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Testimonies for the Church Volume 4
withdrawn their minds from spiritual things and turned them to earth
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again. Satan has been upon their track to lead them to love the world
and the things of the world. They have gradually lost their confidence
in God, have neglected secret prayer and religious duties, and have
withdrawn their interest from holy things.
Dear Brother E, you have made a great mistake in giving this world
your ambition. You are exacting and sometimes impatient, and at times
require too much of your son. He has become discouraged. At your
house it has been work, work, work, from early morning until night.
Your large farm has brought extra cares and burdens into your house.
You have talked upon business; for business was primary in your mind,
and “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” Has your
example in your family exalted Christ and His salvation above your
farming interest and your desire for gain? If your children fail of
everlasting life, the blood of their souls will surely be found on the
garments of their father.
The mother did her duty faithfully. She will hear the “Well done”
as she rises in the resurrection morning. Her first inquiry will be for
her children, who were the burden of her prayers during the latter
portion of her life. Can you present them with beautiful characters that
will give them a moral fitness for the society of angels, or will they
be tarnished and sullied by the pollutions of the world? Will they be
found “partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust”? Will they be as pillars polished after
the similitude of a palace; or will they be found lovers of the world,
cursed with the spirit of avarice, and their bright and noble qualities
buried in oblivion? Your course will do much to determine the future
destiny of your children. If you continue to drown your powers of
mind in worldly care and scheming, you will remain a stumbling block
to them. They see that, while professing Christianity, you have made
no spiritual advancement, but are morally dwarfed. This is true. Your
mind has been concentrated on earthly things, and, as a result, you have
developed great power in this direction. You are decidedly a worldly
businessman, but God designed that you should use your ability and
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influence in a higher calling.
You are dazzled and blinded by the God of this world. Oh, what a
terrible insanity is upon you! You may gather together earthly treasure,
but it will be destroyed in the great conflagration. If you now return