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Testimonies for the Church Volume 2
was drawing on. They gave no sign that they really desired Jesus.
The disciples knew that He designed to tarry there that night, and
they felt so keenly the slight thus given to their Lord that they were
angry, and prayed Jesus to show proper resentment and call down
fire from heaven to consume those who had thus abused Him. But
He rebuked their indignation and zeal for His honor, and told them
that He came, not to visit with judgment, but to show mercy.
This lesson of our Saviour’s is for you and for me. No resentment
must come into our hearts. When reviled, we must not revile again.
O jealousy and evil surmising, what mischief have ye wrought! how
have ye turned friendship and love into bitterness and hatred! We
must be less proud, less sensitive, have less self-love, and be dead
to self-interest. Our interest must be submerged in Christ and we
be able to say: “I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” Christ has
told us how to make everything easy and happy as we pass along:
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“Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will
give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am
meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” The
great difficulty is, there is so little meekness and lowliness that the
yoke galls and the burden is heavy. When we possess true meekness
and lowliness we are so lost in Christ that we do not take neglect
or slights to heart; we are deaf to reproach and blind to scorn and
insult.
Sister I, as the peculiarities of your case come clearly before me,
I see a serious objection to your traveling. You do not take upon
yourself the burdens that you should. You call forth sympathy from
others, but do not give in return. You lay your whole weight where
you are, and too frequently are waited upon when those who bear
their own burden and yours also are no more able to do this than
yourself. You are too helpless for your own good, and the influence
is not such as that of a minister’s wife should be. You need more
physical labor than you have; and from what has been shown me,
I think that you would be more in the line of your duty engaging
cheerfully in the work of educating your daughter and encouraging
a love of domestic duties. You did not receive the education in this
direction that you should have had in your girlhood, and this has
made your life more unhappy than it would otherwise have been.
You do not love physical labor; and when journeying, you fill the bill