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Christian Education
Those who humbly and prayerfully search the Scriptures, to know
and to do God’s will, will not be in doubt of their obligations to God.
For “if any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine.” [
John
7:17
.] If you would know the mystery of godliness, you must follow
the plain word of truth,—feeling or no feeling, emotion or no emotion.
Obedience must be rendered from a sense of principle, and the right
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must be pursued under all circumstances. This is the character that
is elected of God unto salvation. The test of a genuine Christian
is given in the word of God. Says Jesus, “If ye love me, keep my
commandments.” [
John 14:15
.] “He that hath my commandments, and
keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be
loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to
him.... If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will
love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye
hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.” [
John 14:21, 23, 24
.]
Here are the conditions upon which every soul will be elected
to eternal life. Your obedience to God’s commandments will prove
your right to an inheritance with the saints in light. God has elected a
certain excellence of character; and every one who, through the grace
of Christ, shall reach the standard of his requirement, will have an
abundant entrance into the kingdom of glory. All who would reach
this standard of character, will have to employ the means that God has
provided to this end. If you would inherit the rest that remaineth for
the children of God, you must become a co-laborer with God. You
are elected to wear the yoke of Christ,—to bear his burden, to lift his
cross. You are to be diligent “to make your calling and election sure.”
[
2 Peter 1:10
.] Search the Scriptures, and you will see that not a son or
a daughter of Adam is elected to be saved in disobedience to God’s
law. The world makes void the law of God; but Christians are chosen
to sanctification through obedience to the truth. They are elected to
bear the cross, if they would wear the crown.
The Bible is the only rule of faith and doctrine. And there is nothing
more calculated to energize the mind, and strengthen the intellect, than
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the study of the word of God. No other book is so potent to elevate
the thoughts, to give vigor to the faculties, as the broad, ennobling
truths of the Bible. If God’s word were studied as it should be, men
would have a breadth of mind, a nobility of character, and a stability