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Testimonies for the Church Volume 4
The Spirit of God is continually impressing the minds of men to
seek for those things which alone will give peace and rest—the higher,
holier joys of heaven. Christ, the Lord of life and glory, gave His life
to redeem man from Satan’s power. Our Saviour is constantly at work,
through influences seen and unseen, to attract the minds of men from
the unsatisfying pleasures of this life to the priceless treasure which
may be theirs in the immortal future.
God would have His people, in words and in deportment, declare
to the world that no earthly attractions or worldly possessions are of
sufficient value to compensate for the loss of the heavenly inheritance.
Those who are truly children of the light and of the day will not be
vain or frivolous in conversation, in dress, or in deportment, but sober,
contemplative, constantly exerting an influence to attract souls to the
Redeemer. The love of Christ, reflected from the cross, is pleading
in behalf of the sinner, drawing him by cords of infinite love to the
peace and happiness found in our Saviour. God enjoins upon all His
followers to bear a living testimony in unmistakable language by their
conduct, their dress and conversation, in all the pursuits of life, that
the power of true godliness is profitable to all in this life and in the life
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to come; that this alone can satisfy the soul of the receiver.
The glory of God is displayed in His handiwork. Here are mysteries
that the mind will become strong in searching out. Minds that have
been amused and abused by reading fiction may in nature have an open
book, and read truth in the works of God around them. All may find
themes for study in the simple leaf of the forest tree, the spires of grass
covering the earth with their green velvet carpet, the plants and flowers,
the stately trees of the forest, the lofty mountains, the granite rocks,
the restless ocean, the precious gems of light studding the heavens to
make the night beautiful, the exhaustless riches of the sunlight, the
solemn glories of the moon, the winter’s cold, the summer’s heat, the
changing, recurring seasons, in perfect order and harmony, controlled
by infinite power; here are subjects which call for deep thought, for
the stretch of the imagination.
If the frivolous and pleasure-seeking will allow their minds to dwell
upon the real and true, the heart cannot but be filled with reverence,
and they will adore the God of nature. The contemplation and study of
God’s character as revealed in His created works will open a field of
thought that will draw the mind away from low, debasing, enervating