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Testimonies for the Church Volume 4
houses of publication, that you may feel that you have an interest in
them. Many invest their money in worldly speculations, and in doing
this are robbed of every dollar. We ask you to show your liberality
by making investments in our publishing work. It will do you good.
Your money will not be lost, but will be placed at interest to increase
your capital stock in heaven. Christ has given all for you; what will
you give for Him? He asks your heart; give it to Him, it is His own.
He asks your intellect; give it to Him, it is His own. He asks your
money; give it to Him, it is His own. “Ye are not your own; for ye are
bought with a price.” God wants you and yours. Let the words of the
royal psalmist express the sentiment of your hearts: “All things come
of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee.”
The time has come when we must know for ourselves why we
believe as we do. We must stand for God and for the truth, against a
reckless, unbelieving generation. The man who has once known the
way of life, and has turned from the convictions of his own heart to the
sophistry of Satan, will be more inaccessible and more unimpressible
than he who has never tasted the love of Christ. He will be wise
to do evil. He has bound himself to Satan, even against light and
knowledge. I say to my brethren: Your only hope is in God. We
must be clothed with Christ’s righteousness if we would withstand the
prevailing impiety. We must show our faith by our works. Let us lay
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up for ourselves a good foundation against the time to come, that we
may lay hold on eternal life. We must labor, not in our own strength,
but in the strength of our risen Lord. What will we do and dare for
Jesus?
Our houses of publication are the property of all our people, and
all should work to the point of raising them above embarrassment. In
order to circulate our publications, they have been offered at so low
a figure that but little profit could come to the office to reproduce the
same works. This has been done with the best of motives, but not with
experienced and farseeing judgment.
At the low prices of publications the office could not preserve a
capital upon which to work. This was not fully seen and critically
investigated. These low prices led people to undervalue the works,
and it was not fully discerned that when once these publications were
placed at a low figure it would be very difficult to bring them up to
their proper value.