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Testimonies for the Church Volume 2
the servant of Christ.” I fear that you are in great danger of making
shipwreck of faith. You consider that you have sacrifices to make to
obey the truth. We believe that you have made some sacrifices, but
had you been more thorough in this work, your feet would not now
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be stumbling, your faith wavering. I do not refer now to sacrifice
of means, but to what comes closer than this, to that which would
cause you a more painful conflict than to give your means, to that
which touches self especially. You have not yielded your pride, your
love of the approbation of an unbelieving world. You love to have
men speak well of you.
You have not received and practiced the truth in its simplicity.
You have, I fear, felt somewhat as though you were condescending
to receive the unpopular truth as advocated by Sabbathkeeping Ad-
ventists. You have sought, to quite a degree, to retain the spirit of
the world and yet adopt the truth. This cannot be. Christ will accept
of nothing but the whole heart, the entire affections. The friendship
of the world is enmity with God. When you desire to so live as to
shun reproach, you are seeking a position above your suffering Lord;
and while engaged in this, you are separating from your Father in
heaven, exchanging His love for that which is not worth obtaining.
I have felt pressed in spirit in regard to you, my sister, and also
your husband. As I have taken my pen to write, your cases have
been clearly brought before me. I am fully aware of your dangers, of
your state of perplexity and doubt. Everything has been unfavorable
for you, Sister U, since you have sought to obey the law of God. But
nothing has been as great a hindrance to you both as your pride. You
are both fond of display; this has no part in good, humble religion.
I saw that you both had a fiery ordeal to pass, that you would be
tested and proved. In this conflict, Satan would strive hard to blind
your eyes to your eternal interest, and would present the advantages
of the present time, this little, short life which is so uncertain. You
would see charms in this life, and unless you parted with your love
of show and the favor of the world you could not retain the love of
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God. Jesus was presented to me, pointing to the charms of heaven,
seeking to attract your eyes from the world, and saying: “Which
will ye choose,
Me
, or the
world
? You cannot have Me and the love
of the world, too. Will you sacrifice Him who died for you for the