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The Voice in Speech and Song
power which God has given him, not simply to advance his temporal
affairs, but to advance his spiritual interests. Oh, that all might search
diligently to know what is truth, to study earnestly that they might
have correct language and cultivated voices, that they might present
the truth in all its elevated and ennobling beauty.
Let no one imagine that he will drift into some position of useful-
ness. If men would be used to work for God, let them put to the stretch
their powers, and concentrate their minds in earnest application. It
is Satan that would keep men in ignorance and inefficiency, that they
may be developed in a one-sided way which they may never be able
to correct. He would have men exercise one set of faculties to the
exclusion of the exercise of another set, so that the mind will lose its
vigor, and when there is a real necessity, be unable to rise to the emer-
gency. God wants men to do their best, and while Satan is pulling the
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mind in one direction, Jesus is drawing it in another.—
Fundamentals
of Christian Education, 256
.
Co-workers With the Holy Spirit—Some reason that the Lord
will qualify a man by His Spirit to speak as He would have him; but
the Lord does not propose to do the work which He has given man to
do. He has given us reasoning powers, and opportunities to educate the
mind and manners. And after we have done all we can for ourselves,
making the best use of the advantages within our reach, then we may
look to God with earnest prayer to do by His Spirit that which we
cannot do for ourselves—
The Review and Herald, February 5, 1880
.
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