Judgment
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their own temporal interests. Had they cultivated the abilities God had
given them, they could have been reliable burden bearers, working
for the interest of the Master. Said the Judge: “All will be justified by
their faith and judged by their works.” How vividly then appeared their
neglect, and how wise the arrangement of God in giving to every man
a work to do to promote the cause and save his fellow men. Each was
to demonstrate a living faith in his family and in his neighborhood,
by showing kindness to the poor, sympathizing with the afflicted,
engaging in missionary labor, and by aiding the cause of God with
his means. But, like Meroz, the curse of God rested upon them for
what they had not done. They had loved that work which would bring
the greatest profit in this life; and opposite their names in the ledger
devoted to good works there was a mournful blank.
The words spoken to these were most solemn: “You are weighed
in the balances, and found wanting. You have neglected spiritual
responsibilities because of busy activity in temporal matters, while
your very position of trust made it necessary that you should have
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more than human wisdom and greater than finite judgment. This you
needed in order to perform even the mechanical part of your labor; and
when you disconnected God and His glory from your business, you
turned from His blessing.”
The question was then asked: “Why have you not washed your
robes of character and made them white in the blood of the Lamb?
God sent His Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that
through Him it might be saved. My love for you has been more self-
denying than a mother’s love. It was that I might blot out your dark
record of iniquity, and put the cup of salvation to your lips, that I
suffered the death of the cross, bearing the weight and curse of your
guilt. The pangs of death, and the horrors of the darkness of the tomb,
I endured, that I might conquer him who had the power of death, unbar
the prison house, and open for you the gates of life. I submitted to
shame and agony because I loved you with an infinite love, and would
bring back my wayward, wandering sheep to the paradise of God, to
the tree of life. That life of bliss which I purchased for you at such a
cost, you have disregarded. Shame, reproach, and ignominy, such as
your Master bore for you, you have shunned. The privileges He died
to bring within your reach have not been appreciated. You would not
be partaker of His sufferings, and you cannot now be partaker with