Warnings and Reproofs
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repetition. Conscience is the voice of God, heard amid the conflict of
human passions; when it is resisted, the Spirit of God is grieved.
We want all to understand how the soul is destroyed. It is not that
God sends out a decree that man shall not be saved. He does not throw
a darkness before the eyes which cannot be penetrated. But man at
first resists a motion of the Spirit of God, and, having once resisted, it
is less difficult to do so the second time, less the third, and far less the
fourth. Then comes the harvest to be reaped from the seed of unbelief
and resistance. Oh what a harvest of sinful indulgences is preparing
for the sickle!
When secret prayer and reading of the Scriptures are neglected
today, tomorrow they can be omitted with less remonstrance of con-
science. There will be a long list of omissions, all for a single grain
sown in the soil of the heart. On the other hand, every ray of light
cherished will yield a harvest of light. Temptation once resisted will
give power to more firmly resist the second time; every new victory
gained over self will smooth the way for higher and nobler triumphs.
Every victory is a seed sown to eternal life.
There is great need of zealous, faithful, self-denying workers in
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our churches throughout the land. No one can labor in the Sabbath
school or in the temperance work without reaping a bountiful harvest,
not only in the end of the world, but in the present life. In the very
effort to enlighten and bless others his own views will become clearer
and broader. The more we endeavor to explain the truth to others, with
a love for souls, the plainer will it become to ourselves. It ever opens
with new beauty and force to the understanding of the expounder.
There are some good workers in your church, and these self-
denying ones will never know how much good they have accomplished
by their persevering efforts in the missionary field. But the Lord has
claims upon more men and women in the church than have yielded to
His demands. Some of the stones composing God’s holy temple reflect
the light which shines upon them from Jesus Christ, while others emit
no light, thus clearly revealing that they are not living stones, elect,
precious. They are not devotional, but prayerless, talkative, irreligious.
True Christians will copy the pattern given them by our Saviour and
will be meek, lowly, forbearing, gentle, easy to be entreated, free from
pomposity and stubbornness.