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Testimonies for the Church Volume 4
to believe we should feel that we have a sacred mission to fulfill, a
responsibility involving eternal results. All temporal interests would
yield to this.
Brethren in-----, you do not realize your obligation to God and the
individual work He has given you to perform for Him. You have the
theory of the truth, but do not feel its power in the soul. The barren
fig tree flaunted its pretentious branches in the face of heaven; but
when the search for fruit was made by the Redeemer, lo, there was
nothing but leaves. Unless there is a thorough work wrought for you
as individuals and as a church, the curse of God will as surely come
upon you as it fell upon that fruitless tree.
The members of the-----church possess talents which would be
valuable if put to a right use. The weak man may become strong,
the timid may become brave, and the irresolute and undecided may
become men of quick and firm decision, when they feel that God
considers them of sufficient consequence to accept their labors.
Men in this church must feel that God wishes them to become
laborers in His cause in any capacity. Unless they change their course,
some will be found in a position similar to that of the Pharisees when
Christ addressed them: “The publicans and the harlots go into the
kingdom of God before you.” Many feel secure because they profess
the truth, while they do not feel its sanctifying influence upon their
hearts and do not advance in the divine life.
Brethren, while you as a people profess to have light far in advance
of other denominations, your works do not correspond with your pro-
fession. Many who have been in the darkness of error gladly accept
the truth when it is opened to their understanding. Although they have
spent their life in sin, yet when they come to God in penitence and with
a sense of their sinfulness they are accepted of Him. Such persons are
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in a more favorable position for the perfection of Christian character
than are those who have had great light and have failed to improve
upon it. That which leaves men and women in darkness is their ne-
glect to improve the light and opportunities granted them. Christ hates
all vain pretense. When on earth, He ever treated with tenderness
the penitent, even though they had been the chief of sinners; but His
denunciations fell heavily upon all hypocrisy.
God has given to every man his work, and no one else can do that
work for him. Oh, that you individually would apply the eyesalve,