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The Retirement Years
Unwise Counsel From a Son
I beg of you not to reproach your father. You should not feel as
you do, for your father has done nothing that God condemns. His
condemnation exists only in the minds of men. He has in no wise
dishonored his children. He is keeping the way of the Lord, to do
justice and judgment. The Lord is opening the way before him, that
he may do a great and good work for His people. Christ is his Saviour,
and in beholding Christ he will be changed into His image.
Your father has been a kind, tender husband. For many years he
served faithfully her whom he has always loved. Death separated him
from the one who for so long has been his special charge. Then his
sister was taken from him, and his home was broken up. Is it any
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wonder that under these circumstances he should, after your mother’s
death, become attached to a woman in whose conversion to the truth
he was instrumental? This woman is not young, but of an age to be
a help to him in his work. Should your father’s age have stood as a
barrier to his happiness?...
Had your father married this lady, I believe that the Lord would
greatly have blessed them both. But I do not think, seeing that the
matter has been treated as it has, it will go any further. Those who
refused to sanction this union should remember that one day they must
meet the result of their action. But I must leave this matter with those
who have been acting a part in it.—
Testimonies on Sexual Behavior,
Adultery, and Divorce, 35, 36
(written July 28, 1902, to Hiland Butler,
George I. Butler’s son).
Ellen White Chose Not to Remarry
Since twenty-one years ago when I was deprived of my husband
by death, I have not had the slightest idea of ever marrying again.
Why? Not because God forbade it. No. But to stand alone was the
best for me, that no one should suffer with me in carrying forward
my work entrusted to me of God. And no one should have a right
to influence me in any way in reference to my responsibility and my
work in bearing my testimony of encouragement and reproof.
My husband never stood in my way to do this, although I had help
and encouragement from him, and oft his pity. His sympathy and