Guiding the House.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume XII, Issue 6, 1 December 1921, Page 329

Guiding the House.

It is. hot along the highways, arid m the byways, hotter still. Let us slip into this little gatllie^ing" arid r see what these people are so "much 1 m earnest about. Every face is upturned. The young' pastor is reading to them a letter from their old pastor, and they do not want to miss a word. They thought the, world of that old pastor of theirs, and they had had a beautiful letter f rom him at least once before. He had. given them some plain speaking too, /in a tender and fatherly way; but love and encouragement, wise; counsel and sympathy, m these letters abounded, *<\ ; Then the reader comes to a Avorcl for the women-folk,, arid there is a hush^ an eager attention. /The voice goes on. "Guide , the house." Do. the women smile? "What does a man ever know about a house? "Guide the house ! " what a strange expression! • ''. ' ■ ; But Paul, who wrote that letter for his younger brother r in the-min-istry to read to the Church at Ephesus, knew what he was talking about. In a . letter to his friend, Titus at Crete, he directs that young women be taughf to be ' 'discreet" — dear old word is discreejfc— chaste, "keepers at home." Qh, no doubt about it. . Paul knew very well what he was talking about, an<T Priscilla, his friend arid Helper, noble wife of 'Aquila, would help her sisters of Epheisus to carry out his" teaching. , Priseilla- knew, soriiething of the difficulties of il guiding the

house." "Three removes" we say, "are as bad as a fire," but Priflcalla had "removed," "shifted" four times. When trouble came, and they had to leave Rome for Corinth,, it. meant the loss of friends, and , ; loss, of. money, "for Jesus' sake," but Priscilla and Aquila faced it cheerfully, and the noble Roman lady learned her husband's trade of tent-making. "Guide the 'house. v. The ii yes within the house, its order, its hospitalities, its loves and interests, its worship and all its activities. These the women are bidden to "guide." Paul does not say, " Prepare for persecutions, travel with the Gospel to lands afar, give up all ties and preach." - . Paul was writing to wives and mothers and he said, "Guide the bouse. ' ' Keep it clean, sweet, beautiful, see that the family rest m comfort, attend to the raiment and the food. Pray, instruct the little ones, assist the poor and the stranger, shew kindness to the neighbours. All this lies m those simple words, ' ' Guide the house. ' ' Such was the "high calling of God m Christ Jesus" for those old-time sisters of ours m Ephesus, and such is our high calling. Dull, uninteresting? Oh, no! For , love is at the helm. - It's love that hung out those well- washed clothes, big and little, that flap on the line; love mends the tears, and sews the buttons on, and darns the stockings; and patches the frocks and knickerbockers. It's love that scrubs and dusts and polishes, that sets good meals on the table, that welcomes the children's friends. It's love that leads the little ones to pray, and love their Bibles, and be regular and reverent at. Church and Sunday School. It's' love that sends father to work day after day that wife and little ones shall not lack. It's love that "guides the house," . and nothing is ever dull that love has glorified. Dear "younger women," especially, listen to the words of the old Pastor. When we are . as far along the road as he was,- "The Pictures" will have lost' their attraction, the music-hall its charm, but oh, happy shall we be if our children are following after "m His faith and fear" because — f or Love— we ' 'guided the house.": — "Church Army Gazette."