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62
Early Writings
in heart. I saw that this bitter cup can be sweetened by patience,
endurance, and prayer, and that it will have its designed effect upon
the hearts of those who thus receive it, and God will be honored and
glorified. It is no small thing to be a Christian and to be owned and
approved of God. The Lord has shown me some who profess the
present truth, whose lives do not correspond with their profession.
They have the standard of piety altogether too low, and they come
far short of Bible holiness. Some engage in vain and unbecoming
conversation, and others give way to the risings of self. We must
not expect to please ourselves, live and act like the world, have its
pleasures, and enjoy the company of those who are of the world, and
reign with Christ in glory.
We must be partakers of Christ’s sufferings here if we would
share in His glory hereafter. If we seek our own interest, how we can
best please ourselves, instead of seeking to please God and advance
His precious, suffering cause, we shall dishonor God and the holy
cause we profess to love. We have but a little space of time left in
which to work for God. Nothing should be too dear to sacrifice for
the salvation of the scattered and torn flock of Jesus. Those who
make a covenant with God by sacrifice now will soon be gathered
home to share a rich reward and possess the new kingdom forever
and ever.
[48]
Oh, let us live wholly for the Lord and show by a well-ordered
life and godly conversation that we have been with Jesus and are His
meek and lowly followers. We must work while the day lasts, for
when the dark night of trouble and anguish comes, it will be too late
to work for God. Jesus is in His holy temple and will now accept our
sacrifices, our prayers, and our confessions of faults and sins and
will pardon all the transgressions of Israel, that they may be blotted
out before He leaves the sanctuary. When Jesus leaves the sanctuary,
then they who are holy and righteous will be holy and righteous still;
for all their sins will then be blotted out, and they will be sealed with
the seal of the living God. But those that are unjust and filthy will be
unjust and filthy still; for then there will be no Priest in the sanctuary
to offer their sacrifices, their confessions, and their prayers before
the Father’s throne. Therefore what is done to rescue souls from the
coming storm of wrath must be done before Jesus leaves the most
holy place of the heavenly sanctuary.