Exalted Conversation
371
A Vigorous Process of Sanctification
When Christ and heaven are the themes of contemplation, the con-
versation will give evidence of the fact. The speech will be seasoned
with grace, and the speaker will show that he has been obtaining an ed-
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ucation in the school of the divine Teacher. Says the psalmist, “I have
chosen the way of truth: Thy judgments have I laid before me,” He
treasured the word of God. It found an entrance to his understanding,
not to be disregarded, but to be practiced in his life....
Day by day, and hour by hour, there must be a vigorous process
of self-denial and of sanctification going on within; and then the
outward works will testify that Jesus is abiding in the heart by faith.
Sanctification does not close the avenues of the soul to knowledge, but
it comes to expand the mind, and to inspire it to search for truth, as for
hidden treasure; and the knowledge of God’s will advances the work
of sanctification. There is a heaven, and O, how earnestly we should
strive to reach it.
I appeal to the students of our schools and colleges, to believe in
Jesus as your Saviour. Believe that He is ready to help you by His
grace, when you come to Him in sincerity. You must fight the good
fight of faith. You must be wrestlers for the crown of life. Strive, for
the grasp of Satan is upon you; and if you do not wrench yourselves
from Him, you will be palsied and ruined. The foe is on the right hand
and on the left, before you and behind you; and you must trample him
under your feet. Strive, for there is a crown to be won. Strive, for if you
win not the crown, you lose everything in this life and in the future life.
Strive, but let it be in the strength of your risen Saviour.—
The Review
and Herald, August 21, 1888
. See also
Fundamentals of Christian
Education, 129-137
.
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