Chapter 29—To a Young Minister and His Wife
Dear Brother and Sister A,
For some months I have felt that it was time to write to you some
things which the Lord was pleased to show me in regard to you several
years ago. Your cases were shown me in connection with those of
others who had a work to do for themselves in order to be fitted for
the work of presenting the truth. I was shown that you were both
deficient in essential qualifications and that if these are not obtained
your usefulness and the salvation of your own souls will be endangered.
You have some faults in your characters which it is very important that
you should correct. If you neglect to take hold of the work resolutely
and in earnest, these wrongs will increase upon you and will greatly
cripple your influence in the cause and work of God, and will finally
result in your being separated from the work of preaching the truth,
which you love so well.
In the vision given me for B, I was shown that he had a very
unfortunate stamp of character. He had not been disciplined, and his
temper had not been subdued. He had been permitted to have his own
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head and to do very much as he pleased. He was greatly deficient in
reverence for God and man. He had a strong, unsubmissive spirit and
but a very faint idea of proper gratitude to those who were doing their
utmost for him. He was extremely selfish.
I was shown that independence, a firm, set, unyielding will, a
lack of reverence and due respect for others, selfishness and too great
self-confidence, mark the character of Sister A. If she does not watch
closely and overcome these defects in her character she will surely fail
of sitting with Christ in His throne.
In regard to Brother A, I was shown that many of the things men-
tioned in the testimony to B applied to you. I was pointed back to
your past life. I saw that from a child you have been self-confident,
headstrong, and self-willed, and have followed your own mind. You
have an independent spirit, and it has been very difficult for you to
yield to anyone. When it was your duty to yield your way and your
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