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Testimonies for the Church Volume 4
and meeting the people where they are. They do not identify them-
selves with those whom they wish to help and elevate to the true Bible
standard of Christianity.
In order to be a truly successful minister, one must wholly conse-
crate himself to the work of saving souls. It is highly essential that
he should be closely united with Christ, seeking continual counsel
from Him and depending upon His aid. Some fail of success because
they trust to the strength of argument alone and do not cry earnestly
to God for His wisdom to direct them and His grace to sanctify their
efforts. Long discourses and tedious prayers are positively injurious to
a religious interest and fail to carry conviction to the consciences of
the people. This propensity for speechmaking frequently dampens a
religious interest that might have produced great results.
The true ambassador of Christ is in perfect union with Him whom
he represents, and his engrossing object is the salvation of souls. The
wealth of earth dwindles into insignificance when compared with the
worth of a single soul for whom our Lord and Master died. He who
weigheth the hills in scales and the mountains in a balance regards a
human soul as of infinite value.
In the work of the ministry there are battles to fight and victories to
gain. “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth,” said Christ,
“I came not to send peace, but a sword.” The opening labors of the
Christian church were attended with hardships and bitter griefs, and
the successors of the early apostles find that they must meet with trials
similar to theirs; privations, calumny, and every species of opposition
meet them in their labors. They must be men of stanch moral courage,
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and of spiritual muscle.
Great moral darkness prevails, and only the power of truth can
drive away the shadows from a single mind. We are battling with
giant errors and the strongest prejudices, and without the special help
of God our efforts will fail either to convert souls or to elevate our
own moral natures. Human skill and the very best natural abilities and
acquisitions are powerless to quicken the soul to discern the enormity
of sin and to banish it from the heart.
Ministers should be careful not to expect too much from persons
who are still groping in the darkness of error. They should do their
work well, relying upon God to impart to inquiring souls the mysteri-
ous, quickening influence of His Holy Spirit knowing that without this