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God. However favorable the educational advantage may be, something
besides the knowledge of books is necessary to save the soul and lead
others to repentance. Devoting a period of years to the acquisition of
scientific knowledge alone is not preparing to be an efficient laborer in
the service of God.
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Young men should devote much time to study; but they should also
unite physical labor with their mental efforts, and put in practice the
knowledge they have gained, that by useful exercise all the faculties
of the mind and powers of the body may be equally developed. They
should not neglect the things necessary to salvation, nor consider them
secondary to anything in this life.
Dear brother and sister, God loves your family, and desires to
shower His special blessings upon you, that you may become instru-
ments of righteousness in leading others toward heaven. If entirely
consecrated to God, Brother K could do a great amount of good in a
community where his advice and influence would be better received
and appreciated. We have strong hopes that both of you will correct
that which is wrong in your lives, and renew your faith and obedience
to God, receiving new strength from Him who has promised to help
those who call upon His name.
Young Brother L, you have made a mistake in your life. In closely
pursuing your studies you have neglected the development of all your
faculties. The moral growth should never be dwarfed in the effort to
acquire an education, but should be cultivated in a far higher degree
than is usually deemed necessary. My dear young brother, you have
been ambitious to secure knowledge. This ambition is praiseworthy;
but in order to gratify it, you have neglected your eternal interests and
made them secondary to your studies. God and heaven have occupied
a subordinate position in your affections. The claims of God’s holy
law have not been sacredly observed in your daily life. You have
desecrated the Sabbath by bringing your studies into that holy time
which was not yours to occupy for your own purposes. God has said:
“In it thou shalt not do any work.”
“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy
pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of
the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways,
nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then
shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon
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