should not hastily credit evil reports. These are often the result of envy
or misunderstanding, or they may proceed from exaggeration or a partial
disclosure of facts. Jealousy and suspicion, once allowed a place, will sow
themselves broadcast, like thistledown. Should a brother go astray, then
is the time to show your real interest in him. Go to him kindly, pray with
and for him, remembering the infinite price which Christ has paid for his
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redemption. In this way you may save a soul from death, and hide a
multitude of sins.
A glance, a word, even an intonation of the voice, may be vital
with falsehood, sinking like a barbed arrow into some heart, inflicting
an incurable wound. Thus a doubt, a reproach, may be cast upon one by
whom God would accomplish a good work, and his influence is 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
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and influence of the world, from its customs, its follies, and its idolatry.
The college 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
both sexes to become workers in the various branches of the cause. These
students needed a knowledge of the common branches of education and,
above all else, of the word of God. Here our school has been deficient.
There has not been a man devoted to God to give himself to this branch of
the work. Young men moved upon by the Spirit of God to give themselves
to the ministry have come to the college for this purpose and have been
disappointed. Adequate preparation for this class has not been made, and
some of the teachers, knowing this, have advised the youth to take other
studies and fit themselves for other pursuits. If these youth were not firm
in their purpose, they were induced to give up all idea of studying for the
ministry.
Such is the result of the influence exerted by unsanctified teachers,
who labor merely for wages, who are not imbued with the Spirit of God
and have no union with Christ. No one has been more active in this work
than Brother—–The Bible should be one of the principal subjects of study.
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This book, which tells us how to spend the present life, that we may
secure the future, immortal life, is of more value to students than any
other. We have but a brief period in which to become acquainted with its
truths. But the one who had made God’s word a study, and who could
more than any other teacher have helped the young to gain a knowledge
of the Scriptures, has been separated from the school.
Professors and teachers have not understood the design of the college.
We have put in means and thought and labor to make it what God would
have it. The will and judgment of those who are almost wholly ignorant of
the way in which God has led us as a people, should not have a controlling
influence in that college. The Lord has repeatedly shown that we should
not pattern after the popular schools. Ministers of other denominations
spend years in obtaining an education. Our young men must obtain theirs
in a short time. Where there is now one minister, there should be twenty
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whom our college had prepared with God’s help to enter the gospel field.
Many of our younger ministers, and some of more mature experience,