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Testimonies for the Church Volume 7
Patmos, but Christ visited him in his exile, and communicated to him
the grand truths found in the Revelation.
As those who have spent their lives in the service of God draw near
the close of their earthly history, they will be impressed by the Holy
Spirit to recount the experiences they have had in connection with His
work. The record of His wonderful dealings with His people, of His
great goodness in delivering them from trial, should be repeated to
those newly come to the faith. The trials also that have been brought
on the servants of God by the apostasy of some once united with them
in labor, and the working of the Holy Spirit to make of none effect the
falsehoods told against those who were holding the beginning of their
confidence firm unto the end, should be related.
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The old standard-bearers who are still living should not be put
in hard places. Those who served their Master when the work went
hard, who endured poverty and remained faithful to the truth when
our numbers were small, are ever to be honored and respected. I am
instructed to say: Let every believer respect the aged pioneers who
have borne trials and hardships and many privations. They are God’s
workmen and have acted a prominent part in the building up of His
Work.
The Lord desires the younger laborers to gain wisdom, strength,
and maturity by association with the aged laborers who have been
spared to the cause. Let the younger men realize that, in having such
laborers among them, they are highly favored. Let them show great
respect for the men of gray hairs, who have had long experience in
the development of the work. Let them give them an honored place in
their councils. God desires those who have come into the truth in later
years to take heed to these words.
May the Lord bless and sustain our old and tried laborers. May He
help them to be wise in regard to the preservation of their physical,
mental, and spiritual powers. I have been instructed by the Lord to say
to those who bore their testimony in the early days of the message:
“God has endowed you with the power of reason, and He desires you
to understand and obey the laws that have to do with the health of the
being. Do not be imprudent. Do not overwork. Take time to rest. God
desires you to stand in your lot and place, doing your part to save men
and women from being swept downward by the mighty current of evil.