Important Testimony
53
blighted, his usefulness destroyed. Among some species of animals,
if one of their number is wounded and falls, he is at once set upon
and torn in pieces by his fellows. The same cruel spirit is indulged by
men and women who bear the name of Christians. They manifest a
pharisaical zeal to stone others less guilty than themselves. There are
some who point to others’ faults and failures to divert attention from
their own, or to gain credit for great zeal for God and the church.
A few weeks since I was in a dream brought into one of your
meetings for investigation. I heard the testimonies borne by students
against Brother-----. Those very students had received great benefit
from his thorough, faithful instruction. Once they could hardly say
enough in his praise. Then it was popular to esteem him. But now the
current was setting the other way. These persons have developed their
true character. I saw an angel with a ponderous book open in which
he wrote every testimony given. Opposite each testimony were traced
the sins, defects, and errors of the one who bore it. Then there was
recorded the great benefit which these individuals had received from
Brother-----’s labors.
We, as a people, are reaping the fruit of Brother-----’s hard labor.
There is not a man among us who has devoted more time and thought
to his work than has Brother-----. He has felt that he had no one to
sustain him, and has felt grateful for any encouragement.
One of the great objects to be secured in the establishment of the
college was the separation of our youth from the spirit and influence
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of the world, from its customs, its follies, and its idolatry. The col-
lege was to build a barrier against the immorality of the present age,
which makes the world as corrupt as in the days of Noah. The young
are bewitched with the mania for courtship and marriage. Lovesick
sentimentalism prevails. Great vigilance and tact are needed to guard
the youth from these wrong influences. Many parents are blind to the
tendencies of their children. Some parents have stated to me, with
great satisfaction, that their sons or daughters had no desire for the
attentions of the opposite sex, when in fact these children were at
the same time secretly giving or receiving such attentions, and the
parents were so much absorbed in worldliness and gossip that they
knew nothing about the matter.
The primary object of our college was to afford young men an
opportunity to study for the ministry and to prepare young persons of