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Testimonies for the Church Volume 7
But the work of God in its wide extent is one, and the same prin-
ciples should control in all its branches. It must bear the stamp of
missionary work. Every department of the cause is related to all parts
of the gospel field, and the spirit that controls one department will be
felt throughout the entire field. If a portion of the workers receive large
wages, there are others, in different branches of the work, who also
will call for high wages, and the spirit of self-sacrifice will become
feeble. Other institutions will catch the same spirit, and the Lord’s
favor will be removed from them; for He can never sanction selfish-
ness. Thus our aggressive work would come to an end. It is impossible
to carry it forward except by constant sacrifice. From all parts of the
world the calls are coming in for men and means to carry forward the
work. Shall we be compelled to say: “You must wait; we have no
money in the treasury”?
Some of the men of experience and piety, who led out in this work,
who denied self and did not hesitate to sacrifice for its success, are
now sleeping in the grave. They were God’s appointed channels, His
representative men, through whom the principles of spiritual life were
communicated to the church. They had an experience of the highest
value. They could not be bought or sold. Their purity and devotion
and self-sacrifice, their living connection with God, were blessed to
the upbuilding of the work. Our institutions were characterized by the
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spirit of self-sacrifice.
In the days when we were struggling with poverty, those who saw
how wondrously God wrought for the cause felt that no greater honor
could be bestowed upon them than to be bound up with the interests
of the work by sacred links which connected them with God. Would
they lay down the burden and make terms with the Lord from a money
point of view? No, no. Should every timeserver forsake his post, they
would never desert the work.
The believers who in the early history of the cause sacrificed for
the upbuilding of the work were imbued with the same spirit. They felt
that God demanded of all connected with His cause an unreserved con-
secration of body, soul, and spirit, of all their energies and capabilities,
to make the work a success.
But in some respects the work has deteriorated. While it has grown
in extent and facilities, it has waned in piety.