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Testimonies for the Church Volume 5
Brother J, I address you today as a prisoner of hope. But will you
consider that your sun passed its meridian some time ago and is now
rapidly declining? The evening has come. Do you not discern the
lengthening shadows? You have but a little time left in which to work
for yourself, for humanity, and for your Master. There is a special
work to be done for your own soul if you are ever to be numbered
with the overcomers. How stands your life record? Is Jesus pleading
in your behalf in vain? Shall He be disappointed in you? Some of
your companions, who stood side by side with you, have already been
summoned away. Eternity will reveal whether they were bankrupt in
faith and failed to secure eternal life, or whether they were rich toward
God and heirs of the “far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”
Will you not consider that the long forbearance of God toward you
calls for repentance and humiliation of soul before Him?
There are other weighty considerations aside from your own per-
sonal salvation which demand your attention. Late as it now is, with
your sun about to sink behind the western hills, you have still a great
work to do for your children, who have allowed the love of the world to
separate them from God. You have also unsaved relatives, neighbors,
and friends. Had your example been consistent with the light given
you; had you been as diligent to save these precious souls as you have
been to gather earthly treasure; had you used your means and influence,
your wisdom and tact, in an effort to gather these straying ones into the
fold of Christ—had this been your lifework, you would have secured a
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harvest of souls and would have ensured a rich reward in the day of
God. You would thus have been building upon the true foundation
valuable and imperishable material; but instead of this you have been
building wood, hay, and stubble, to be consumed when every man’s
work shall be tried, of what sort it is.
Your life has been a failure. You have been a stumbling block
to sinners. They have said of you: “If the religion which this man
professes is indeed genuine, why is he so eager after this world? Why
does he not in his own conduct show the spirit of Christ?” Hasten, my
brother, before it is forever too late, to remove this stumbling block
from the way of sinners. Can you look with pleasure upon your life
or upon the influence you have exerted? Will you now consider your
ways? Will you now make efforts to come into right relations with
God? I do not believe your heart is unimpressible, and I know that the