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Testimonies for the Church Volume 4
he has accomplished much in dividing the strength of the people of
God. This fluctuating revival enthusiasm, that comes and goes like
the tide, carries a delusive exterior that deceives many honest persons
into believing it to be the true Spirit of the Lord. It multiplies converts.
Those of excitable temperaments, the weak and yielding, flock to its
standard; but when the wave recedes, they are found stranded on the
beach. Be not deceived by false teachers, nor led by vain words. The
enemy of souls is sure to have enough dishes of pleasing fables to suit
the appetites of all.
There will ever be flashing meteors to arise; but the trail of light
they leave immediately goes out in darkness that seems denser than it
was before. These sensational religious excitements that are created
by the relation of anecdotes and the exhibition of eccentricities and
oddities are all surface work, and those of our faith who are charmed
and infatuated by these flashes of light will never build up the cause
of God. They are ready to withdraw their influence upon the slightest
occasion and to induce others to attend those gatherings where they
hear that which weakens the soul and brings confusion to the mind. It
is this withdrawal of the interest from the work that makes the cause
of God languish. We must be steadfast in the faith; we must not be
movable. We have our work before us, which is to cause the light of
truth, as revealed in the law of God, to shine in upon other minds and
lead them out of darkness. This work requires determined, persevering
energy and a fixed purpose to succeed.
There are some in the church who need to cling to the pillars of our
faith, to settle down and find rock bottom, instead of drifting on the
surface of excitement and moving from impulse. There are spiritual
dyspeptics in the church. They are self-made invalids; their spiritual
debility is the result of their own wavering course. They are tossed
about here and there by the changing winds of doctrine, and are often
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confused and thrown into uncertainty because they move entirely by
feeling. They are sensational Christians, ever hungering for something
new and diverse; strange doctrines confuse their faith, and they are
worthless to the cause of truth.
God calls for men and women of stability, of firm purpose, who
can be relied upon in seasons of danger and trial, who are as firmly
rooted and grounded in the truth as the eternal hills, who cannot be
swayed to the right or to the left, but who move straight onward and