Chapter 27—Facing the Judgment Day
God does not compel anyone to love Him and obey His law. He
has manifested unutterable love toward man in the plan of redemption.
He has poured out the treasures of His wisdom, and has given the most
precious gift of heaven that we might be constrained to love Him, and
come into harmony with His will. If we refuse such love, and will not
have Him to rule over us, we are working our own ruin, and we shall
sustain an eternal loss at last.
God desires the willing service of our hearts. He has endowed us
with reasoning faculties, with talents of ability, and with means and
influence, to be exercised for the good of mankind, that we may mani-
fest His spirit before the world. Precious opportunities and privileges
are placed within our reach, and if we neglect them, we rob others, we
defraud our own souls, and dishonor our Maker. We shall not want to
meet these slighted opportunities and neglected privileges in the day
of judgment. Our eternal interests for the future depend on the present
diligent performance of duty in improving the talents that God has
given into our trust for the salvation of souls....
Position and influence, be they ever so exalted, should not be made
an excuse for misappropriating the Lord’s goods. The special favors
of God should stimulate us to render wholehearted and affectionate
service to Him; but many who are thus blessed forget the Giver, and
become reckless, defiant, and profligate. They dishonor the God of
heaven, and wield an influence that curses and destroys their associates.
They do not seek to lessen the sufferings of the needy. They do not
[128]
build up the work of God. They do not seek to redress the wrongs
of the innocent, to plead the cause of the widow and the orphan, or
to reveal a lofty pattern of character before high and low, showing
a spirit of beneficence and virtue. But on the contrary, they oppress
the hireling; they keep back by fraud the just recompense for labor,
cheat the innocent, rob the widow, and heap up treasure corroded with
the blood of souls. They will have to render an account at the bar of
God. This class are not doing the will of the Father in heaven, and
112