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Testimonies for the Church Volume 5
without seeking to impart a blessing by right counsel, I must warn
you of unseen danger, which will imperil your present and eternal
happiness. We are approaching stormy times, and we want to study
the true foundation of our faith. We need to search the Lawbook to see
if our title to the immortal inheritance is without a flaw.
Our people have been regarded as too insignificant to be worthy of
notice, but a change will come. The Christian world is now making
movements which will necessarily bring commandment-keeping peo-
ple into prominence. There is a constant supplanting of God’s truth
by the theories and false doctrines of human origin. Movements are
being set on foot to enslave the consciences of those who would be
loyal to God. The lawmaking powers will be against God’s people.
Every soul will be tested. Oh, that we would, as a people, be wise
for ourselves, and by precept and example impart that wisdom to our
children! Every position of our faith will be searched into; and if we
are not thorough Bible students, established, strengthened, and settled,
the wisdom of the world’s great men will lead us astray.
The world is busy, anxious, and devoted. Evil is eagerly followed
as though it were righteousness, error as though it were truth, and
sin as though it were holiness. Darkness is covering the earth, and
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gross darkness the people. And shall God’s people be asleep at such a
time as this? Shall those who hold the truth be silent, as if paralyzed?
Infidels declare that if they believed what Christians profess to believe,
they would be far more in earnest than they. If we believe that the end
of all things is at hand, “what manner of persons ought ye to be in all
holy conversation and godliness?”
Every soul who truly believes the truth will have corresponding
works. All will be earnest and solemn, and unwearied in their efforts
to win souls to Christ. If the truth is first planted deep in their own
souls, then they will seek to plant it in the hearts of others. The truth
is kept altogether too much in the outer court. Bring it into the inner
temple of the soul, enthrone it in the heart, and let it control the life.
The word of God should be studied and obeyed, then the heart will
find rest and peace and joy, and the aspirations will tend heavenward;
but when truth is kept apart from the life, in the outer court, the heart
is not warmed with the glowing fire of God’s goodness.
The religion of Jesus is, by many, reserved for certain days, or
certain occasions, and at other times is laid aside and neglected. The