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Selected Messages Book 1
Another year has now passed into eternity with its burden of record;
and the light which shone from heaven upon you was to prepare you
to arise and shine, to show forth the praises of God to the world as His
commandment-keeping people. You were to be living witnesses; but
if no special endeavor of a high and holy character bears testimony
before the world, if no higher effort has been made than that which
is seen in the popular churches of the day, then the name of God
has not been honored, and His truth has not been magnified before
the world, by presenting divine credentials in the people who have
received great light. If they have had no greater appreciation of the
manifest power of God than to eat and drink, and rise up to play, as
did ancient Israel, then how can the Lord trust His people with rich
and gracious manifestations? If they act directly contrary in almost
every respect to the known will of God, and are found in carelessness,
in levity, in selfishness, in ambition and pride, corrupting their way
before the Lord, how can He give them another outpouring of the Holy
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Spirit?
God has the richest blessing for His people; but He cannot bestow
it until they know how to treat the precious gift in showing forth the
praises of Him who has called them out of darkness into His marvelous
light. “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great
a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which
doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is
set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising
the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God”
(
Hebrews 12:1, 2
). A portion of the joy which was set before Christ,
was the joy of seeing His truth armed with the omnipotent power of
the Holy Spirit, impressing His image upon the life and character of
His followers.
Divine intelligences cooperate with human agencies as they seek to
magnify the law and make it honorable. The law of the Lord is perfect,
converting the soul. It is in the converted soul that the world sees a
living testimony. Then shall the Lord of heaven have room to work?
Shall He find a place in the hearts of those who claim to believe the
truth? Shall His pure, disinterested benevolence meet with a response
from the human agent? Shall the world see a display of the glory
of Christ in the characters of those who profess to be His disciples?