Chapter 80—Unconsecrated Ministers
Ministers who preach the third message should labor because they
feel that God has laid upon them the burden of the work. Our ministers
are placed above want, if they exercise any degree of economy. If they
lack, they will be in want in any position in which they may be placed.
Give them the most favorable chance and they would spend all they
receive. This has been the case with Elder Hull. Such need an almost
inexhaustible fund to draw from in order to be satisfied.
Those who fail to manage wisely in temporal matters, generally
lack in spiritual things. They fail to build up the church. They may
possess natural talents and be called smart speakers, and yet lack moral
worth. They may draw large congregations and raise considerable
excitement; but when the fruit is sought for, there is very little, if any,
to be found. Such men frequently get above the work and lose their
love for the simplicity of the gospel. They are not sanctified through
the truths they preach. This has been the case with Elder Hull. He has
lacked that grace which establishes the soul and elevates and ennobles
the character of the man. It is a good thing that the heart be established
with grace. This is the ground of our steadfastness.
In places where Elder Hull has given a course of lectures, the
people have been pleased with his witticisms and his peculiar style
of preaching, yet but few have embraced the truth as the result of his
labors; and even of these quite a proportion soon renounce the faith.
Many have been disappointed that there was so little fruit to be found
after his labor. I was shown the reason. Humility, simplicity, purity,
and holiness of life were lacking. He has thought that his smart labor
was invaluable, and that the cause would hardly exist if he should be
disconnected from it; but if he could have known the anxiety which the
real laborers in the cause, who have tried to help him, have suffered
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on his account, he would not have had so high an estimate of his own
labors. His course has been a continual burden to the cause, and it
would have prospered better without his influence. The anxiety of his
brethren to save him from falling has led them to do too much for him
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