immortal fame.
The Moments Are Priceless. --The whole future life of Moses, the great
mission which he fulfilled as the leader of Israel, testifies to the importance
of the work of the Christian mother. There is no other work that can equal this.
. . Parents should direct the instruction and training of their children while
very young, to the end that they may be Christians. They are placed in our care
to be trained, not as heirs to the throne of an earthly empire, but as kings
unto God, to reign through unending ages.
Let every mother feel that her moments are priceless; her work will be tested
in the solemn day of accounts. Then it will be found that many of the failures
and crimes of men and women have resulted from the ignorance and neglect of
those whose duty it was to guide their childish feet in the right way. Then it
will be found that many who have blessed the world with the light of genius and
truth and holiness owe the principles that were the mainspring of their
influence and success to a praying, Christian mother.