We are one in faith in the fundamental truths of God’s word. And one object must be kept in view constantly, that is harmony and cooperation must be maintained without compromising one principle of truth. And while constantly digging for the truth as for hidden treasure, be careful how you open new and conflicting opinions. We have a worldwide message. The commandments of God and the testimonies of Jesus Christ are the burden of our work. To have unity and love for one another is the great work now to be carried on. There is danger of our ministers dwelling too much on doctrines, preaching altogether too many discourses on argumentative subjects when their own soul needs practical godliness. – {15MR 23.2} There has been a door thrown open for variance and strife and contention and differences which none of you can see but God. His eyes traces the beginning to the end. And the magnitude of mischief God alone knows. The bitterness, the wrath, the resentment, the jealousies, the heart burnings provoked by controversies of both sides of the question causes the loss of many souls. – {15MR 23.3} May the Lord give us to see the need of drinking from the living fountain of the water of life. Its pure streams will refresh and heal us and refresh all connected with us. Oh, if the hearts were only subdued by the Spirit of God! If the eye was single to God’s glory, what a flood of heavenly light would pour upon the soul. He who spake as never man spake was an educator upon earth. After His resurrection He was an educator to the lonely, disappointed disciples traveling to Emmaus, and to those assembled in the upper chamber. He opened to them the Scriptures concerning Himself and caused their hearts to be bound with a holy, new, and sacred hope and joy. – {15MR 23.4} From the Holy of Holies, there goes on the grand work of instruction. The angels of God are communicating to men. Christ officiates in the sanctuary. We do not follow Him into the sanctuary as we should. Christ and angels work in the hearts of the children of men. The church above, united with the church below, is warring the good warfare upon the earth. There must be a purifying of the soul here upon the earth, in harmony with Christ’s cleansing of the sanctuary in heaven. There we shall see more clearly as we are seen. We shall know as we are known. – {15MR 24.1} It is a melancholy and dispiriting thing to observe how little effect the solemn truths relating to these last days have upon the minds and hearts of those who claim to believe the truth. They listen to the discourses preached, they seem to be deeply interested as they hang upon the lips of the speaker, and if his words are sublime they are delighted; tears flow as the love of Christ is the theme brought before them. – {15MR 24.2} But with the close of the discourse the spell is broken. Enter the homes and you will be surprised to not hear one word that would lead you to think that a deep impression was made as the circumstances warranted in the presentation of such elevating things. It was exactly as if they had listened to some pleasant song or melody. It is done, and the impression gone like the morning dew before the sun. – {15MR 24.3} What is the reason of this? The truth is not brought into the life. They did not accept the truth spoken as the word of God to them. They did not look past the instrument to the great Worker within the heavenly sanctuary. They did not take the word as a special message from God, of whom the speaker was only the one who was entrusted with the message. It is then any marvel that the truth is so powerless, that with a large number, if there is some excitement, a little animal ecstasy, a little head knowledge, the influence is no deeper? – {15MR 25.1} There is altogether too much sermonizing. There is too little listening and hearing the voice of God, but hearing only the voice of man; and the hearers go to their homes with souls unnourished but empty as before, and prepared to sit in judgment upon the sermon, commenting upon it as they would upon a tragedy, reviewing the matter as a human effort. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” Fill the mind with the great humiliation of Christ, and then contemplate His divine character, His majesty and glory of the Highest, and His disrobing Himself of these and clothing His divinity with humanity. Then we can see a self-denial, a self-sacrifice, that was the marvel of angels. – {15MR 25.2}
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 13:10:23 +0000
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