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Chapter 36—Sentimentalism and Matchmaking
Dear Sister K,
In the vision given me last June I was shown that you possess a
firmness of character, a determination of purpose, savoring some-
what of stubbornness. You are unwilling to be led, yet you feel
anxious to know and do the will of God. You have been deceived in
yourself; you have not understood your own heart. You have thought
that your will was in subjection to the will of God, but in this you
have not judged aright. You have met with trials and have permitted
your mind to dwell upon disappointed hopes. For some years back
your life has taken a peculiar turn. There has seemed to be a spirit
of unrest with you. You have not been happy, although there has
been nothing in your surroundings which need to have cast so dark a
shadow. You have not disciplined your mind to dwell upon cheerful
subjects. You are capable of exerting a strong influence in favor of
truth if you will only train your mind to run in the right channel.
All your words and acts should be such as to honor your Redeemer,
exalt His love, and magnify His charms.
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You have fallen into the sad error which is so prevalent in this
degenerate age, especially with women. You are too fond of the other
sex. You love their society; your attention to them is flattering, and
you encourage, or permit, a familiarity which does not always accord
with the exhortation of the apostle, to “abstain from all appearance
of evil.”
You do not really understand yourself. You are walking in dark-
ness. You have had something to do with matchmaking. This is
most uncertain business; for you do not know the heart and may
make very bad work, thereby aiding the great rebel in his work of
matchmaking. He is busily engaged in influencing those who are
wholly unsuited to each other to unite their interests. He exults in
this work, for by it he can produce more misery and hopeless woe to
the human family than by exercising his skill in any other direction.
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