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Testimonies for the Church Volume 3
selves and to take a course to gather attention to yourselves, without
considering the convenience or inconvenience of others. You are in
danger of making yourselves a center. You have received the attention
and consideration of others when, for the good of your own souls
as well as for the benefit of others, you should have devoted more
attention to those you visited. Such a course would have given you far
greater influence, and you would have been blessed in winning more
souls to the truth.
Brother A, you have ability to present the truth to others. You have
an investigative mind; but there are serious defects in your character,
which I have mentioned and which must be overcome. You neglect
many of the little courtesies of life because you think so much of
yourself that you do not realize that these little attentions are required
of you. God would not have you burden others while you neglect
to see and do the things that someone must do. It does not detract
from the dignity of a gospel minister to bring in wood and water when
needed or to exercise by doing necessary work in the family where he
is entertained. In not seeing these little important duties and improving
the opportunity to do them, he deprives himself of real blessings and
also deprives others of the good that it is their privilege to receive from
him.
Some of our ministers do not have an amount of physical exercise
proportionate to the taxation of the mind. As the result they are
suffering from debility. There is no good reason why the health of
ministers who have to perform only the ordinary duties devolving upon
the minister should fail. Their minds are not constantly burdened with
perplexing cares and heavy responsibilities in regard to the important
institutions among us. I saw that there is no real reason why they
should fail in this important period of the cause and work if they will
pay due regard to the light that God has given them in regard to how to
labor and how to exercise, and will give proper attention to their diet.
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Some of our ministers eat very heartily and then do not exercise
sufficiently to work off the waste matter which accumulates in the
system. They will eat and then spend most of their time sitting down,
reading, studying, or writing, when a share of their time should be
devoted to systematic physical labor. Our preachers will certainly
break down in health unless they are more careful not to overload the
stomach by too great a quantity of even healthful food. I saw that you,