Chapter 35—An Appeal to Youth
Dear young friends, that which you sow, you will also reap. Now
is the sowing time for you. What will the harvest be? What are you
sowing? Every word you utter, every act you perform, is a seed which
will bear good or evil fruit and will result in joy or sorrow to the sower.
As is the seed sown, so will be the crop. God has given you great light
and many privileges. After this light has been given, after your dangers
have been plainly presented before you, the responsibility becomes
yours. The manner in which you treat the light that God gives you will
turn the scale for happiness or woe. You are shaping your destinies for
yourselves.
You all have an influence for good or for evil on the minds and
characters of others. And just the influence which you exert is written
in the book of records in heaven. An angel is attending you and taking
record of your words and actions. When you rise in the morning, do
you feel your helplessness and your need of strength from God? and
do you humbly, heartily make known your wants to your heavenly
Father? If so, angels mark your prayers, and if these prayers have not
gone forth out of feigned lips, when you are in danger of unconsciously
doing wrong and exerting an influence which will lead others to do
wrong, your guardian angel will be by your side, prompting you to
a better course, choosing your words for you, and influencing your
actions.
If you feel in no danger, and if you offer no prayer for help and
strength to resist temptations, you will be sure to go astray; your
neglect of duty will be marked in the book of God in heaven, and you
will be found wanting in the trying day.
There are some around you who have been religiously instructed,
and some who have been indulged, petted, flattered, and praised until
they have been literally spoiled for practical life. I am speaking in
regard to persons that I know. Their characters are so warped by
indulgence, flattery, and indolence that they are useless for this life.
And if useless so far as this life is concerned, what may we hope for
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