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Testimonies for the Church Volume 1
great sacrifice that has been made to save souls shows us their worth.
When the precious soul is once lost, it is lost forever.
I have seen an angel standing with scales in his hands weighing
the thoughts and interest of the people of God, especially the young.
In one scale were the thoughts and interest tending heavenward; in
the other were the thoughts and interest tending to earth. And in this
scale were thrown all the reading of storybooks, thoughts of dress
and show, vanity, pride, etc. Oh, what a solemn moment! the angels
of God standing with scales, weighing the thoughts of His professed
children—those who claim to be dead to the world and alive to God.
The scale filled with thoughts of earth, vanity, and pride quickly went
down, notwithstanding weight after weight rolled from the scale. The
one with the thoughts and interest tending to heaven went quickly up as
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the other went down, and oh, how light it was! I can relate this as I saw
it; but never can I give the solemn and vivid impression stamped upon
my mind, as I saw the angel with the scales weighing the thoughts and
interest of the people of God. Said the angel: “Can such enter heaven?
No, no, never. Tell them the hope they now possess is vain, and unless
they speedily repent, and obtain salvation, they must perish.”
A form of godliness will not save any. All must have a deep and
living experience. This alone will save them in the time of trouble.
Then their work will be tried of what sort it is; and if it is gold, silver,
and precious stones, they will be hid as in the secret of the Lord’s
pavilion. But if their work is wood, hay, and stubble, nothing can
shield them from the fierceness of Jehovah’s wrath.
The young, as well as those who are older, will be required to
give a reason for their hope. But the mind, designed by God for better
things, formed to serve Him perfectly, has dwelt upon foolish things,
instead of eternal interests. That mind which is left to wander here and
there is just as well able to understand the truth, the evidence from the
word of God for keeping the Sabbath, and the true foundation of the
Christian’s hope, as to study the appearance, the manners, the dress,
etc. And those who give up the mind to be diverted with foolish stories
and idle tales, have the imagination fed, but the brilliancy of God’s
word is eclipsed to them. The mind is led directly from God. The
interest in His precious word is destroyed.
A book has been given us to guide our feet through the perils of
this dark world to heaven. It tells us how we can escape the wrath of