Dangers of the Young
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In order to be safely trusted with the translation of our most impor-
tant works, to handle sacred things, ought you not to have the fullest
connection with God and complete consecration to His service? Ought
you not to be where you can have the holy angels to minister to you, to
give you wisdom and knowledge as God gave to Daniel, to inspire you
to give the correct ideas, in order that you may do the work of translat-
ing correctly? If you choose to open your heart to Satan’s suggestions,
if you choose the society of those who are the enemies of Christ, do
you expect God to work a miracle to keep you from yielding to Satan’s
power? Evil angels are gathering about your soul, but they are invited
guests. They make propositions, and you accept them. Until you have
the resolution to obey God’s will you cannot have His guidance.
Jesus expects all who claim to be His soldiers to do service for
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Him. He expects you to recognize the enemy and to resist him, not to
invite him to your confidence and thus betray sacred trust. The Lord
has placed you in a position where you may be elevated and ennobled,
and be constantly gaining fitness for His work. If you do not obtain
these qualifications you alone are to blame.
There are three ways in which the Lord reveals His will to us, to
guide us, and to fit us to guide others. How may we know His voice
from that of a stranger? How shall we distinguish it from the voice
of a false shepherd? God reveals His will to us in His word, the Holy
Scriptures. His voice is also revealed in His providential workings;
and it will be recognized if we do not separate our souls from Him
by walking in our own ways, doing according to our own wills, and
following the promptings of an unsanctified heart, until the senses
have become so confused that eternal things are not discerned, and the
voice of Satan is so disguised that it is accepted as the voice of God.
Another way in which God’s voice is heard is through the appeals
of His Holy Spirit, making impressions upon the heart, which will be
wrought out in the character. If you are in doubt upon any subject you
must first consult the Scriptures. If you have truly begun the life of
faith you have given yourself to the Lord to be wholly His, and He has
taken you to mold and fashion according to His purpose, that you may
be a vessel unto honor. You should have an earnest desire to be pliable
in His hands and to follow whithersoever He may lead you. You are
then trusting Him to work out His designs, while at the same time you
are co-operating with Him by working out your own salvation with