Our Duty to Preserve Health
I am pained at heart as I see so many feeble ministers, so many on
beds of sickness, so many prematurely closing their earthly history,—
men who have carried the burden of responsibility in the work of God,
and whose whole heart was in their work. The conviction that they
must cease their labor in the cause they loved, was far more painful to
them than their sufferings from disease, or even the thought of death
itself.
Our heavenly Father does not willingly afflict or grieve the children
of men. He is not the author of sickness and death; He is the source of
life. He would have men live; and He desires them to be obedient to
the laws of life and health, that they may live.
Those who accept the present truth and are sanctified through it,
have an intense desire to represent the truth in their life and charac-
ter. They have a deep yearning of soul that others may see the light
and rejoice in it. As the true watchman goes forth bearing precious
seed, sowing beside all waters, weeping and praying, the burden of
labor is very taxing to mind and heart. He cannot keep up the strain
continuously, his soul stirred to the very depths, without wearing out
prematurely. Strength and efficiency are needed in every discourse.
And from time to time, fresh supplies of things new and old need to
be brought forth from the storehouse of God’s word. This will impart
life and power to the hearers. God does not want you to become so
exhausted that your efforts have no freshness or life.
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Those who are engaged in constant mental labor, whether in study-
ing or preaching, need rest and change. The earnest student is con-
stantly taxing the brain, too often while neglecting physical exercise;
and as the result the bodily powers are enfeebled, and mental effort is
restricted. Thus the student fails of accomplishing the very work that
he might have done, had he labored wisely.
If they worked intelligently, giving both mind and body a due share
of exercise, ministers would not so readily succumb to disease. If all
our workers were so situated that they could spend a few hours each
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