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Testimonies for the Church Volume 2
Take hold of the solemn work, and bring to your aid every ray of
light you can gather that has shone upon your pathway and that you
have not cherished, and, together with the aid of the light now shin-
ing, commence an investigation of your life and character as if you
were before the tribunal of God. “Abstain from fleshly lusts, which
war against the soul,” is the exhortation of the apostle. Vice and
corruption abound on every hand, and unless you have more than
human strength to rely upon to stand against so powerful a current
of evil, you will be overcome and borne down with the current to
perdition. Without holiness no man shall see God.
The Lord is proving and testing His people. Angels of God are
watching the development of character and weighing moral worth.
Probation is almost ended, and you are unready. Oh, that the word
of warning might burn into your souls! Get ready! get ready! Work
while the day lasts, for the night cometh when no man can work.
The mandate will go forth: He that is holy, let him be holy still;
and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still. The destiny of all will be
decided. A few, yes, only a few, of the vast number who people the
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earth will be saved unto life eternal, while the masses who have not
perfected their souls in obeying the truth will be appointed to the
second death. O Saviour, save the purchase of Thy blood! is the cry
of my anguished heart.
I greatly fear for you and for many who profess to believe the
truth in-----. Oh, search, search diligently your own hearts, and make
thorough work for the judgment! I am pained at heart when I call to
mind how many children of Sabbathkeeping parents are ruining soul
and body with secret vice. Near you is a family who reveal their evil
habits in their bodies as well as their minds. These children are on
the direct road to perdition. They are debased themselves, and have
instructed many others in this vice. The eldest boy is dwarfed, phys-
ically and mentally, by indulging in its practice. What little intellect
he has left is of a low order. If he continues in this vicious practice
he will eventually become idiotic. Every indulgence of children
who have attained their growth is a terrible evil and will produce
terrible results, enervating the system and weakening the intellect.
But in those who indulge this corrupting vice before attaining their
growth, the evil effects are more plainly marked, and recovery from
its effects is more nearly hopeless. The frame is weak and stunted;