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Testimonies for the Church Volume 2
You have at times manifested affection, but it has not awakened love
in return because you have not been courteous and attentive, and
manifested a kind regard for your wife by consulting her happiness.
You have too many times felt at liberty to saunter off in pursuit of
your own pleasure without consulting her pleasure or happiness at
all.
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.
Only let a woman realize that she is appreciated by her husband
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and is precious to him, not merely because she is useful and con-
venient in his house, but because she is a part of himself, and she
will respond to his affection and reflect the love bestowed upon her.
Let your wife be the object of your special and hearty attention.
When you feel as God would have you, you will feel lost without
the society of your wife. You think her faith not worth having, yet it
will bring answers sooner than the faith which you possess.
Brother M, you fail to understand the heart of a woman. You
do not reason from cause to effect. You know that your wife is
not so cheerful and happy as you wish to see her, but you do not
investigate the cause. You do not analyze your deportment to see
if the difficulty does not exist in yourself. Love your wife. She is
hungering for deep, true, elevating love. Let her have tangible proof
that her care and interest for you, shown in her attention to your