68
Pastoral Ministry
the best relation to health and life should be devoted unreservedly to
the work which God has assigned us. We cannot afford to use the
[66]
few enfeebled, crippled energies which we possess to serve tables
or to mingle merchandise with the work God has committed to us.
Every faculty of mind and body is now needed. The work of God
requires this, and no separate business can be engaged in aside from
this great work without taking time and strength of mind and body,
and thus lessening the vigor and force of our labor in the cause of God.
Ministers who do this will not have all that time for meditation and
prayer, and all that strength and clearness of mind that they should have
to understand the cases of those who need help, and to be prepared
to “be instant in season, out of season.” A word fitly spoken at the
right time may save some poor, erring, doubting, fainting soul. Paul
exhorted Timothy: “Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly
to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.”—
Testimonies for the
Church 1:470
.
Ministers should not gain wealth by speculation—I cannot lend
my influence in any way to prompt you or any of my brethren to gain
wealth by speculation and extortion; you are not to be united with
those who certainly do this. The men of solid worth are most apt to be
found with those who possess little of this world’s goods, and what
they do possess they have gained by diligence, honesty, and economy,
and not by speculation. Those who are suitably remunerated for their
labors ought not, if they practice economy, to be in rags, or on the
verge of pauperism, or overwhelmed in debt.—
Testimonies on the
Case of Elder E. P. Daniels, 36
(Ph 96).
Do not influence members to engage in business speculation—
I have been shown of God the sinfulness of the course you have
been pursuing. You have engaged in mining and real-estate business,
and while an acknowledged minister of the gospel, you have worked
upon the minds of your brethren, and have influenced them to invest
their means in real estate and in mining shares. You told them the
investment would bring large returns; that they would more than treble
their money, and could help the cause so much more. You represented
that this was a golden opportunity which you did not want them to
lose, and urged them to avail themselves of the advantages that God
had placed right within their reach. With your powers of exaggeration
you represented the matter in such a light that many were deceived,