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Testimonies for the Church Volume 2
For this very reason Christ humbled Himself to take upon Him
our nature, that by His own humiliation and suffering and sacrifice
He might become a steppingstone to fallen men, that they might
climb up upon His merits, and that through His excellence and virtue
their efforts to keep God’s law might be accepted of Him. There is
no such thing here as coming down upon a level. We are seeking to
plant our feet upon the elevated and exalted platform of eternal truth.
[588]
We are seeking to become more like the heavenly angels, more pure
in heart, more sinless, harmless, and undefiled.
We are seeking for purity and holiness of life, that we may at
last be fitted for the heavenly society in the kingdom of glory; and
the only means to attain this elevation of Christian character is
through Jesus Christ. There is no other way for the exaltation of the
human family. Some talk of the humiliation they endure and the
sacrifice they make, because they adopt the truth of heavenly origin!
It is true that the world do not accept the truth; unbelievers do not
receive it. They may talk of those that have embraced the truth and
sought the Saviour, and represent them as leaving everything, giving
up everything, and making a sacrifice of everything that is worth
retaining. But do not tell me this. I know better. My experience
proves it to be otherwise. You need not tell me that we have to give
up our dearest treasures and receive no equivalent. No, indeed! That
Creator who planted the beautiful Eden for our first parents, and
who has planted for us the lovely trees and flowers, and provided
everything that is beautiful and glorious in nature for the human race
to enjoy, designed that they should enjoy it. Then do not think that
God wishes us to yield up everything which it is for our happiness
here to retain. He requires us to give up only that which it would not
be for our good and happiness to retain.
That God who has planted these noble trees and clothed them
with their rich foliage, who has given us the brilliant and beautiful
shades of the flowers, and whose lovely handiwork we see in all the
realm of nature, does not design to make us unhappy; He does not
design that we shall have no taste for, and take no pleasure in, these
things. It is His design that we shall enjoy them and be happy in the
charms of nature, which are of His own creating.
[589]
It is right that we should choose such places as this grove for
seasons of relaxation and recreation. But while we are here it is not