106
Testimonies for the Church Volume 5
Dangers of the Young
Mr.-----has a nature that Satan plays upon with wonderful success.
This case is one that should teach the young a lesson in regard to
marriage. His wife followed feeling and impulse, not reason and
judgment, in selecting a companion. Was their marriage the result of
true love? No, no; it was the result of impulse,—blind, unsanctified
passion. Neither was at all fitted for the responsibilities of married
life. When the novelty of the new order of things wore away, and each
became acquainted with the other, did their love become stronger, their
affection deeper, and their lives blend together in beautiful harmony?
[122]
It was entirely the opposite. The worst traits of their characters began
to deepen by exercise, and, instead of their married life being one of
happiness, it has been one of increasing trouble, especially to the wife.
God in His mercy has tested her, spared her life, and lengthened her
probation in order that she might obtain a fitness for the future life.
Her husband has a very defective character. Without a thorough
transformation by the grace of God he would be unfit to connect in
marriage with any woman. He is so thoroughly impregnated with self,
so entirely given up to habits of self-indulgence and easy indolence,
that he needs to be under discipline himself, rather than have anything
to do in disciplining wife or children. This man’s mind has been cast
in an inferior mold. He has encouraged coarseness and objectionable
traits of character, until he was presented to me as having scarcely a
redeeming quality in his character. There is only one hope, and that is
that he will see himself, and so despise and loathe himself that he will
seek a new heart, be born again, and become a new man in Christ Jesus.
He should become a diligent man. Industry will be of great advantage
to him. His course is offensive to God, in that he invites temptation.
His rudeness, his threats, his untamable, uncourteous spirit, will make
him a curse to himself and to others. His conduct toward his wife’s
mother has been rude and ungentlemanly. It should henceforth be
the life study of both husband and wife how to avoid everything that
creates contention and to keep unbroken the marriage vows.
Just such unsanctified marriages are filling up the ranks of Sab-
bathkeepers. God wants His children to be happy, and, if they would
learn of Him, He would save them from the daily misery which comes
in consequence of these unhappy unions. Many marriages can only