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Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers
and service of the church are required to be according to the talents
received. Her faith and obedience should be equal to the amount
which a faithful improvement of her light and opportunities would
have gained for her in moral and spiritual elevation.
But many—not a few, but
many
—have been losing their spiritual
zeal and consecration, and turning away from the light that has been
constantly growing brighter and brighter, and have refused to walk
in the truth because its sanctifying power upon the soul was not
what they desired. They might have been renewed in holiness and
have reached the elevated standard that God’s word demands; but
condemnation is upon them. Many ministers and many people are in
darkness. They have lost sight of the Leader, the Light of the world;
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and their guilt is proportionate to the grace and truth opened to their
understanding, which has been abundant and powerful.
Lift Up the Standard
God calls His people to elevate the standard. The church must
show their zeal for God in dealing with those who have, while
professing great faith, been putting Christ to open shame. They have
imperiled the truth. They have been unfaithful sentinels. They have
brought reproach and dishonor upon the cause of God. The time has
come for earnest and powerful efforts to rid the church of the slime
and filth which is tarnishing her purity. The church of Christ is called
to be a holy, powerful people, a name and praise in all the earth.
There has been opened a fountain for Judah and Jerusalem, to wash
from all uncleanness and sin. There is an astonishing backsliding
with God’s people, to whom has been entrusted sacred, holy truth.
Her faith, her service, her works, must be compared to what they
would have been if her course had been continually onward and
upward, according to grace and holy truth given her.
In this balance of the sanctuary, the individual members of the
Christian church will be weighed; and if her moral character and
spiritual state do not correspond to the benefits and blessings con-
ferred upon her, she will be found wanting. If the fruit does not
appear, then God is not glorified.