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Testimonies for the Church Volume 4
human mind is represented by the rich soil of a garden. Unless it shall
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receive proper cultivation, it will be overgrown with the weeds and
briers of ignorance. The mind and heart need culture daily, and neglect
will be productive of evil. The more natural ability God has bestowed
upon an individual, the greater the improvement he is required to make,
and the greater his responsibility to use his time and talents for the
glory of God. The mind must not remain dormant. If it is not exercised
in the acquisition of knowledge, there will be a sinking into ignorance,
superstition, and fancy. If the intellectual faculties are not cultivated as
they should be to glorify God, they will become strong and powerful
aids in leading to perdition.
While young men should guard against being pompous and in-
dependent, they should be continually making marked improvement.
They should accept every opportunity to cultivate the more noble,
generous traits of character. If young men would feel their dependence
upon God every moment and cherish a spirit of prayer, a breathing
out of the soul to God at all times and in all places, they might better
know the will of God. But I have been shown that Brethren F and G
are almost wholly unacquainted with the operations of God’s Spirit.
They have been working in their own strength and have been so fully
wrapped up in themselves that they have not seen and realized their
great destitution. They talk flippantly of the Testimonies given of God
for the benefit of His people, and pass judgment upon them, giving
their opinions and criticizing this and that, when they would better
place their hands upon their lips and lie with their faces in the dust;
for they know no more of the spirit of the Testimonies than they do of
the Spirit of God.
They are novices in the truth and dwarfs in religious experience.
The greatest victories which are gained to the cause are not by labored
argument, ample facilities, abundance of influence, and plenty of
means; but they are those victories which are gained in the audience
chamber with God, when earnest, agonizing faith lays hold upon the
mighty arm of power. When Jacob found himself utterly prostrate and
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in a helpless condition, he poured out his soul to God in an agony of
earnestness. The angel of God pleaded to be released, but Jacob would
not let go his hold. The stricken man, suffering bodily pain, presented
his earnest supplication with the boldness which living faith imparts.
“I will not let Thee go,” he said, “except Thou bless me.”