Jealousy and Faultfinding
303
have been embarrassed temporally as well as spiritually, and nearly
ruined by this deception of Satan. Brother G, you have run to great
lengths in this sad fanaticism; your body has been affected as well as
your mind, and you now seek to charge it all upon others. You have
not a true sense of your position and course in the past. You are free
to confess that which others have done, and that which you did not do;
but you have failed to confess that which you did do.
Your influence in-----has been injurious. You were opposed to
organization, and preached against it in an indefinite manner, not so
boldly as some might have done, but you went just as far as you dared
to go. In this way you have many times gratified your envious feelings,
and created distrust and uncertainty in the minds of many, when if
you had come out openly, you would have been plainly understood
and could have done but little mischief. When charged with advo-
cating sentiments contrary to the faith of the body, you would not
acknowledge it, but mystified your position, and made it appear that
the brethren misunderstood you, when you know that the charge was
correct. As you now are, the church cannot depend on you. When
you manifest the fruits of an entire reform, and give evidence that you
are converted, and have overcome your jealousy, then God will again
trust His flock to your care. But until you make thorough restitution,
you will exert the best influence by staying at home, and being “not
slothful in business.”
By your noncommittal position, and by your course in this fanati-
[318]
cism you have done more injury to the cause of God in Wisconsin
than you have done good in all your life. Our faith has been made
disgusting to unbelievers; a wound, an incurable wound, has been
given to the cause of God, and yet many, with yourself, seem aston-
ished that so much is said and made of this fanaticism. One evil seed
sown takes root, grows rank, and bears fruit, and there is an abundant
harvest. Evil flourishes and needs no culture while the good seed sown
needs to be watered, carefully tended, and continually nourished, or
the precious plants will die. Satan, evil angels, and wicked men are
trying to root up and destroy the good, and it requires the greatest
vigilance, and the most constant care, to have it live and flourish. An
evil seed sown cannot be easily rooted out. It spreads, and springs up
in every direction, to crush out the precious seed; and if left alone it