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Testimonies for the Church Volume 2
invigorated, their hearts purified, their affections centered in God.
They should present the truth in a manner which will arouse the
intellect to appreciate its excellence, purity, and sacredness. In
order to do this, they should keep before their minds objects which
are elevated and which have a purifying, quickening, and exalting
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influence upon the mind. They must have the purifying fire of truth
burning upon the altar of their hearts, to influence and characterize
their lives; then, go where they will, amid darkness and gloom, they
will illuminate those in darkness with the light dwelling in them and
shining round about them.
Ministers must be imbued with the same spirit as was their Mas-
ter when He was upon earth. He went about doing good, blessing
others with His influence. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. Ministers should have clear conceptions of eternal things
and of God’s claims upon them; then they can impress others and
excite in them a love for contemplating heavenly things.
Ministers should become Bible students. Are the truths which
they handle mighty? Then they should seek to handle them skillfully.
Their ideas should be clear and strong, and their spirits fervent, or
they will weaken the force of the truth which they handle. By
tamely presenting the truth, merely repeating the theory without
being stirred by it themselves, they can never convert men. If they
should live as long as did Noah, their efforts would be without
effect. Their love for souls must be intense and their zeal fervent. A
listless, unfeeling manner of presenting the truth will never arouse
men and women from their deathlike slumber. They must show by
their manners, by their acts and words, and by their preaching and
praying, that they believe that Christ is at the door. Men and women
are in the last hours of probation, and yet are careless and stupid, and
ministers have no power to arouse them; they are asleep themselves.
Sleeping preachers preaching to a sleeping people!
A great work must be accomplished for ministers in order for
them to make the preaching of the truth a success. The word of
God should be thoroughly studied. All other reading is inferior to
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this. A careful study of the Bible will not necessarily exclude all
other reading of a religious nature; but if the word of God is studied
prayerfully, all reading which will have a tendency to divert the
mind from it will be excluded. If we study the word of God with an