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Testimonies for the Church Volume 3
His merits to meet the reconciliation of God. Christ is the way, the
truth, and the life. It is hard work to follow on, step by step, painfully
and slowly, onward and upward, in the path of purity and holiness.
But Christ has made ample provision to impart new vigor and divine
strength at every advance step in the divine life. This is the knowledge
and experience that the hands in the office all want, and must have, or
they daily bring reproach upon the cause of Christ.
Brother G is making a mistake in his life. He puts too high an
estimate upon himself. He has not commenced to build in a right
way to make a success of life. He is building at the top, but the
foundation is not laid right. The foundation must be laid underground,
and then the building can go up. He needs a discipline and experience
in the everyday duties of life which the sciences will not give; all his
education will not give him physical exercise to become inured to the
hardships of life.
From what has been shown me, there should be a careful selection
of help in the office. The young and untried and unconsecrated should
not be placed there, for they are exposed to temptations and have not
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fixed characters. Those who have formed their characters, who have
fixed principles, and who have the truth of God in the heart will not be
a constant source of care and anxiety, but rather helps and blessings.
The office of publication is amply able to make arrangements to secure
good helpers, those who have ability and principle. And the church, in
their turn, should not seek to advantage themselves one penny from
those who come to the office to labor and learn their trade. There are
positions where some can earn better wages than at the office, but they
can never find a position more important, more honorable, or more
exalted than the work of God in the office. Those who labor faithfully
and unselfishly will be rewarded. For them there is a crown of glory
prepared, compared with which all earthly honors and pleasures are
as the small dust of the balance. Especially will those be blessed who
have been faithful to God in watching over the spiritual welfare of
others in the office. Pecuniary and temporal interests, in comparison
with this, sink into insignificance. In one scale is gold dust; in the other,
a human soul of such value that honor, riches, and glory have been
sacrificed by the Son of God to ransom it from the bondage of sin and
hopeless despair. The soul is of infinite value and demands the utmost
attention. Every man who fears God in that office should put away