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burden of the work. They are accountable to God for their strength,
and should bring a freewill offering to the Lord. And if they will not
do this, His prospering hand will be removed from them.
I saw that the special hand of God has not been with the work
in Ohio to prosper the cause there. There is a lack; there should be
among preachers and people a close examination, a faithful searching
of heart, to find the cause of so great a lack of the Spirit of God. Their
sacrifices and offerings have nearly dried up. Why do not the truths
of God’s word warm the heart and lead to self-denial and sacrifice?
Let the ministers search and see what kind of an influence they have
exerted. There has been with Brother J an independent spirit that God
does not approve. His influence has not told for the union of God’s
people or the advancement of the cause.
I have seen that those who have had but a few years’ experience
in the cause of present truth, are not the ones to lead out in the work.
Such should manifest a delicacy in taking positions which will conflict
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with the judgment and opinion of those who witnessed the rise of
the cause of present truth, and whose lives are interwoven with its
progress. God will not select men of but little experience to lead out in
this work. He will not choose those who have had no experience in the
sufferings, trials, opposition, and privation endured to bring this work
up to the platform on which it now rests. It is now easy, compared with
what it once was, to preach the third angel’s message. Those who now
engage in this work, and teach the truth to others, have things made
ready at their hand. They cannot experience such privations as laborers
in present truth have endured before them. The truth is brought out
for them. Arguments are all prepared. Such should be careful how
they become exalted, lest they be overthrown. They should be very
careful how they murmur against those who endured so much in the
very commencement of the work.
Those experienced laborers who toiled under the burden when it
was heavy and there were few to help bear it, God regards. Be careful
how you reproach them, or murmur against them; for it will surely
stand to your account, and the prospering hand of God will not be with
you. Some brethren who have the least experience, who have felt no
burden, and have done little or nothing to advance the cause of present
truth, and who have no knowledge of matters at Battle Creek, are the
first to find fault with the management of the work there. And those