Testimony for the Church — No. 17

Epistle Number Six

Dear Bro. ——: While at —— —— one year ago, we labored for your interest. I had been shown your dangers, and we were desirous of saving you; but we see you have not had strength to carry out the resolutions there made. I am troubled over the matter, and fear that I was not as faithful as I should have been in bringing all I knew of your case before you. Some things I withheld from you. While in Battle Creek in June, I was again shown that you were not making any advance, and the reason you were not is because you have not made a clean track behind you. You do not enjoy religion; you have departed from God and righteousness. You have been seeking happiness in the wrong way—in forbidden pleasures; and you have not moral courage to confess your sins, and forsake them, that you may find mercy. T17 118.2

You did not put sin away; you did not view it heinous in the sight of God. You did not make thorough work; and when the enemy came in with his temptations, you did not resist him. Had you seen how offensive sin was in the sight of God, you would not have so readily yielded to temptation. You were not so thoroughly converted as to abhor your life of sin and fully. Sin yet seemed pleasant unto you. You were loth to yield up its delusive pleasures. Your inmost soul was not converted, and you soon lost that which you had gained. T17 119.1

Personal vanity in your case, as well as in many others, has been a special hindrance to you. You have ever had a love of praise. This has been a snare to you. Your professed friends have shown a special pleasure in your society, which has gratified you. Soft and sympathetic women have praised you, and appeared charmed with your society; and you have felt a fascinating power upon you in their company. You did not realize while spending your hours in pleasure-seeking, which belonged to your family, that Satan was weaving his net about your feet. T17 119.2

Satan has temptations laid for every step of your life. You have not been as economical of means as you should have been. You hate stinginess. This is all right; but you go to the opposite extreme, and your course has been marked with prodigality. T17 119.3

Christ taught a lesson to his disciples in feeding the five thousand. He wrought a great miracle, and fed that vast multitude with five and two small fishes. After all had been satisfied, he did not then regard the fragments indifferently, as if they were beneath his dignity to notice. He who had power to work so notable a miracle, and to give food to so large a company, said to his disciples, “Gather up the fragments, that nothing be lost.” This is a lesson to us all, which we should not disregard. T17 119.4

You have a great work before you, and you cannot afford to waste another moment of time without taking hold of the work. Bro. ——, I am alarmed for you; but I know that God loves you still, although your course has been wayward. If he did not have a special love for you, he would not present your dangers before me as he has. You have engaged in jesting and sporting with men and women who have not the fear of God before them. Weak-headed and unprincipled superficial women have retained you in their presence, and you were like a charmed bird. You seemed fascinated. Angels of God were upon your track, and have faithfully recorded every act, every instance of wrong, of departure from virtue's path. T17 120.1

Yes, every act, however secret you may have thought you were in its committal, has been open to God, to Christ, and to the holy angels. A book is written of all the doings of the children of men. Not an item of this record of acts can be concealed. T17 120.2

There is only one provision made for the transgressor. Faithful repentance and confession of sin, and faith in the cleansing blood of Christ, will bring forgiveness, and pardon will be written against his name. T17 120.3

O my brother, had you made thorough work one year ago, the past precious year need not have been to you worse than a blank. You knew your Master's will, but did it not. You are in a perilous condition. Your sensibilities have been blunted to spiritual things; you have a violated conscience. Your influence is not to gather, but to scatter. You have no special interest in religious exercises. You are not a happy man. Your wife would unite her interest with the people of God, if you would get out of her way. She needs your help. Will you take hold of this work together? T17 120.4

Last June, I saw that your only hope of breaking the chain of your bondage was a removal from your associates. You had yielded to Satan's temptations until you were a weak man. You were a lover of pleasure more than a lover of God. You were fast traveling the downward path. And I have been disappointed that you have continued in the same indifferent state in which you have been for years. T17 121.1

You have known and experienced the love of God; and it has been your delight to do his will. You have delighted in the study of the word of God. You have been punctual at the prayer-meetings. Your testimony has been from a heart which felt the quickening influences of the love of Christ. T17 121.2

But you have lost your first love. God now calls upon you to repent, to be zealous in the work. Your eternal happiness will be determined by the course you now pursue. Can you reject the invitations of mercy now offered? Can you choose your own way? Will you cherish pride and vanity, and lose your soul at last? The word of God plainly tells us how few will be saved, and that the greatest number of even those who are called, will prove themselves unworthy of everlasting life. They will have no part in Heaven, but will have their portion with Satan, and experience the second death. T17 121.3

Men and women may escape this doom if they will. It is true, Satan is the great originator of sin; yet this does not excuse any man for sinning; for he cannot force men to do evil. He tempts them to it, and makes sin look enticing and pleasant; but he has to leave it to their own wills whether they will do it or not. He does not force men to become intoxicated, neither does he take hold of them, and compel them by force to remain away from religious meetings; but he will present temptations in a manner to allure to evil, and man is a free moral agent to accept or refuse. T17 122.1

Conversion is a work that most do not appreciate. It is not a small matter to transform an earthly, sin-loving mind, and bring it up to Heaven, to understand the unspeakable love of Christ and the charms of his grace, and the excellency of God, till his soul is imbued with divine love, and captivated with the heavenly mysteries. When he understands these things, his former life will appear disgusting and hateful. He hates sin. He breaks his heart before God, and embraces Christ as the life and joy of the soul. He renounces his former pleasures. He has a new mind, new affections, new interest, new will. His sorrows, and desires, and love, are all new. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, which have heretofore been preferred before Christ, are now turned from, and Christ is claimed as the charm of his life, his crown of rejoicing. Heaven, which possessed no charms, is now viewed in its riches and glory; and he contemplates it as his future home, where he shall see, love, and praise Him who hath redeemed him by his precious blood. The works of holiness which appeared wearisome, are now his delight. The word of God, which was dull and uninteresting, is now chosen as his study, the man of his counsel. It is as a letter written to him from God, bearing the inscription of the Eternal. His thoughts, his words, and his deeds are brought to this rule and tested. He trembles at the commands and threatenings, while he firmly grasps the promises, and strengthens his soul by appropriating them to himself. T17 122.2

The society of the most godly is now chosen by him, and the wicked, whose company he once loved, he no longer delights in. He weeps over the sins in them, at which he once laughed. Self-love and vanity are renounced, and he lives unto God, and is rich in good works. This is the sanctification God requires. Nothing short of this will he accept. T17 123.1

I beg of you, my brother, to enter into an earnest search of your heart, and inquire, What road am I traveling, and where will it end? You have reason to rejoice that your life has not been cut off while you have no certain hope of eternal life. God forbid that you should longer neglect this work, and so perish in your sins. Do not flatter your soul with false hopes. You see no way to get bold again, but one so humble that you cannot consent to accept it. T17 123.2

Christ presents to you, even to you, my erring brother, a message of mercy, “Come, for all things are now ready.” God is ready to accept you, and pardon all your transgressions, if you will but come. Though you have been a prodigal, and have separated from God, and staid away from him so long, he will meet you even now. Yes; the Majesty of Heaven invites you to come to him, that you may have life. Christ is ready to cleanse you from sin when you lay hold upon him. What profit have you found in serving sin? what profit in serving the flesh and the Devil? Is it not poor wages you receive? Oh! turn ye, turn ye; for why will ye die? T17 123.3

You have had many convictions and many pangs of conscience. You have had so many purposes, and made so many promises; and yet you linger, you will not come to Christ, that you may have life. Oh! that your heart may feel, and be impressed with, a sense of this time, that you may now turn and live. Cannot you hear the voice of the true Shepherd in this message? How can you disobey? Trifle not with God, lest he leave you to your own crooked ways. It is life or death with you. Which will you choose? It is a fearful thing to contend with, and resist, God. You may have the love of God burning upon the altar of your heart as you have once felt it. You may commune with God as you have done. You may again experience the riches of his grace, and your countenance express his love, if you will make a clean track behind you. T17 124.1

It is not required of you to confess to those who know not your sin and errors. It is not your duty to publish a confession which will lead unbelievers to triumph; but to those to whom it is proper, who will take no advantage of your wrong, confess according to the word of God, and let them pray for you, and God will accept your work, and will heal you. For your soul's sake, be entreated to make thorough work for eternity. Lay aside your pride, your vanity, and make straight work. Come back again to the fold. The Shepherd is waiting to receive you. Repent, and do your first works, and again come into favor with God. T17 124.2

E. G. W.

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