228
Testimonies for the Church Volume 3
and the Master will say: “Well done, good and faithful servant,” “enter
thou into the joy of thy Lord.”
The world is indeed full of hurry, and of pride, selfishness, avarice,
and violence; and it may seem to us that it is a waste of time and breath
to be ever in season and out of season, and on all occasions to hold
ourselves in readiness to speak words that are gentle, pure, elevating,
chaste, and holy, in the face of the whirlwind of confusion, bustle, and
strife. And yet words fitly spoken, coming from sanctified hearts and
lips, and sustained by a godly, consistent Christian deportment, will be
as apples of gold in pictures of silver. You have been as one of the vain
talkers and have appeared as one of the world. You have sometimes
been careless in your words and reckless in your conversation and
have lowered yourself as a Christian in the opinion of unbelievers. You
have sometimes spoken of the truth; but your words have not borne
that serious, anxious interest that would affect the heart. They have
been accompanied with light, trivial remarks that would lead those
with whom you converse to decide that your faith is not genuine and
that you do not believe the truths you profess. Words in favor of the
truth, spoken in the calm self-possession of a right purpose and from
a pure heart, will do much to disarm opposition and win souls. But a
harsh, selfish, denunciatory spirit will only drive further from the truth
and awaken a spirit of opposition.
You are not to wait for great occasions, or to expect extraordinary
abilities, before you work in earnest for God. You need not have a
thought of what the world will think of you. If your intercourse with
them and your godly conversation are a living testimony to them of
the purity and sincerity of your faith, and they are convinced that you
desire to benefit them, your words will not be wholly lost upon them,
but will be productive of good.
[248]
A servant of Christ, in any department of the Christian service,
will by precept and by example have a saving influence upon others.
The good seed sown may lie some time in a cold, worldly, selfish heart
without evidencing that it has taken root; but frequently the Spirit of
God operates upon that heart and waters it with the dew of heaven,
and the long-hidden seed springs up and finally bears fruit to the glory
of God. We know not in our lifework which shall prosper, this or that.
These are not questions for us poor mortals to settle. We are to do
our work, leaving the result with God. If you were in darkness and