Chapter 6
449
Appendix 2—Important Factors in Choosing
a Life Companion
(A statement by the trustees of the Ellen G. White Estate)
As the reader peruses the “Word to the Reader,” appearing in each
of the two volumes of Selected Messages, he observes that the two
books are comprised of lines of counsel, given through the years,
which reached the field by way of pamphlets, periodical articles, and
typewritten messages, but were not drawn into the nine volumes of
testimony counsels published by Ellen White prior to her death. The
publication in 1958 in this form provides the church with timely coun-
sels in a manner and at a time to include reference to them in the
three-volume comprehensive index to the writings of Ellen G. White
.
A number of pages in these two volumes and many pages in the
other Ellen G. White books, and also not a few of the personal tes-
timonies directed to individuals, deal with the far-reaching question
of the selection of a life partner in marriage. These counsels set forth
factors important to a happy, successful marriage and to the happiness
and welfare of the children born to that marriage. They also present
factors that may impair the success of the union. Ellen White assures
us that “Jesus wants to see happy marriages, happy firesides” (
The
Adventist Home, 99
). “The Choice of a
Life Companion,” she ad-
[482]
monished, “should be such as best to secure physical, mental, and
spiritual well-being for parents and for their children.”—
The Ministry
of Healing, 357
.
In these writings the influence of the home is ever kept before the
church. She called upon those looking toward marriage to consider
well the influence of the particular union contemplated. To this end
she urged that there should be no selfishness or covetousness or short-
sighted decisions. (See footnote.) She called upon men and women
who were planning to marry to “distinguish between what is pleasing
and what is profitable” (
Letter 4, 1901
). She observed that “it is from