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Testimonies for the Church Volume 3
who are earnest to gratify their own wills and are persevering in their
efforts to accomplish their own selfish purposes. Such men will not
fill the demands for this time. We need men in these last days who
are ever awake. Minutemen are wanted who are sincere in their love
for the truth and willing to labor at a sacrifice if they can advance the
cause of God and save precious souls. Men are wanted in this work
who will not murmur or complain at hardships or trials, knowing that
this is a part of the legacy that Jesus has left them. They should be
willing to go without the camp and suffer reproach and bear burdens
as good soldiers of Christ. They will bear the cross of Christ without
complaint, without murmuring or fretfulness, and will be patient in
tribulation.
The solemn, testing truth for these last days is committed to us,
and we should make it a reality. Brother A, you should avoid making
yourself a criterion. Avoid, I entreat you, appealing to your own
sympathies. All that we can suffer, and all that we may ever be called
to suffer, for the truth’s sake will seem too small to be compared with
what our Saviour endured for us sinners. You need not expect always
to be correctly judged or correctly represented. Christ says that in the
world we shall have tribulation, but in Him we shall have peace.
You have cultivated a combative spirit. When your track is crossed,
you immediately throw yourself into a defensive position; and, al-
though you may be among your brethren who love the truth and have
given their lives to the cause of God, you will justify yourself, while
you criticize them and become jealous of their words and suspicious
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of their motives, and thus lose great blessings that it is your privilege
to gain through the experience of your brethren.
Discussions to be Avoided
You have loved to debate the truth and loved discussions; but these
contests have been unfavorable to your forming a harmonious Christian
character, for in this is a favorable opportunity for the exhibition of
the very traits of character that you must overcome if you ever enter
heaven. Discussions cannot always be avoided. In some cases the
circumstances are such that of the two evils the choice must be made
of the least, which is discussion. But whenever they can be avoided,
they should be, for the result is seldom honoring to God.