Said the angel: “Abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.” 1 Peter 2:11. You have stumbled at the health reform. It appears to you to be a needless appendix to the truth. It is not so; it is a part of the truth. Here is a work before you which will come closer and be more trying than anything which has yet been brought to bear upon you. While you hesitate and stand back, failing to lay hold upon the blessing which it is your privilege to receive, you suffer loss. You are stumbling over the very blessing which Heaven has placed in your path to make your progress less difficult. Satan presents this before you in the most objectionable light, that you may combat that which would prove the greatest benefit to you, which would be for your physical and spiritual health. Of all men you are one to be benefited by health reform; the truth received on every point in this matter of reform will be of the greatest advantage. You are a man whom a spare diet will benefit. You were in danger of being stricken down in a moment by paralysis, one half of you becoming dead. A denial of appetite is salvation to you, yet you view it as a great privation. (1T 546.1) MC VC

The reason why the youth of the present age are not more religiously inclined is because of the defect in their education. It is not true love exercised toward children which permits in them the indulgence of passion, or allows disobedience of parental laws to go unpunished. “Just as the twig is bent the tree is inclined.” The mother should ever have the co-operation of the father in her efforts to lay the foundation of a good Christian character in her children. A doting father should not close his eyes to the faults of his children because it is not pleasant to administer correction. You both need to arouse and with firmness, not in a harsh manner, but with determined purpose, let your children know they must obey you. (1T 546.2) MC VC

A father must not be as a child, moved merely by impulse. He is bound to his family by sacred, holy ties. Every member of the family centers in the father. His name, “house-band,” is the true definition of husband. He is the lawmaker, illustrating in his own manly bearing the sterner virtues, energy, integrity, honesty, and practical usefulness. The father is in one sense the priest of the household, laying upon the altar of God the morning and evening sacrifice, while the wife and children unite in prayer and praise. With such a household Jesus will tarry, and through His quickening influence the parents’ joyful exclamations shall yet be heard amid more exalted scenes, saying: “Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me.” Saved, saved, eternally saved! freed from the corruption that is in the world through lust, and through the merits of Christ made heirs of immortality! I saw that but few fathers realize their responsibility. They have not learned to control themselves, and until this lesson is learned they will make poor work in governing their children. Perfect self-control will act as a charm upon the family. When this is attained, a great victory is gained. Then they can educate their children to self-control. (1T 547.1) MC VC

My heart yearns over the church at -----, for there is a work to be accomplished there. It is God’s design to have a people in that place. There is material there for a good church, but there is considerable work to be done to remove the rough edges and prepare them for working order, that all may labor unitedly and draw in even cords. It has hitherto been the case that when one or two felt the necessity of arousing and standing unitedly and more firmly upon the elevated platform of truth, others would make no effort to arise. Satan puts in them a spirit to rebel, to discourage those who would advance. They brace themselves when urged to take hold of the work, a stubborn spirit comes upon some, and when they should help they hinder. Some will not submit to the planing knife of God. As it passes over them, and the uneven surface is disturbed, they complain of too close and severe work. They wish to get out of God’s workshop, where their defects may remain undisturbed. They seem to be asleep as to their condition; but their only hope is to remain where the defects in their Christian character will be seen and remedied. (1T 547.2) MC VC