The Evangelist’s Wife
Responsible for Her Talents—A responsibility rests upon the
minister’s wife which she should not and cannot lightly throw off. God
will require the talent lent her, with usury. She should work earnestly,
faithfully, and unitedly with her husband to save souls. She should
never urge her wishes and desires, or express a lack of interest in her
husband’s labor, or dwell upon homesick, discontented feelings. All
these natural feelings must be overcome. She should have a purpose
in life which should be unfalteringly carried out. What if this conflicts
with the feelings and pleasures and natural tastes! These should be
cheerfully and readily sacrificed, in order to do good and save souls.
The wives of ministers should live devoted, prayerful lives. But
some would enjoy a religion in which there are no crosses, and which
calls for no self-denial and exertion on their part. Instead of standing
nobly for themselves, leaning upon God for strength, and bearing their
individual responsibility, they have much of the time been dependent
upon others, deriving their spiritual life from them. If they would only
lean confidingly, in childlike trust, upon God, and have their affections
centered in Jesus, deriving their life from Christ, the living vine, what
an amount of good they might do, what a help they might be to others,
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what a support to their husbands; and what a reward would be theirs
in the end!—
Testimonies For The Church 1:452, 453
(1864).
To Accompany Husband in Soul Winning—If a minister’s wife
accompanies her husband in his travels, she should not go for her own
special enjoyment, to visit and to be waited upon, but to labor with him.
She should have a united interest with him to do good. She should
be willing to accompany her husband, if home cares do not hinder,
and she should aid him in his efforts to save souls. With meekness
and humility, yet with a noble self-reliance, she should have a leading
influence upon minds around her, and should act her part and bear
her cross and burden in meeting, and around the family altar, and in
conversation at the fireside. The people expect this, and they have a
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