Warnings and Admonitions
497
connection with God, but your work will be tenfold harder if you fail to
do this. Satan will beset your path with his temptations, and it is only
through Christ that you can gain the victory. The same indomitable will
that gives success in intellectual pursuits is essential in the Christian
course. You must be representatives of Jesus Christ. Your energy and
perseverance in perfecting a Christian character should be as much
greater than that displayed in any other pursuit as the things of eternity
are of more importance than temporal affairs.
If you ever achieve success in the Christian life you must resolve
that you will be men after God’s own heart. The Lord wants your
influence to be exerted in the church and in the world to elevate the
standard of Christianity. True Christian character should be marked
[544]
by firmness of purpose, an indomitable determination, which cannot
be molded or subdued by earth or hell. He who is not blind to the
attraction of worldly honors, indifferent to threats, and unmoved by
allurements will be, all unexpectedly to himself, overthrown by Satan’s
devices.
God calls for complete and entire consecration, and anything short
of this He will not accept. The more difficult your position the more
you need Jesus. The love and fear of God kept Joseph pure and
untarnished in the king’s court. He was exalted to great wealth, to
the high honor of being next to the king; and this elevation was as
sudden as it was great. It is impossible to stand upon a lofty height
without danger. The tempest leaves unharmed the modest flower of
the valley, while it wrestles with the lofty tree upon the mountaintop.
There are many men whom God could have used with wonderful
success when pressed with poverty,—He could have made them useful
here, and crowned them with glory hereafter,—but prosperity ruined
them; they were dragged down to the pit because they forgot to be
humble, forgot that God was their strength, and became independent
and self-sufficient.
Joseph bore the test of character in adversity, and the gold was
undimmed by prosperity. He showed the same sacred regard for God’s
will when he stood next the throne as when in a prisoner’s cell. Joseph
carried his religion everywhere, and this was the secret of his unwa-
vering fidelity. As representative men you must have the all-pervading
power of true godliness. I tell you, in the fear of God, your path is
beset by dangers which you do not see and do not realize. You must