Chapter 38—Worldly Ambition
My Dear Brother I,
Since meeting you at the Maine camp meeting I have felt that it is
not too late for you to set your heart and house in order. I know that
you have been impressed by the Spirit of God; and now the question
is: Will you, in response to this invitation to repent, gladly surrender
your heart to God? Your case has been presented to me in vision; but
while you were so completely under the control of the enemy of souls,
I had no courage to send you the message given me of the Lord. I
feared that you would make light of it and that the Holy Spirit would
be grieved away for the last time. But now I feel urged to send you this
testimony, which will prove to you a savor of life unto life or death
unto death.
Do not read this if you are decided to choose darkness rather than
light, to serve mammon rather than Christ. But if you really want to
do the will of God, and are willing to be saved in His own appointed
way, then read the testimony; but do not read it to cavil, nor to pervert,
ridicule, and despise it; for in that case it will be to you a savor of
death unto death, and will witness against you in the judgment. Before
reading this warning message, go alone before God and ask Him to
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remove from you the spirit of defiance, rebellion, and unbelief, and to
melt and subdue your stony heart.
We do not understand the greatness and majesty of God nor remem-
ber the immeasurable distance between the Creator and the creatures
formed by His hand. He who sitteth in the heavens, swaying the
scepter of the universe, does not judge according to our finite standard,
nor reckon according to our computation. We are in error if we think
that that which is great to us must be great to God, and that which is
small to us must be small to Him. He would be no more exalted than
ourselves if He possessed only the same faculties.
God does not regard all sins as of equal magnitude; there are
degrees of guilt in His estimation as well as in that of finite man. But
however trifling this or that wrong in their course may seem in the
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