Chapter 24—Wives of Ministers
I saw the wives of the ministers. Some of them are no help to their
husbands, yet they profess the third angel’s message. They think more
of studying their own wishes and pleasure than the will of God, or how
they can hold up the hands of their husbands by their faithful prayers
and careful walk. I saw that some of them take so willful and selfish a
course that Satan makes them his instruments and works through them
to destroy the influence and usefulness of their husbands. They feel at
liberty to complain and murmur if they are brought through any strait
places. They forget the sufferings of the ancient Christians for the
truth’s sake and think that they must have their wishes and way, and
follow their own will. They forget the suffering of Jesus, their Master.
They forget the Man of Sorrows, who was acquainted with grief—He
who had not where to lay His head. They do not care to remember
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that holy brow, pierced with a crown of thorns. They forget Him,
who, bearing His own cross to Calvary, fainted beneath its burden.
Not merely the burden of the wooden cross, but the heavy burden
of the sins of the world, was upon Him. They forget the cruel nails
driven through His tender hands and feet, and His expiring, agonizing
cries: “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” After all this
suffering endured for them, they feel a strong unwillingness to suffer
for Christ’s sake.
These persons, I saw, are deceiving themselves. They have no part
nor lot in the matter. They have hold of the truth; but the truth has
not hold of them. When the truth, the solemn, important truth, gets
hold of them, self will die; then the language will not be, “I will go
there, I will not stay here;” but the earnest inquiry will be, “Where
does God want me to be? Where can I best glorify Him, and where can
our united labors do the most good?” Their will should be swallowed
up in the will of God. The willfulness and lack of consecration that
some of the ministers’ wives manifest will stand in the way of sinners;
the blood of souls will be upon their garments. Some of the ministers
have borne a strong testimony in regard to the duty and the wrongs
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