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Testimonies for the Church Volume 4
True conversion is a radical change. The very drift of the mind and
bent of the heart should be turned and life become new again in Christ.
God is leading out a people to stand in perfect unity upon the plat-
form of eternal truth. Christ gave Himself to the world that He might
“purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” This
refining process is designed to purge the church from all unrighteous-
ness and the spirit of discord and contention, that they may build up
instead of tear down, and concentrate their energies on the great work
before them. God designs that His people should all come into the
unity of the faith. The prayer of the Christ just prior to His crucifixion
was that His disciples might be one, even as He was one with the
Father, that the world might believe that the Father had sent Him. This
most touching and wonderful prayer reaches down the ages, even to
our day; for His words were: “Neither pray I for these alone, but for
them also which shall believe on Me through their word.”
How earnestly should the professed followers of Christ seek to
answer this prayer in their lives. Many do not realize the sacredness of
church relationship and are loath to submit to restraint and discipline.
Their course of action shows that they exalt their own judgment above
that of the united church, and they are not careful to guard themselves
lest they encourage a spirit of opposition to its voice. Those who
hold responsible positions in the church may have faults in common
with other people and may err in their decisions; but notwithstanding
this, the church of Christ on earth has given to them an authority that
cannot be lightly esteemed. Christ, after His resurrection, delegated
power unto His church, saying: “Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are
remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained.”
Church relationship is not to be lightly canceled; yet when the path
of some professed followers of Christ is crossed, or when their voice
has not the controlling influence which they think it deserves, they will
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threaten to leave the church. True, in leaving the church they would
themselves be the greatest sufferers; for in withdrawing beyond the
pale of its influence, they subject themselves to the full temptations of
the world.
Every believer should be wholehearted in his attachment to the
church. Its prosperity should be his first interest, and unless he feels
under sacred obligations to make his connection with the church a
benefit to it in preference to himself, it can do far better without