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The Great Controversy 1888
and forget to enumerate the good and noble deeds which God requires
of them, but which they have neglected to perform. It is not enough
that they are trees in the garden of God. They are to answer his expec-
tation by bearing fruit. He holds them accountable for their failure to
accomplish all the good which they could have done, through his grace
strengthening them. In the books of Heaven they are registered as
cumberers of the ground. Yet the case of even this class is not utterly
hopeless. With those who have slighted God’s mercy and abused his
grace, the heart of long-suffering love yet pleads. “Wherefore he saith,
Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall
give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, ... redeeming the
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time, because the days are evil.” [
Ephesians 5:14-16
.]
When the testing time shall come, those who have made God’s
Word their rule of life will be revealed. In summer there is no no-
ticeable difference between evergreens and other trees; but when the
blasts of winter come, the evergreens remain unchanged, while other
trees are stripped of their foliage. So the false-hearted professor may
not now be distinguished from the real Christian, but the time is just
upon us when the difference will be apparent. Let opposition arise, let
bigotry and intolerance again bear sway, let persecution be kindled,
and the half-hearted and hypocritical will waver and yield the faith;
but the true Christian will stand firm as a rock, his faith stronger, his
hope brighter, than in days of prosperity.
Says the psalmist: “Thy testimonies are my meditation.” “Through
thy precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.”
[
Psalm 119:99, 104
.]
“Happy is the man that findeth wisdom.” “He shall be as a tree
planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and
shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall
not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding
fruit.” [
Proverbs 3:13
;
Jeremiah 17:8
.]
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