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Daughters of God
For years testimonies have followed you upon the subject of econ-
omy and the wise expenditure of means, but neither you nor your wife
has made decided changes in your practices. You love display; you
love indulgence of appetite; you love to gratify your taste. The same
traits of character shown in yourself are reproduced in your children,
and you will reap that which you have sown. There never can be
sufficient means granted you for your labors to sustain you in your
indulgence in extravagant, spendthrift habits. Why do you not learn
from those brethren who comfortably support themselves and their
families on less money than you receive for your labors? The reason
that you are in embarrassed circumstances is not because your wages
are not enough to support you as a Christian, but [because] you do not
manage your means in such a way as to keep you from embarrassment.
If you had twenty dollars a week, you would still complain of financial
pressure.
In Healdsburg the Lord wrought through you, not because you
were perfect, but in spite of your imperfections. Self was mingled
with your work. When you realized that the spirit and power of God
were working with the people, if you had humbled yourself, if you
had walked carefully and tenderly before God, feeling your unwor-
thiness and His goodness, the influence you left in Healdsburg would
have been far better than it now is. You charge all your financial
embarrassment to circumstances.
You can talk well in regard to parents training their children. Your
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wife, whom I love and respect in the Lord, would make an excellent
lecturer upon this subject. But your practice contradicts the excellent
principles that you have presented. She does not practice her own
teachings. When your customs are seen and your home life practices
revealed, the people become confused and disgusted. You do not train
your children for usefulness, to practice self-denial, and to keep the
way of the Lord. Why are you so irresolute in purpose, so feeble in
action, so vacillating in principle, so weak in faith?
These things are a mystery to those who have an opportunity to
become acquainted with you in the pulpit and at home. Elder Daniels,
they see you one day strong and self-assured; next day they see in
you a complete change. You affirm strongly things exactly opposite to
what you affirmed as strongly the day before....