The minister’s wife who is not devoted to God is no help to her husband. While he dwells upon the necessity of bearing the cross and urges the importance of self-denial, the daily example of his wife often contradicts his preaching and destroys its force. In this way she becomes a great hindrance and often leads her husband away from his duty and from God. She does not realize what a sin she is committing. Instead of seeking to be useful, seeking with true love for souls to help such as need help, she shrinks from the task and prefers a useless life. She is not constrained by the power of Christ’s love and by unselfish, holy principles. She does not choose to do the will of God, to be a co-worker with her husband, with angels, and with God. When the wife of the minister accompanies her husband in his mission to save souls, it is a great sin for her to hinder him in his work by manifesting unhappy discontent. Yet instead of entering heartily into his labors, seeking every opportunity to unite her interest and labor with his, she often studies how she can make it more easy or pleasant for herself. If things around them are not as agreeable as she could wish (as they will not always be), she should not indulge homesick feelings, or by lack of cheerfulness and by spoken complaints harass the husband and make his task harder, and perhaps by her discontent draw him from the place where he could do good. She should not divert the interest of her husband from laboring for the salvation of souls, to sympathize with her ailments and gratify her whimsical, discontented feelings. If she would forget herself and labor to help others, talk and pray with poor souls, and act as if their salvation was of higher importance than any other consideration, she would have no time to be homesick. She would feel from day to day a sweet satisfaction as a reward for her unselfish labor; I cannot call it sacrifice, for some of our ministers’ wives do not know what it is to sacrifice or suffer for the truth’s sake. {1T 450.1}

Den prædikantfrue, som ikke er helliget til Gud, er ikke nogen hjælp for sin mand. Selv om han dvæler ved nødvendigheden i at bære korset og fremhæver betydningen for selvfornægtelse, strider hans hustrus eksempel ofte imod hans forkyndelse og ødelægger dets kraft. På den måde bliver hun en stor hindring og leder ofte sin mand væk fra hans pligt og fra Gud. Hun erkender ikke hvilken synd hun begår. I stedet for at forsøge at være nyttig, forsøge med sand kærlighed at hjælpe de sjæle, der behøver det, unddrager hun sig opgaven og foretrækker et unyttigt liv. Hun er ikke tvunget af kraften fra Kristi kærlighed og kraften af uselviske, hellige principper. Hun vælger ikke at gøre Guds vilje og være en samarbejdspartner med sin mand, med engle og med Gud. Når en prædikanthustru ledsager sin mand i hans mission for at frelse sjæle, er det en stor synd for hende at hindre ham i sit arbejde, ved at vise ulykkelig utilfredshed. I stedet for at gå hjerteligt ind i hans arbejde og søge efter enhver anledning til at samle hendes interesse og arbejde med ham, har hun ofte undersøgt hvordan hun kan gøre det lettere og behageligere for sig selv. Hvis forholdene omkring dem ikke er så behagelige som hun kunne ønske (som de ikke altid vil være), skal hun ikke give efter for hjemve, eller ved mangel på munterhed eller ved at komme med beklagelser pine manden og gøre hans opgave sværere og måske drages af hendes utilfredshed fra det sted hvor han kunne gøre godt. Hun bør ikke bortlede sin mands interesse fra det sjælevindende arbejde, for at føle med hendes lidelser og tilfredsstille hendes lunefulde og (451) usammenhængende følelser. Hvis hun ville glemme sig selv og arbejde på at hjælpe andre, tale og bede med stakkels sjæle og handle som om deres frelse var at højere vigtighed end noget andet, ville hun ikke have tid til hjemve. Hun ville føle en liflig helligelse fra dag til dag, som løn for hendes uselviske arbejde; jeg kan ikke kalde for opofrelse, for nogle af vore prædikanthustruer ved ikke hvad det vil sige at opofre sig eller lide for sandhedens sag.