80
Testimonies to Southern Africa
approaching God. So careful were they to be in regard to their persons
that they were not to ascend to the altar by steps, lest some part of
the person should be exposed. All these things were to have the most
careful attention.
Educate, educate, educate. Parents who receive the truth are to
conform their habits and practices to the directions God has given.
The Lord desires all to remember that the service of God is a pure and
holy service, and that those who receive the truth must be purified in
disposition, in temper, in heart, in conversation, in the dress and in
the home, so that the angels of God, unseen by them, shall come in to
minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation.
All who join the church should reveal a transformation of character
which shows their reverence for holy things. Their whole life should
be moulded after the refinement of Christ Jesus. Those who join
the church are to be humble enough to receive instruction on the
points wherein they are remiss, and wherein they can and must change.
They must exert a Christian influence. Those who make no change
in words or deportment, in their dress or in their homes, are living
unto themselves and not unto Christ. They have not been created
anew in Christ Jesus, unto the purifying of the heart and the outward
surroundings.
Christians will be judged by the fruit they bear in reformatory
work. Every true Christian will show what the truth of the gospel has
done for him. He who has been made a son of God must practise
habits of neatness and cleanliness. Every action, however small, has
an influence. The Lord desires to make every human being an agency
through whom Christ can manifest His Holy Spirit. Christians are in no
case to be careless or indifferent in regard to their outward appearance.
They are to be neat and trim, though without adornment. They are to
be pure inside and out.
We are to act as Christ’s property, His sons and daughters. To all
who receive Him He gives power to become His sons and daughters,
[88]
even to those who believe on His name. They are then newborn souls,
translated into the kingdom of God. “And the Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” The power of God is
to work in the character of every one who is born again. We are God’s
property, and He wants every one to be a co-labourer with Him. No