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Testimonies for the Church Volume 1
had sweet communion with Him. I cannot better state my feelings at
this time than they are expressed in the following extracts from a letter
I wrote to Sister Howland:
“I feel thankful that I can now have my children with me, under
my own watchcare, and can better train them in the right way. For
weeks I have felt a hungering and thirsting for salvation, and we have
enjoyed almost uninterrupted communion with God. Why do we stay
away from the fountain, when we can come and drink? Why do we
die for bread, when there is a storehouse full? It is rich and free. O my
soul, feast upon it, and daily drink in heavenly joys. I will not hold my
peace. The praise of God is in my heart and upon my lips. We can
rejoice in the fullness of our Saviour’s love. We can feast upon His
excellent glory. My soul testifies to this. My gloom has been dispersed
by this precious light, and I can never forget it. Lord, help me to keep
it in lively remembrance. Awake, all the energies of my soul! Awake,
and adore thy Redeemer for His wondrous love!
[99]
“Souls around us must be aroused and saved, or they perish. Not a
moment have we to lose. We all have an influence that tells for the truth
or against it. I desire to carry with me unmistakable evidences that I am
one of Christ’s disciples. We want something besides Sabbath religion.
We need the living principle, and to daily feel individual responsibility.
This is shunned by many, and the fruit is carelessness, indifference, a
lack of watchfulness and spirituality. Where is the spirituality of the
church? Where are men and women full of faith and the Holy Spirit?
My prayer is: Purify Thy church, O God. For months I have enjoyed
freedom, and I am determined to order my conversation and all my
ways aright before the Lord.
“Our enemies may triumph. They may speak bitter words, and
their tongue frame slander, deceit, and falsehood, yet will we not be
moved. We know in whom we have believed. We have not run in vain,
neither labored in vain. A reckoning day is coming, when all will be
judged according to the deeds done in the body. It is true the world
is dark. Opposition may wax strong. The trifler and the scorner may
grow bold in their iniquity. Yet for all this we will not be moved, but
lean upon the arm of the Mighty One for strength.
“God is sifting His people. He will have a clean and holy church.
We cannot read the heart of man. But the Lord has provided means
to keep the church pure. A corrupt people has arisen who could not