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Testimonies for the Church Volume 3
throws too great a tax upon them, and the result is a failure to accom-
plish the greatest amount of good. The principal wear comes upon one
set of organs, while the others lie dormant. The mind cannot thus be
healthfully exercised, and, in consequence, life is shortened.
All the faculties should bear a part of the labor, working harmo-
niously, balancing one another. Those who put the whole strength of
their mind into one subject are greatly deficient on other points, for
the reason that the faculties are not equally cultivated. The subject
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before them enchains their attention, and they are led on and on, and
go deeper and deeper into the matter. They see knowledge and light as
they become interested and absorbed. But there are very few minds
that can follow them unless they have given the subject the same depth
of thought. There is danger of such men plowing, and planting the
seed of truth so deep that the tender, precious blade will never find the
surface.
Much hard labor is often expended that is not called for and that
will never be appreciated. If those who have large concentrativeness
cultivate this faculty to the neglect of others, they cannot have well-
proportioned minds. They are like machinery in which only one set of
wheels works at a time. While some wheels are rusting from inaction,
others are wearing from constant use. Men who cultivate one or two
faculties, and do not exercise all equally, cannot accomplish one half
the good in the world that God designed they should. They are one-
sided men; only half of the power that God has given them is put to
use, while the other half is rusting with inaction.
If this class of minds have a special work, requiring thought, they
should not exercise all their powers upon that one thing, to the ex-
clusion of every other interest. While they make the subject before
them their principal business, other branches of the work should have a
portion of their time. This would be much better for themselves and for
the cause generally. One branch of the work should not have exclusive
attention to the neglect of all others. In their writings some need to be
constantly guarded, that they do not make points blind that are plain,
by covering them up with many arguments which will not be of lively
interest to the reader. If they linger tediously upon points, giving every
particular which suggests itself to the mind, their labor is nearly lost.
The interest of the reader will not be deep enough to pursue the subject
to its close. The most essential points of truth may be made indistinct