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Testimonies for the Church Volume 2
It is not pure, holy love which leads the wife to gratify the animal
propensities of her husband at the expense of health and life. If she
possesses true love and wisdom, she will seek to divert his mind
from the gratification of lustful passions to high and spiritual themes
by dwelling upon interesting spiritual subjects. It may be necessary
to humbly and affectionately urge, even at the risk of his displeasure,
that she cannot debase her body by yielding to sexual excess. She
should, in a tender, kind manner, remind him that God has the
first and highest claim upon her entire being, and that she cannot
disregard this claim, for she will be held accountable in the great
day of God. “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the
Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not
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your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in
your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” “Ye are bought with
a price; be not ye the servants of men.”
If she will elevate her affections, and in sanctification and honor
preserve her refined, womanly dignity, woman can do much by her
judicious influence to sanctify her husband, and thus fulfill her high
mission. In so doing, she can save both her husband and herself, thus
performing a double work. In this matter, so delicate and so difficult
to manage, much wisdom and patience are necessary, as well as
moral courage and fortitude. Strength and grace can be found in
prayer. Sincere love is to be the ruling principle of the heart. Love to
God and love to the husband can alone be the right ground of action.
Let the wife decide that it is the husband’s prerogative to have
full control of her body, and to mold her mind to suit his in every
respect, to run in the same channel as his own, and she yields her
individuality; her identity is lost, merged in that of her husband. She
is a mere machine for his will to move and control, a creature of
his pleasure. He thinks for her, decides for her, and acts for her.
She dishonors God in occupying this passive position. She has a
responsibility before God which it is her duty to preserve.
When the wife yields her body and mind to the control of her
husband, being passive to his will in all things, sacrificing her con-
science, her dignity, and even her identity, she loses the opportunity
of exerting that mighty influence for good which she should possess
to elevate her husband. She could soften his stern nature, and her
sanctifying influence could be exerted in a manner to refine and