Remarriage of Widows and Widowers
27
You need another element brought into your labors that you do not
possess and that you do not understand is really essential....
Your ideas have been erroneous to preserve your life as a widower,
but on this point I will say no more. The influence of a noble Christian
woman of proper capabilities would have served to counteract the
tendencies of your mind. The ability of concentrativeness, the intense
light in which you view everything of a religious character connected
with the cause and work of God, has brought upon you depression
of spirits, a weight of anxiety that has weakened you physically and
mentally. If you had been connected with one who would have opposite
feelings, who would have ability to turn your thoughts away from
gloomy subjects, who would not have yielded her individuality, but
have preserved her identity and had a molding influence upon your
mind, you would today have had physical strength and power to resist
disease.—
Letter 9, 1883
.
You remember I wrote you from Texas to obtain a wife before you
returned to Europe. Do you suppose I would have given you such
advice if I had had no light upon the matter? Be assured, no such
[35]
counsel would have been given you without good reason. I was shown
[that] you follow your own judgment and your own ideas altogether
too tenaciously. If you were more willing to be counseled by those you
should confide in, and trust less to your own feelings and impressions,
the result for yourself and for the cause of God would be far better.
I was shown that you made a mistake in starting to Europe without
a companion. If you had, before starting, selected you a godly woman
who could have been a mother to your children, you would have done
a wise thing, and your usefulness would have been tenfold to what it
has been.—
Letter 1, 1883
.
A Son’s Interference [
This letter was written July 28, 1902, to
the son of Elder George I. Butler, former president of the General
Conference. Elder Butler’s wife died November 15, 1901, leaving
him a widower at the age of 68. As a result of his son’s influence,
Elder Butler did not marry the woman referred to in this letter. Five
years later, in 1907, he married someone else.
]—I beg of you not to
reproach your father. You should not feel as you do, for your father
has done nothing that God condemns. His condemnation exists only
in the minds of men. He has in no wise dishonored his children. He is
keeping the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment. The Lord is