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Testimonies for the Church Volume 3
as it otherwise would be. And he is liable to be assailed by the enemy;
for he is in a position where there is a constant pressure, and men
and women will be tempted, as were the Israelites, to complain and
murmur against him who stands in the most responsible position in
the cause and work of God.
While standing under these burdens that no one else would venture
to take, my husband has sometimes, under the pressure of care, spoken
without due consideration and with apparent severity. He has some-
times censured those in the office because they did not take care. And
when needless mistakes have occurred, he has felt that indignation for
the cause of God was justifiable in him. This course has not always
been attended with the best results. It has sometimes resulted in a
neglect on the part of those reproved to do the very things they should
have done; for they feared they would not do them right; and would
then be blamed for it. Just as far as this has been the case, the burden
has fallen heavier upon my husband.
The better way would have been for him to be away from the office
more than he has been, and leave the work with others to do. And if,
after patient and fair trial, they proved themselves unfaithful, or not
capacitated for the work, they should have been discharged, and left
to engage in business where their blunders and mistakes would affect
their own personal interests and not the cause of God.
There were those who stood at the head of the business of the
Publishing Association who were, to say the very least, unfaithful. And
had those in particular who were associated with them as trustees been
aware and their eyes not blinded and their sensibilities not paralyzed,
these men would have been separated from the work long before they
were.
When my husband recovered from his long and severe sickness,
he took hold of the work confused and embarrassed as it was left by
unfaithful men. He labored with all the resolution and strength of
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mind and body that he possessed to bring the work up and to redeem
it from the disgraceful perplexity into which it had been brought by
those who had their own interests prominent and who did not feel that
it was a sacred work in which they were engaged. God’s hand has
been reached out in judgment over these unfaithful ones. Their course
and the result should prove a warning to others not to do as they have
done.