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Testimonies for the Church Volume 2
portion of meat in due season?” Wisdom is needed to discern the
most appropriate subject for the occasion.
Brother D has not been growing up into a successful workman.
He has become dwarfed. His mind has been narrowed down, and his
spiritual strength has been waning. He should now be a successful
laborer, a thorough workman. Instead of giving himself wholly to
the work, he has been serving tables. Paul exhorted Timothy: “Be
thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity,
in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attendance to reading,
to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which
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was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the
presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them;
that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto
the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save
thyself, and them that hear thee.”
Brother D is active and willing to do, willing to bear burdens
that are not connected with his calling; and he has had his mind
and time too much engrossed in temporal things. Some ministers
maintain a certain dignity not in accordance with the life of Christ,
and are unwilling to make themselves useful by engaging in physical
labor, as occasion may require, to lighten the burdens of those whose
hospitalities they share, and to relieve them of care. Physical exercise
would prove a blessing to them, rather than an injury. In helping
others they would advantage themselves. But some go to the other
extreme. When their time and strength are all required in the work
and cause of God, they are willing to engage in labor and become
servants of all, even in temporal things; and they really rob God of
the service He requires of them. Thus trivial matters take up precious
time which should be devoted to the interests of God’s cause.
Brother J. N. Andrews has erred here. The time and strength
which he has devoted to correspondence with his brethren, answer-
ing their private letters of inquiry, should have been given to the
special interests of the work of God at large. But few realize the re-
sponsibilities resting upon the few ministers who bear the burdens in
this cause. The brethren frequently call these men from the work to
attend to their little matters, or to settle some church trial, which they
can and should attend to themselves. “If any of you lack wisdom, let
him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not;