Testimony for the Church — No. 17

Epistle Number Seven

Bro.: Last June, your case was presented before me in vision. I have been constantly pressed with labor, so that I could not possibly write out the things shown me of individual cases. I wish to write what I have to write, before I hear any account of matters in regard to your case; for Satan might suggest doubts to your mind. This is his work. T17 125.1

I was pointed back to your past life, and was shown that God had been very merciful to you, in enlightening your eyes to see his truth, rescuing you from your perilous condition of doubt and uncertainty, establishing your faith, and settling your mind, upon the eternal truths of God's word. He established your feet upon the Rock, and for a time you felt grateful and humble. For some time you have been separating yourself from God. T17 125.2

When you were little in your own eyes, then you were beloved of God. Music has been a snare to you. You are naturally troubled with self-esteem, and have exalted ideas of your own abilities. Teaching music has been an injury to you. Many women have confided their family difficulties to your ear. This has been an injury to you. It has exalted you, and led you to greater self-esteem. T17 125.3

In your own family, you have occupied a dignified, and rather haughty, position. There are defects in your wife, of which you are aware. They have led to bad results. She is not naturally a housekeeper. Her education in this direction has to be acquired. She has improved some, and should apply herself earnestly to make greater improvements. She lacks order, taste, and neatness, in housekeeping and dress. It would be pleasing to God if she should train her mind upon these things wherein she lacks. She does not have good government in her family. She is too yielding. She does not maintain her decisions. She is swerved by the desires and claims of her children, and yields her judgment to theirs. Instead of trying to improve in these respects, as it is her duty to do, she is glad of an opportunity or an excuse, to release herself from her home cares and responsibilities, and permits others to perform the duties in her family that she should educate herself to love to do. She cannot perform her part as a wife and mother, until she shall educate herself in this direction. Practice, in these things, will give her experience, and confidence in her own ability to perform, her duties aright. She lacks confidence in herself. She is timid, and fearing and distrustful of herself. She has a very poor opinion of what she does, and this discourages her from doing. She needs encouragement. She needs words of tenderness and affection. She has a good spirit. She is good at heart. She is meek and quiet. The Lord loves her. Yet she should make thorough efforts to correct these evils which tend to make her family unhappy. T17 126.1

You, Bro. ——, have an organism different from your wife's. You have a love for order and neatness, and a nice taste, and have quite good government. You are opposite in your organizations. You, as a husband, are rather stiff and stern. You fail to take a course to encourage confidence and familiarity in your wife. The deficiencies in your wife have led you to regard her as inferior to yourself, and have also caused your wife to feel that you thus regarded her. God esteems her more highly than yourself; for your ways are crooked before him. For the sake of her husband and children, and for other reasons, she should seek to correct her deficiencies, and improve in those things wherein she now fails. She can do it, if she will try hard enough. T17 127.1

God is displeased with disorder, slackness, and a lack of thoroughness, in any one. These deficiencies are serious evils, and tend to wean the affections of the husband from the wife, when the husband loves order, well-disciplined children, and a well-regulated house. A wife and mother cannot make home agreeable and happy, unless she possesses a love for order, and preserves her dignity, and has good government; therefore, all who fail on these points should begin at once to educate themselves in this direction, and cultivate the very things wherein is their greatest lack. Discipline will do much for those who are lacking in these essential qualifications. Sr. —— gives up to these failings, and thinks that she cannot do otherwise than she does. After she has made a trial, and fails to see decided improvement in herself, she is discouraged. This must not be. The happiness of herself and her family depend upon her arousing herself, and working with earnestness and zeal to make a decided reformation in these things. She must put on confidence and decision; put on the woman. Her nature is to shrink from anything untried. No one can be more ready and willing than herself to do, where she thinks she can succeed. If she fails in her new effort, she must try, try again. She can earn the respect of her husband and children. T17 127.2

I was shown that self-exaltation has caused Bro. —— to stumble. He has exercised a certain dignity, savoring of severity, in his family, and toward his wife. This has shut her from him. She felt that she could not approach him, and has been, in her married life, more like a child, fearing a stern, dignified father, than a wife. She has loved, looked up to, respected, and idolized her husband, notwithstanding your lack of encouraging her confidence. Bro. ——, you should, in your married life, pursue a course that would encourage your timid, shrinking wife to lean upon your large affections, which would give you a chance, in a delicate, affectionate manner, to correct the errors existing in your wife, as far as you are capable of so doing, and to inspire her with confidence in herself. T17 128.1

I was shown that you had not possessed that love for your wife that you should. Satan has taken advantage of her defects and your errors, to work for the destruction of your family. You have suffered shame of your wife to come into your heart. Respect began to grow less and less for her whom you had vowed to love and cherish until death should part you. T17 128.2

Oct. 25, 1868, your case was again presented before me. I was shown that evil thoughts and unlawful desires have led to improper acts, and a violation of the commandments of God. You have dishonored yourself, your wife, and the cause of God. You could have exerted an influence for good in the cause of God. The pursuance of a wrong course in matters that you thought were of little consequence, led to greater evils. T17 129.1

Bro. ——, you are now in danger of making total shipwreck of your faith. You have sinned greatly. Your sin has since been tenfold in seeking to cover up, and blind the eyes of those who have suspected you of wrong. All have not acted as prudently and with that love and care that the Lord would have been pleased to have them, in order to redeem you. But when you tried to put on an air of injured innocency, did you think that God could not see your wrong course? Did you think that He who made man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, could not discern the intents and purposes of the heart? You have thought that if you should confess your sin, you would lose your honor—your life, as it were. You thought that your brethren would have no confidence in you. You have not viewed matters in the right light. It is a shame to sin, but an honor to confess the sin, every time. T17 129.2

Angels of God have kept a faithful record of every act, however secret you may have thought you were in its committal. God discerns the purposes of man, and all his works. Every man will be rewarded according as his works have been, whether good or evil. That which a man sows will he also reap. There will be no failure in the crop. The harvest is sure and plentiful. T17 129.3

You have tried to blind your brethren in regard to your course. How could you do so, when you knew that you were not clear in the sight of God, but guilty before him? If you value your soul's salvation, make thorough work for eternity. T17 130.1

You will have to make a clean track behind you by thorough confession. You need a thorough conversion—a transformation of self by the renewing of your mind. Your self-esteem must be overcome. You must learn to esteem others better than yourself. Your exalted opinion of your acquirements must be given up, and you must obtain a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. T17 130.2

You have possessed a spirit which has led you from the path of rectitude, and now you are troubled. Doubts and fears and despair seize you. There is but one way out, and that is by the way of confession. Your only hope is in falling on the rock and being broken to pieces; if you do not, it will surely fall upon you and grind you to powder. You can now right your wrongs. You can now redeem the past. By a life of goodness and true humility, you can yet walk with acceptance before God in your family. God help you to work as for your life, in view of the Judgment. T17 130.3

Dear Bro. ——, I feel deeply interested for you. You have been for some time walking in darkness. You have not arrived at your present state of darkness all at once. You have been leaving the light gradually. You became exalted, and then, as you felt sufficient in your own strength, the Lord removed his strength from you. T17 130.4

You have been interested in music. This has given incautious, unwise women opportunity, and they have confided their troubles to you. You have felt your pride gratified, but it has been a snare to you. It has opened a door for the suggestions of Satan. You have not done as you should. You had no right to hear in families that which has been spoken to you. These communications have corrupted your mind, increased your self-esteem, and led to evil thoughts. You have permitted yourself to be as a confessor to some sentimental women who desired sympathy, and wished to lean upon others. Had they possessed sound judgment, and stood self-reliant, having an aim in life, loving to do others good, they would not have been in a condition where they needed to come to any one for sympathy. T17 131.1

You know not the deceptions of the human heart. You know not the devices of Satan. Some who have drawn largely upon your sympathy, have a sickly, diseased imagination, are love-sick, sentimental, ever eager to create a sensation, and make a great ado. Some are dissatisfied with their married life. There is not enough romance in it. Novel reading has perverted all the good sense they ever had. They live in an imaginary world. Their imagination creates a husband for themselves, such as exists only in romances found in novels. They talk of unrequited love. They are never contented or happy, because their imaginations are picturing to them a life that is unreal. When they face the realities, and come down to the simplicity of real life, take up life's burdens in their families, as is women's lot, then they will find contentment and happiness. T17 131.2

You have cherished thoughts that were not right. These thoughts have borne fruit. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” Your words are not always chaste, pure, and elevated. “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth.” Guile is too often found in your mouth—low expressions that proceed from a heart cherishing corrupt thoughts and evil desires. T17 132.1

You have been for some time turned from the path of rectitude and purity. You know your course has been displeasing to God. You know that these things cannot be hid. God will not permit his people to be deceived in your case. T17 132.2

You know that you are transgressing the law of God. Your great sin is in enlisting the sympathies of those who do not understand your crooked course, and by thus doing, dividing the judgment of the people who profess the truth. T17 132.3

We pity you. My heart aches for you. I see nothing before you but perdition. Nothing but utter shipwreck of faith. T17 132.4

Will you cover your sins and brave the matter out? God says you shall not prosper. He that confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall find mercy. Will you choose death? Will you shut the kingdom of Heaven against yourself because you will not yield your wicked pride? T17 132.5

Your only hope is in confessing your backslidings from God. God has let the light shine upon your pathway. Will you choose your own course of corruption? Will you cast the truth behind you because it will not sustain you in a course of iniquity? Oh! be entreated to “Rend your heart, and not your garments.” Make thorough work for eternity. T17 132.6

God will be merciful to you. He will be entreated in your behalf. He will not despise a broken and contrite spirit. Will you turn? Will you live? Your soul is worth saving. Your soul is precious. We wish to help you. T17 133.1

I saw that you were not happy. You are not at rest. You feel distressed, and yet you refuse to take the only course you can take, that will bring you relief and hope. He that confesseth and forsaketh his sins, shall find mercy. Your condition is deplorable, and you are greatly injuring the cause of God. Your influence will destroy others besides yourself. T17 133.2

If you refuse to come to God and confess your backslidings that he may heal you, there is nothing to be hoped for you, or your poor family, in the future. Misery will follow upon the steps of sin. God's hand will be against you, and he will leave you to be controlled by Satan, and be led captive by him at his will. You know not to what lengths you may go. You will be like a man at sea without an anchor. The truth of God is an anchor. You are breaking away from the truth. Your eternal interests are being sacrificed to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. T17 133.3

You are on the point of breaking the bonds which would save you from utter destruction. In seeking to save your life by concealing your wrongs you are losing it. T17 133.4

If you now humble yourself before God, confess your wrongs, and return to him with full purpose of heart, yours can yet be a happy family. If you will not do this, but choose your own ways, your happiness is at an end. T17 133.5

You have a great work to do. You have been too slack in your deportment. Your words have not been elevated, chaste, and pure. You have been separating from the divine, and cultivating the lower order of your passions. The intellectual and noble powers of your mind have been brought down into subjection to the animal. You have not pursued a right course for some time. You have not abstained from every appearance of evil. You are not safe to pursue this course any longer. T17 134.1

You have not loved your wife as you should. She is a good woman. She has seen, in a small measure, your danger. But you closed your ear to her cautions. You have thought her jealous, but this is not her nature. She loves you, and will bear with you, and forgive you, and love you, notwithstanding the deep wrong you have done her, if you will only press to the light, and make clean work in the past. T17 134.2

You must have a thorough conversion; unless you do, all your past efforts to obey the truth will not save you, nor cover up your past wrongs. Jesus requires of you a thorough reformation, then he will help, and bless, and love you, and blot out your sins in his own most precious blood. You can redeem the past. You can correct your ways, and yet be an honor to the cause of God. You can do good when you take hold of the strength of God, and in his name work; work for your own salvation, and for the good of others. T17 134.3

Yours can yet be a happy family. Your wife needs your help. She is like a clinging vine. She wants to lean upon your strength. You can help her, and lead her along. You should never censure your wife. Never reprove her, if her efforts are not what you think they should be. Encourage her by words of tenderness and love. T17 135.1

You have put your help in the house, before your wife. Your courteous acts have been more to others than to her. You can help your wife to preserve her dignity and self-respect. Never praise the work or acts of others before your wife, to make her feel her deficiencies. You have been harsh and unfeeling in this respect. T17 135.2

God loves your wife. She has suffered, and he has noticed all, marked it all, and will not hold you guiltless for the wounds you have caused. T17 135.3

It is neither wealth, nor intellect, that gives happiness. It is moral worth. T17 135.4

True goodness is accounted of Heaven as true greatness. The condition of the moral affections determine the worth of the man. A man may have property and intellect, and yet be valueless, because the glowing fire of goodness has never burned upon the altar of his heart, because his conscience has been seared, blackened and crisped with selfishness and sin. T17 135.5

When the lust of the flesh is controlling the man, and the evil passions of the carnal nature are permitted to rule, skepticism in regard to the realities of the Christian religion is encouraged, and doubts are expressed as though it was a special virtue to doubt. T17 135.6

The life of Solomon might have been remarkable until its close if virtue had been preserved. But he surrendered this special grace to lustful passion. In his youth he looked to God for guidance. He trusted in him, and God chose for him, and wisdom was given to him—wisdom that astonished the world. His power and wisdom were extolled throughout the land. His love of women was his sin. I his passion he did not control in his manhood. It proved a snare to him. His wives led him into idolatry, and the wisdom God had given him was removed when he began to descend the declivity of life, he lost his firmness of character, and became more like the giddy youth, wavering between right and wrong. He yielded his principles, and placed himself in the current of evil, and thus separated himself from God, the foundation and source of his strength. He was a man who had moved from principle. Wisdom had been more precious to him than the gold of Ophir. But alas! lustful passions got the victory. He was deceived and ruined through women. What a lesson for watchfulness! What a testimony as to the need of strength from God to the very last. T17 135.7

In the battle with inward corruptions and outward temptations, even the wise and powerful Solomon was vanquished. It is not safe to permit the least departure from the strictest integrity. “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” T17 136.1

When a woman relates her family troubles, or complains of her husband, to another man, she violates her marriage vows, she dishonors her husband, and breaks down the wall erected to preserve the sanctity of the marriage relation; she throws wide open the door, and invites Satan to enter with his insidious temptations. This is just as Satan would have it. T17 136.2

If a woman comes to a Christian brother with a tale of her woes, her disappointments, and trials, he should ever advise her, if she must confide her troubles to someone, to select sisters for her confidents, and then there will be no appearance of evil, whereby the cause of God may suffer reproach. T17 137.1

Remember Solomon. Among many nations there was no king like him, beloved of his God. He fell. He was led from God and became corrupt through the indulgence of lustful passions. This is the prevailing sin of this age, and its progress is fearful. Professed Sabbath-keepers are not clean. There are those who profess to believe the truth who are corrupt at heart. God will prove them, and their folly and sin shall be made manifest. None but the pure and lowly can dwell in his presence. “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.” “Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor. In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoreth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not. He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.” T17 137.2

E. G. W.