DEACON SMITH--A question was proposed to this class, the last Sabbath
Brother Dole taught us, and it was requested that the class consider
and report the result of their investigations at a future session.
May I now bring it up? The question was this:
"Have we any reason to expect that a Christian farmer, _as a
Christian_, will be any more successful in his farming operations,
than an impenitent sinner--and if _not_, how is it that godliness is
profitable unto all things? Or, in other words, does the _motive_
with which one prosecutes his secular business, other things being
equal, make any difference in the _pecuniary_ results?"
Mrs. Dixon gave it as her opinion, at the time, that the motive _did_
affect the pecuniary results.
Now the _practical_ result to which this conclusion leads, is such as
will justify us in our judging of Mrs. Dixon's true _moral_
character, next fall, by her _success_ in her farming operations this
summer.
My opinion differs from hers on this point; and my _reasons_ are here
given in writing since I deem it necessary for _me_, under the
existing state of feeling toward me, to put into a written form _all_
I have to say, in the class, to prevent misrepresentation.
Should I be appropriating an unreasonable share of time, as a pupil,
Mr. Smith, to occupy four minutes of your time in reading them? I
should like very much to read them, that the class may pass their
honest criticisms upon them.