256
Testimonies for the Church Volume 6
understood, if they are received, a work will be done for those who are
hungering and thirsting for righteousness, a work that means to the
church: “Go forward and upward.”
Results of Neglect
Wherever a church is established, all the members should en-
gage actively in missionary work. They should visit every family
in the neighborhood and know their spiritual condition. If professed
Christians had engaged in this work from the time when their names
were first placed on the church books, there would not now be such
widespread unbelief, such depths of iniquity, such unparalleled wicked-
ness, as is seen in the world at the present time. If every church member
had sought to enlighten others, thousands upon thousands would today
stand with God’s commandment-keeping people.
And not only in the world do we see the result of the church’s
[297]
neglect to work in Christ’s lines. By this neglect a condition of things
has been brought into the church that has eclipsed the high and holy
interests of the work of God. A spirit of criticism and bitterness has
come into the church, and the spiritual discernment of many has been
dimmed. Because of this the cause of Christ has suffered great loss.
Heavenly intelligences have been waiting to co-operate with human
agencies, but we have not discerned their presence.
Need of Repentance
It is now high time that we repent. All the people of God should
interest themselves in the work of doing good. They should unite heart
and soul in earnest endeavor to uplift and enlighten their fellow men.
They should put on the wedding garment that Christ has provided, that
they may be prepared to work in His lines. They should not receive
the grace of God in vain. With humble, devoted reverence they should
labor on the right hand and on the left, consecrating to God their entire
service and all their capabilities.
There must be an awakening among the people of God. The entire
church is to be tested. The worldly-wise man, who meditates and
plans, and whose business is ever in his mind, should seek to become
wise in matters of eternal interest. If he would put forth as much