The Adventist Home
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The Adventist Home Ellen G. White 1952 Copyright © 2018 Ellen G. White Estate, Inc. Information about this Book Overview This eBook is provided by the Ellen G. White Estate. It is included in the larger free Online Books collection on the Ellen G. White Estate Web site. About the Author Ellen G. White (1827-1915) is considered the most widely translated American author, her works having been published in more than 160 languages. She wrote more than 100,000 pages on a wide variety of spiritual and practical topics. Guided by the Holy Spirit, she exalted Jesus and pointed to the Scriptures as the basis of one’s faith. Further Links A Brief Biography of Ellen G. White About the Ellen G. White Estate End User License Agreement The viewing, printing or downloading of this book grants you only a limited, nonexclusive and nontransferable license for use solely by you for your own personal use. This license does not permit republication, distribution, assignment, sublicense, sale, preparation of derivative works, or other use. Any unauthorized use of this book terminates the license granted hereby. (See EGW Writings End User License Agreement.) Further Information For more information about the author, publishers, or how you can support this service, please contact the Ellen G. White Estate i at [email protected]. We are thankful for your interest and feedback and wish you God’s blessing as you read. ii Foreword The Adventist home is a home where Seventh-day Adventist standards and practices are lived and taught, a place to which Sev- enth-day Adventist fathers and mothers are commissioned by Christ to go and make Christians of the members of their own households. And in order to perform that task well, Seventh-day Adventist par- ents are looking for all the help they can possibly find. Ellen G. White has written much and very valuable counsel for parents. She has touched upon every phase of the home, and offers specific instruction on many of the problems which giveso much concern to thoughtful and often anxious parents today. Some years before her death, she indicated her desire to get out “a book for Christian parents” that would define “the mother’s duty and influence over her children.” In the present work an endeavor has been made to fulfill this expectation. This book, The Adventist Home, is at once a sort of handbook or manual for busy parents, and a pattern or ideal of what the home can and should become. Here are the answers to your many questions, the words of wisdom from the heavenly Father. In compiling this work, excerpts have been drawn from the Ellen G. White writings penned through seven decades, but especially from the thousands of E. G. White articles which were prepared for the journals of the denomination. The current published works, special testimonies issued in pamphlet form, and the E. G. White manuscript files have also enriched the Volume. Appropriate source credits are given in connection with each chapter. As the excerpts drawn from different sources written at different times are linked [6] together in their logical sequence, there may be occasionally a slight unavoidable break in thought or manner of address, for the compilers are limited in their work to selecting and arranging the subject matter and supplying the headings. This document has been prepared in the office of the Ellen G. White Publications. The work has been done in harmony with Mrs. iii White’s instruction to her trustees in providing “for the printing of compilations” from her manuscripts, for they contain, she said, “instruction that the Lord has given me for his people.” Never in the history of the world has a book like this been needed more urgently than it is right now. Never have parents and children been more anxious for the right answer to the things which trouble them. Never have homes been in such jeopardy as they are today. Every one of us knows that conditions in society are but a re- flection of conditions in the homes of the nation. We likewise know that a change in the home will be mirrored in a changed society. To this end this Volume—The Adventist Home—has been prepared and, as a part of the Christian home library, is now sent forth on its important mission by the publishers and The Trustees of the Ellen G. White Publications Washington, D.C., May 8, 1952. Contents Information about this Book . .i Foreword ........................................... iii Section 1—The Home Beautiful . .9 Chapter 1—Atmosphere of the Home . 10 Chapter 2—Fundamentals of True Homemaking . 15 Chapter 3—The Eden Home a Pattern . 18 Section 2—A Light in the Community . 21 Chapter 4—Far-Reaching Influence of the Home . 22 Chapter 5—A Powerful Christian Witness . 25 Section 3—Choosing the Life Partner. 29 Chapter 6—The Great Decision . 30 Chapter 7—True Love or Infatuation . 35 Chapter 8—Common Courtship Practices . 39 Chapter 9—Forbidden Marriages . 44 Chapter 10—When Counsel is Needed . 51 Section 4—Factors that Make for Success or Failure . 57 Chapter 11—Hasty, Immature Marriages . 58 Chapter 12—Compatibility . 61 Chapter 13—Domestic Training . 64 Chapter 14—True Conversion a Requisite . 69 Section 5—From the Marriage Altar . 73 Chapter 15—Solemn Promises . 74 Chapter 16—A Happy, Successful Partnership . 79 Chapter 17—Mutual Obligations . 86 Chapter 18—Marital Duties and Privileges . 92 Section 6—The New Home . 99 Chapter 19—Where Shall the Home Be? . 100 Chapter 20—The Family and the City . 103 Chapter 21—Advantages of the Country . 108 Chapter 22—Building and Furnishing the Home . 113 Section 7—Heritage of the Lord . 121 Chapter 23—Children a Blessing . 122 Chapter 24—Size of the Family . 124 Chapter 25—Caring for Needy Children . 128 v vi The Adventist Home Chapter 26—Parents’ Legacy to Children . 132 Section 8—The Successful Family . 135 Chapter 27—A Sacred Circle . 136 Chapter 28—The Child’s First School . 139 Chapter 29—A Work That Cannot Be Transferred . 144 Chapter 30—Family Companionship . 147 Chapter 31—Security Through Love . 151 Chapter 32—Preoccupy the Garden of the Heart. 155 Chapter 33—Promises of Divine Guidance . 158 Section 9—Father—The House-Band. 163 Chapter 34—Father’s Position and Responsibilities . 164 Chapter 35—Sharing the Burdens . 168 Chapter 36—A Companion With His Children . 171 Chapter 37—The Kind of Husband Not To Be . 174 Section 10—Mother—Queen of the Household . 179 Chapter 38—Mother’s Position and Responsibilities . 180 Chapter 39—Influence of the Mother . 187 Chapter 40—Misconception of the Mother’s Work . 190 Chapter 41—Imperfect Patterns of Motherhood . 193 Chapter 42—Mother’s Health and Personal Appearance . 196 Chapter 43—Prenatal Influences . 199 Chapter 44—Care Of Little Children . 203 Chapter 45—Mother’s First Duty Is To Train Children . 206 Chapter 46—The Stepmother . 211 Chapter 47—Christ’s Encouragement to Mothers . 214 Section 11—Children—The Junior Partners . 217 Chapter 48—Heaven’s Estimate of Children . 218 Chapter 49—Mother’s Helpers . 221 Chapter 50—The Honor Due Parents . 229 Chapter 51—Counsel to Children . 233 Section 12—Standards of Family Living . 239 Chapter 52—Home Government . 240 Chapter 53—A United Front . 246 Chapter 54—Religion in the Family . 250 Chapter 55—Moral Standards . 257 Chapter 56—Divorce . 268 Chapter 57—Attitude Toward an Unbelieving Companion 275 Chapter 58—The Minister’s Family . 279 Contents vii Chapter 59—The Aged Parents . 285 Section 13—The Use of Money . 289 Chapter 60—Stewards of God . 290 Chapter 61—Principles of Family Finance . 294 Chapter 62—Economy to be Practiced . 301 Chapter 63—Instructing Children How to Earn and Use Money ....................................... 305 Chapter 64—Business Integrity . 309 Chapter 65—Provision for the Future . 312 Section 14—Guarding the Avenues of the Soul . 315 Chapter 66—The Portals We Must Watch . 316 Chapter 67—Enticing Sights and Sounds . 320 Chapter 68—Reading and its Influence . 323 Section 15—Graces that Brighten Family Life . 331 Chapter 69—Courtesy and Kindness . 332 Chapter 70—Cheerfulness . 339 Chapter 71—Speech . 342 Chapter 72—Hospitality . 351 Section 16—The Home and its Social Relationships . 357 Chapter 73—Our Social Needs . 358 Chapter 74—Safe And Unsafe Associations . 361 Chapter 75—Parental Guidance In Social Affairs . 367 Chapter 76—Holidays And Anniversaries . 372 Chapter 77—Christmas . 376 Chapter 78—The Family a Missionary Center . 381 Section 17—Relaxation and Recreation . 387 Chapter 79—Recreation is Essential . 388 Chapter 80—What Shall We Play? . 392 Chapter 81—Recreation that Yields Enduring Satisfactions 398 Chapter 82—How the Christian Chooses His Recreation . 403 Chapter 83—The Lure of Pleasure . 410 Chapter 84—Directing Juvenile Thinking Regarding Recreation . 414 Section 18—Thou Shalt be Recompensed . 419 Chapter 85—The Reward Here and Hereafter . 420 Chapter 86—Life In the Eden Home . 425 Chapter 87—Pen Pictures of the New Earth . 431 viii The Adventist Home Section 1—The Home Beautiful [7] Chapter 1—Atmosphere of the Home Home Is the Heart of All Activity—Society is composed of families, and is what the heads of families make it. Out of the heart are “the issues of life”; and the heart of the community, of the church, and of the nation is the household. The well-being of society, the success of the church, the prosperity of the nation, depend upon home influences.1 The elevation or deterioration of the future of society will be de- termined by the manners and morals of the youth growing up around us. As the youth are educated, and as their characters are molded in their childhood to virtuous habits, self-control, and temperance, so will their influence be upon society.