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Testimonies for the Church Volume 3
Lord has ordained that the work in His vineyard should be sustained
by the means entrusted to the hands of His stewards. A neglect on
their part to answer the calls of the cause of God in carrying forward
His work shows them to be unfaithful and slothful servants.
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I had been shown some things in reference to the cause in Vermont,
but more especially at Bordoville and vicinity. The following is from
Testimony for the church, vol.2, No. 20, page 651
:
“There is a work to be accomplished for many who live at Bor-
doville. I saw that the enemy was busily at work to carry his points.
Men to whom God has entrusted talents of means have shifted upon
their children the responsibility which Heaven has appointed them of
being stewards for God. Instead of rendering to God the things that are
His, they claim that all they have is their own, as though by their own
might and power and wisdom they had obtained their possessions.”
“Some place their means beyond their control by putting it into the
hands of their children. Their secret motive is to place themselves in a
position where they will not feel responsible to give of their property
to spread the truth. These love in word, but not in deed and in truth.
They do not realize that it is the Lord’s money they are handling, not
their own.”
“Parents should have great fear in entrusting children with the
talents of means that God has placed in their hands, unless they have
the surest evidence that their children have greater interest in, love for,
and devotion to, the cause of God than they themselves possess, and
that these children will be more earnest and zealous in forwarding the
work of God, and more benevolent in carrying forward the various
enterprises connected with it which call for means. But many place
their means in the hands of their children, thus throwing upon them the
responsibility of their own stewardship, because Satan prompts them
to do it. In so doing they effectually place that means in the enemy’s
ranks. Satan works the matter to suit his own purpose and keeps from
the cause of God the means which it needs, that it may be abundantly
sustained.”
“Many who have made a high profession of faith are deficient
in good works. If they should show their faith by their works they
could exert a powerful influence on the side of truth. But they do
not improve upon the talents of means lent them of God. Those
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who think to ease their consciences by willing their property to their