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Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers
The Work for this Time
The great work for this time demands that men shall go every-
where, nigh and afar off, into the highways and hedges, to diffuse
light, holding forth the words of life. Has God laid upon one man
or a council of men to take this work into their hands, as though the
workers, God’s own property, were to be under their control?
The business connected with the work of God in any and every
branch requires men who are working in harmony with God, for
power and success in the work can be attained only through the
cooperation of the human and the divine. Without the best of evi-
dence that one understands heavenly and eternal things, he should
not be authorized to minister in matters connected with the work that
concerns the salvation of souls for whom Christ has died. Unsancti-
fied hands and brains have had altogether too much power entrusted
to them, and very unwise moves have been made, that are not in
accordance with the will and ways of God.
No man is a proper judge of another man’s duty. Man is re-
sponsible to God; and as finite, erring men take into their hands the
jurisdiction of their fellowmen, as if the Lord commissioned them to
lift up and cast down, all heaven is filled with indignation. There are
strange principles being established in regard to the control of the
minds and works of men, by human judges, as though these finite
men were gods.
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And how is it with some who are bearing these sacred respon-
sibilities? Men who are not spiritually minded, who are not con-
secrated to God, have no commission to perform, nor authority to
exercise, in regard to the willing or doing of their fellowmen. But
unless men are daily in communion with God, instead of seeking
Him with all their heart for a fitness for the work, they will assume
the power of dictation over the conscience of others. A sense of
the divine presence would awe and subdue the soul, but this they
have not. Without the love of God burning in the soul, love to men
grows cold. Their hearts are not touched at the sight of human woe.
Selfishness has left its defiling imprint on life and character, and
some will never lose this image and superscription.
Is the working of the cause of God to be entrusted to such hands?
Are souls for whom Christ has died, to be manipulated at the will of