Trial of our Faith
29
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 received 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 got
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
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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 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.
O, 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
now pardon all the transgressions of Israel, that they may be blotted out
before he leaves the Sanctuary. When Jesus leaves the Sanctuary, then
he that is 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.