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to drink with him the bitter cup of humiliation and sorrow? Can we
look upon Christ crucified, and wish to enter his kingdom in any other
way than through much tribulation?
The preachers are not all given up to the work of God, as he
requires them to be. Some have felt that the lot of a preacher was
hard, because they had to be separated from their families. They forget
that once it was harder laboring than it is now. Once there were but
few friends of the cause. They forget those upon whom God laid
the burden of the work in the past. There were but few, then, who
received the truth as the result of much labor. God’s chosen servants
wept and prayed for the clear understanding of truth. They suffered
privation and much self-denial, in order to spread the truth. Step by
step they followed as God’s opening providence led the way. They
did not study their convenience, or shrink at hardships. God, through
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these men, prepared the way, and the truth has been made plain to the
understanding of every honest mind. Every thing has been made ready
to the hands of ministers who have since embraced the truth, and some
of these have failed to take upon them the burden of the work. They
seek for an easier lot, a less self-denying position. This earth is not
the resting-place of Christians, much less for the chosen ministers of
God. They forget that Christ left his riches and glory in Heaven, and
came to die, and has commanded us to love one another even as he
has loved us. They forget those who wandered about in sheepskins
and goatskins, and were afflicted and tormented, of whom the world
was not worthy.
I was shown the Waldenses, and what they suffered for their reli-
gion. They conscientiously studied the word of God, and lived up to
the light which shone upon them. They were persecuted and driven
from their homes. Their possessions, obtained by hard labor, were
taken from them, and their houses were burned. They fled to the moun-
tains and suffered incredible hardships. They endured hunger, fatigue,
cold, and nakedness. The only clothing many of them could obtain,
was the skins of animals. And yet the scattered and homeless ones
would get together to unite their voices in singing and praising God,
that they were accounted worthy to suffer for Christ’s name. They
encouraged and cheered each other, and were grateful for even their
miserable retreat. Many of their children sickened and died through
exposure to cold, and the sufferings of hunger; yet the parents did not