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Testimonies for the Church Volume 5
the self-denying army under the bloodstained banner of the cross will
move on to certain victory, and leave you behind. If you choose to
guide your own frail bark across life’s stormy waters you must answer
for the presumption and be held responsible for the result.
If you could see how you have already become weak in principle,
if you could see how your honor and honesty are imperiled, you would
then see that God is not with you and that you ought not to stand in
the place of responsibility you now occupy; you are unworthy. My
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heart is sad indeed when I know what you might have been had you
yielded yourself wholly to God and then see the power the enemy has
had over you.
The Sabbath school work is important, and all who are interested
in the truth should endeavor to make it prosperous. Brother-----could
have served well in this branch of the work had he and others in the
church pursued a right course. But he has been praised and petted too
much. It has nearly ruined him. The Lord can do without him, but he
cannot afford to do without God. The Lord will entrust His work to
men with clean hands and a pure heart; therefore it is an honor to bear
responsibilities in His cause.
The temperance work is also worthy of your best endeavors. But
great care should be taken to make the temperance meetings as elevated
and ennobling as possible. Avoid a surface work and everything of a
theatrical character. Those who realize the solemn character of this
work will keep the standard high. But there is a class who have no real
respect for the cause of temperance; their only concern is to show off
their smartness upon the stage. The pure, the thoughtful, and those
who understand the object of the work, should be encouraged to labor
in these great branches of reform. They may not be intellectually great,
but if pure and humble, God-fearing and true, the Lord will accept
their labors.
Literary societies are quite frequently organized, but, in nine cases
out of ten, they have proved a damage to souls, rather than a blessing.
This is because an alliance is formed with the world or with a class
whose influence and tendency is ever to lead away from the solid
to the superficial, from the real to the fictitious. Literary societies
would be of great advantage if controlled by a religious element; but,
sooner or later, the irreligious element is almost certain to gain the
ascendancy and have a controlling influence. Just so it is with our
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