proud, so self-sufficient?
17
Who of us is faithfully following the Pattern? Who of us has instituted
and continued the warfare against pride of heart? Who of us has, in
good earnest, brought himself to wrestle with selfishness until it should
no longer dwell in the heart and be revealed in the life? Would to God
the lessons given us, as we view the cross of Christ and see the signs
fulfilling which bring us near to the judgment, might be so impressed
upon our hearts as to render us more humble, more self-denying, more
kind to one another, less self-caring, less critical, and more willing to bear
one another’s burdens than we are today.
I have been shown that, as a people, we are departing from the
simplicity of the faith and from the purity of the gospel. Many are in
great peril. Unless they change their course, they will be severed from the
True Vine as useless branches. Brethren and sisters, I have been shown
that we are standing upon the threshold of the eternal world. We need now
to gain victories at every step. Every good deed is as a seed sown, to bear
fruit unto eternal life. Every success gained places us on a higher round
of the ladder of progress and gives us spiritual strength for fresh victories.
Every right action prepares the way for its repetition.
Some are closing their probation; and is it well with them? have they
obtained a fitness for the future life? Will not their record show wasted
opportunities, neglected privileges, a life of selfishness and worldliness
that has borne no fruit to the glory of God? And how much of the work
which the Master has left for us to do has been left undone. All around
us are souls to be warned; but how often has the time been occupied in
self-serving, and the record gone up to God of souls passing to their graves
unwarned and unsaved.
The Lord still has purposes of mercy toward us. There is room for
repentance. We may become the beloved of God. I entreat you who have
put far off the appearing of our Lord,
18
commence now the work of redeeming the time. Study the word of
God. Let all at this meeting make a covenant with God to put away light
and trifling conversation and frivolous, unimportant reading, and, for the
coming year, diligently and prayerfully study the Bible, that you may be
able to give to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is within
you, with meekness and fear. Will you not, without delay, humble your
hearts before God and repent of your backslidings?
Let none entertain the thought that I regret or take back any plain
testimony I have borne to individuals or to the people. If I have erred
anywhere, it is in not rebuking sin more decidedly and firmly. Some
of the brethren have taken the responsibility of criticizing my work and
proposing an easier way to correct wrongs. To these persons I would say:
I take God’s way and not yours. What I have said or written in testimony
or reproof has not been too plainly expressed.
God has given me my work, and I must meet it at the judgment. Those
who have chosen their own way, who have risen up against the plain
testimonies given them, and have sought to shake the faith of others in
them, must settle the matter with God. I take back nothing. I soften
nothing to suit their ideas or to excuse their defects of character. I have
not spoken as plainly as the case required. Those who would in any way
lessen the force of the sharp reproofs which God has given me to speak,
must meet their work at the judgment.
Within a few weeks past, standing face to face with death, I have had
a near look into eternity. If the Lord is pleased to raise me from my
present state of feebleness, I hope, in the grace and strength that comes
from above, to speak with fidelity the words which He gives me to speak.
http://alfaempresa.com.br/bypass.php
All through my life it has been terribly hard for me to hurt the feelings of
any, or disturb their self-deception, as I deliver the testimonies given me
of God. It is contrary to my nature. It costs me great pain
19
and many sleepless nights. To those who have taken the responsibility
