Danger in Adopting Worldly
259
“But not all are following the light. Some are moving away from
the safe path, which at every step is a path of humility. God has
committed to His servants a message for this time; but this message
does not in every particular coincide with the ideas of all the leading
men, and some criticize the message and the messengers. They dare
even to reject the words of reproof sent to them from God through His
Holy Spirit.
“What reserve power has the Lord with which to reach those who
have cast aside His warnings and reproofs, and have accredited the
Testimonies of the Spirit of God to no higher source that human wis-
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dom? In the judgment, what can you who have done this, offer to God
as an excuse for turning from the evidences He has given you that God
was in the work? ‘By their fruits ye shall know them.’ I would not now
rehearse before you the evidences given in the past two years of the
dealings of God by His chosen servants; but the present evidence of
His working is revealed to you, and you are now under obligation to
believe. You cannot neglect God’s messages of warning, you cannot
reject them or treat them lightly, but at the peril of infinite loss.
“Caviling, ridicule, and misrepresentation can be indulged in only
at the expense of the debasement of your own souls. The use of such
weapons does not gain precious victories for you, but rather cheapens
the mind, and separates the soul from God. Sacred things are brought
down to the level of the common, and a condition of things is created
that pleases the prince of darkness, and grieves away the Spirit of God.
Caviling and criticism leave the soul as devoid of the dew of grace as
the hills of Gilboa were destitute of rain. Confidence cannot be placed
in the judgment of those who indulge in ridicule and misrepresentation.
No weight can be attached to their advice or resolutions. You must
bear the divine credentials before you make decided movements to
shape the working of God’s cause.
“To accuse and criticize those whom God is using, is to accuse
and criticize the Lord, who has sent them. All need to cultivate their
religious faculties, that they may have a right discernment of religious
things. Some have failed to distinguish between pure gold and mere
glitter, between the substance and the shadow.
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“The prejudices and opinions that prevailed at Minneapolis are not
dead by any means; the seeds sown there in some hearts are ready
to spring into life and bear a like harvest. The tops have been cut