Love in the Home
171
Love and Self-discipline Bind Family Together—Let parents
seek, in their own character and in their homelife, to exemplify the
love and beneficence of the heavenly Father. Let the home be full of
sunshine. This will be worth far more to your children than lands or
money. Let the home love be kept alive in their hearts, that they may
look back upon the home of their childhood as a place of peace and
happiness next to heaven. The members of the family do not all have
the same stamp of character, and there will be frequent occasion for
the exercise of patience and forbearance; but through love and self-
[214]
discipline all may be bound together in the closest union.—
Patriarchs
and Prophets, 176
(1890).
Characteristics of True Love (counsel to an opinionated hus-
band)—True, pure love is precious. It is heavenly in its influence. It
is deep and abiding. It is not spasmodic in its manifestations. It is not
a selfish passion. It bears fruit. It will lead to a constant effort to make
your wife happy. If you have this love, it will come natural to make
this effort. It will not appear to be forced. If you go out for a walk or
to attend a meeting, it will be as natural as your breath to choose your
wife to accompany you and to seek to make her happy in your society.
You regard her spiritual attainments as inferior to your own, but I saw
that God was better pleased with her spirit than with that possessed by
yourself.
You are not worthy of your wife. She is too good for you. She
is a frail, sensitive plant; she needs to be cared for tenderly. She
earnestly desires to do the will of God. But she has a proud spirit
and is timid, shrinking from reproach. It is as death to her to be the
subject of observation or remark. Let your wife be loved, honored, and
cherished, in fulfillment of the marriage vow, and she will come out of
that reticent, diffident position which is natural to her.—
Testimonies
for the Church 2:416
(1870).
Soul Craves Higher Love—Your wife should make strong efforts
to come out of her retired, dignified reserve and cultivate simplicity
in all her actions. And when the higher order of faculties is aroused
in you and strengthened by exercise, you will better understand the
wants of women; you will understand that the soul craves love of a
higher, purer order than exists in the low order of the animal passions.
These passions have been strengthened in you by encouragement and
exercise. If now in the fear of God you keep your body under, and seek