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Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers
I am free to say to our brethren who with humility of heart are
following the counsel of the Lord: If you know that God would have
you engage in any work, go forward. Those who have the light and
consciousness that God is leading need not depend upon any human
agent to define their work. They are to receive the counsel of the
highest Authority. Safety and peace and calm assurance are to be
found only by following the counsel of the greatest Teacher that ever
lived in our world. Let us not turn away from His unerring counsel.
But our impressions are not always a safe guide to duty. Human
impulse will try to make us believe that it is God who is guiding us
when we are following our own way. But if we watch carefully, and
counsel with our brethren, we shall understand; for the promise is,
“The meek will He guide in judgment: and the meek will He teach
His way.” We must not allow human ideas and natural inclinations
to gain the supremacy.
An Appeal for Unity
Workers for Christ are to strive for unity. We are the children of
the same family, and have one heavenly Father. Let us not put on
garments of heaviness, and cherish doubts and a lack of confidence
in our brethren. We should not hurt our souls by gathering the thistles
and the thorns, but instead we should gather the roses and the lilies
and the pinks, and express their fragrance in our words and acts.
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The following is part of a talk given to the ministers assembled
at the General Conference in 1883:
“‘Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things
are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,
whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if
there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.’
“The dealings of God with His people often appear mysterious.
His ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts. Many
times His way of dealing is so contrary to our plans and expectations
that we are amazed and confounded. We do not understand our
perverse natures; and often when we are gratifying self, following
our own inclinations, we flatter ourselves that we are carrying out
the mind of God. And so we need to search the Scriptures, and be