*From The Excellent Woman of Proverbs 31 written in 1847 by Anne Pratt (1806-1893)
The stability and comfort of the household are, indeed, so dependent on the domestic arrangements of her who presides; punctuality and order in the wife are so necessary for the preservation of the property which may have been acquired, that the truth of the old Irish saying, "A man must ask his wife's leave to be rich," is very apparent. Early risers will not often be found among those whose habits are irregular and disorderly.
We find continual reference in Scripture to the habit of beginning the business of the day at a very
early hour in the morning. Thus when Moses was sent to Pharaoh, by the Lord God of the Hebrews, and the haughty king was commanded to let the people of Israel go out from their cruel bondage, the Jewish lawgiver was commanded to rise up early in the morning, and to stand before Pharaoh as "he cometh forth to the water" (Exd 8:20). And when the vain and deceitful Absalom sought to win away the hearts of Israel from their allegiance to his father, "he rose up early and stood beside the way of the gate" (2Sa 15:2) of the city; for he well knew, that passing through its arches, he should meet those who were going out of the town to the daily labor of the fields, or find there assembled the concourse of merchants.
The ancient custom of dividing the food into separate portions, ...And when Joseph entertained his brethren who had come up to Egypt, we mark how, with the peculiar love which the man of the East feels for the brother who claims the same mother as himself, he apportioned to his beloved Benjamin a mess five times as large as that of any of his other brethren. Not but that each had a portion large enough for his refreshment, but that a stronger warmth of hospitality might mark his deeper love to him, whom his dying mother had called "the son of my sorrow."
Many serious illnesses would take their flight before the long‐continued and diligent practice of an early morning walk; Time is given us for duty, for the preparation for a future state, for the good of others; and every fragment of it should be gathered up, that nothing of so precious a gift may be lost. It should become a subject of deep and frequent thought to every woman, and especially to every Christian woman, whether her time is rightly spent.
SHE RISETH ALSO WHILE IT IS YET NIGHT,
AND GIVETH MEAT TO HER HOUSEHOLD,
AND GIVETH MEAT TO HER HOUSEHOLD,
AND A PORTION TO HER MAIDENS.
Proverbs 31:15
The stability and comfort of the household are, indeed, so dependent on the domestic arrangements of her who presides; punctuality and order in the wife are so necessary for the preservation of the property which may have been acquired, that the truth of the old Irish saying, "A man must ask his wife's leave to be rich," is very apparent. Early risers will not often be found among those whose habits are irregular and disorderly.
We find continual reference in Scripture to the habit of beginning the business of the day at a very
The ancient custom of dividing the food into separate portions, ...And when Joseph entertained his brethren who had come up to Egypt, we mark how, with the peculiar love which the man of the East feels for the brother who claims the same mother as himself, he apportioned to his beloved Benjamin a mess five times as large as that of any of his other brethren. Not but that each had a portion large enough for his refreshment, but that a stronger warmth of hospitality might mark his deeper love to him, whom his dying mother had called "the son of my sorrow."
Many serious illnesses would take their flight before the long‐continued and diligent practice of an early morning walk; Time is given us for duty, for the preparation for a future state, for the good of others; and every fragment of it should be gathered up, that nothing of so precious a gift may be lost. It should become a subject of deep and frequent thought to every woman, and especially to every Christian woman, whether her time is rightly spent.