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Accountability for Light Received
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yourself and others at the expense of Brother R by relating his efforts
for you and your resistance of his labors, and have enjoyed a hearty
laugh over the matter.
It becomes every minister of Christ to use sound speech, which
cannot be condemned. I was shown that a solemn work is to be
accomplished for the ministers of Christ. This cannot be done with-
out effort on their part. They must feel that they have a work to do
in their own cases which no one else can do for them. They must
seek to gain the qualifications necessary, in order to become able
ministers of Christ, that in the day of God they may stand acquitted,
free from the blood of souls, having done all their duty in the fear
of God. As their reward, the faithful undershepherds will hear from
the Chief Shepherd: “Well done, good and faithful servant.” He
will then place the crown of glory upon their heads and bid them
enter into the joy of their Lord. What is that joy? It is beholding
with Christ the redeemed saints, reviewing with Him their travail
for souls, their self-denial and self-sacrifice, their giving up of ease,
of worldly gain, and every earthly inducement, and choosing the
reproach, the suffering, the self-abasement, the wearing labor, and
the anguish of spirit as men would oppose the counsel of God against
their own souls; it is calling to remembrance the chastening of their
souls before God, their weeping between the porch and the altar, and
their becoming a spectacle unto the world, to angels, and to men.
All this is then ended, and the fruits of their labors are seen; souls
are saved through their efforts in Christ. The ministers who have
been co-workers with Christ enter into the joy of their Lord and are
satisfied.
“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who
for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising
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the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against
Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet
resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” Ministers are too forgetful
of the Author of their salvation. They think they endure much, when
they bear and suffer but little. God will work for ministers if they
will let Him work for them. But if they feel that they are all right
and do not need a thorough conversion, and will not see themselves