Chapter 9—Unwise Marriages
I have been shown that the youth of today have no true sense of
their great danger. There are many of the young whom God would
accept as laborers in the various branches of His work, but Satan steps
in and so entangles them in his web that they become estranged from
God and powerless in His work. Satan is a sharp and persevering
workman. He knows just how to entrap the unwary, and it is an
alarming fact that but few succeed in escaping from his wiles. They
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see no danger and do not guard against his devices. He prompts them
to fasten their affections upon one another without seeking wisdom
of God or of those whom He has sent to warn, reprove, and counsel.
They feel self-sufficient and will not bear restraint.
Your own case, Brother-----, is a forcible illustration of this. You
have become infatuated with the thought of marriage. As is generally
the case with those who have their minds directed in this channel,
the warnings of the servants of God have but little influence upon
you. I have been shown how easily you are affected by surrounding
influences. Should you connect with associates whose minds are cast
in an inferior mold, you would become like them. Unless the love and
fear of God were before you, their thoughts would be your thoughts;
if they lacked reverence, you also would be come irreverent, if they
were frivolous and given to pleasure seeking, you would follow in the
same path with a zeal and perseverance worthy of a better cause.
The young lady upon whom you have placed your affections has
not depth of thought or character. Her life has been frivolous, and
her mind is narrow and superficial. Yet you have steadily refused to
be cautioned by your father, your loving sister, or by your friends in
the church. I came to you as Christ’s ambassador; but your strong
feelings, your self-confidence, closed your eyes to danger and your
ears to warnings. Your course has been as persistent as though no one
knew quite so much as yourself or as though the salvation of your soul
depended upon your following your own judgment.
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