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Testimonies for the Church Volume 2
according as his work shall be. Every good and every wrong act,
and its influence upon others, is traced out by the Searcher of hearts,
to whom every secret is revealed. And the reward will be according
to the motives which prompted the action.
Notwithstanding the repeated warnings and reproofs which the
Lord has sent them, those who have occupied responsible positions
have followed their own ways and been guided by their own unsanc-
tified judgment, and, in consequence, the cause of God has suffered,
and souls have been turned from the truth. All who are thus guilty
will have a fearful record to meet in the day of final retribution. If
they are ever saved, it will be by no common effort on their part; their
past life must be seen by them and redeemed. If this work be entered
upon with sincerity, and followed with perseverance and untiring
earnestness, it will be wholly successful; but many will not succeed
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because the earnestness with which they commence the work dies
down to listlessness and carelessness. Their efforts are right at first,
as they have some sense of their condition; but they seek to forget
the past, and pass over it without taking up the stumbling blocks
and making thorough work. Their repentance is not genuine sorrow
that through their influence God has been dishonored and souls for
whom Christ died have been lost. They make spasmodic efforts and
show great feeling; but the fact that the efforts cease, that this feeling
soon passes off and is succeeded by listless indifference, evinces
that God was not fully in the work. The feelings were for a time
wrought upon; but the work did not reach deep enough to change
the principles which governed their actions. They are as liable to be
led again into the same wrong course as they were at first; for they
have not strength to withstand the wiles of Satan, but are subject to
his devices.
The life of a true Christian is ever onward. There is no stand-
ing still nor going back. It is your privilege to be “filled with the
knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruit-
ful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto
all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness; giving thanks unto
the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheri-
tance of the saints in light.”