Brethren and sisters, I wish to excite in your minds disgust for your present limited ideas of God’s cause and work. I want you to comprehend the great sacrifice that Christ made for you when He became poor, that through His poverty you might come into possession of eternal riches. Oh! do not, by your indifference to the eternal weight of glory which is within your reach, cause angels to weep and hide their faces in shame and disgust. Arouse from your lethargy; arouse every God-given faculty, and work for precious souls for whom Christ died. These souls, if brought to the fold of Christ, will live through the ceaseless ages of eternity; and will you plan to do as little as possible for their salvation, while, like the man with the one talent, you invest your means in the earth? Like that unfaithful servant, are you charging God with reaping where He has not sown, and gathering where He has not strewed?
(5T 271.1)
MC
VC
All that you have and are belongs to God. Then will you not say from the heart: “All things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee?”(1 Chronicles 29:14) “Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase.”Proverbs 3:9. Paul thus exhorts his Corinthian brethren to Christian beneficence: “As ye abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.”2 Corinthians 8:7. In his epistle to Timothy he says: “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.”1 Timothy 6:17-19.
(5T 271.2)
MC
VC
Liberality is not so natural to us that we gain this virtue by accident. It must be cultivated. We must deliberately resolve that we will honor God with our substance; and then we must let nothing tempt us to rob Him of the tithes and offerings that are His due. We must be intelligent, systematic, and continuous in our acts of charity to men and our expressions of gratitude to God for His bounties to us. This is too sacred a duty to be left to chance or to be controlled by impulse or feeling. We should regularly reserve something for God’s cause, that He may not be robbed of the portion which He claims. When we rob God we rob ourselves also. We give up the heavenly treasure for the sake of having more of this earth. This is a loss that we cannot afford to sustain. If we live so that we can have the blessing of God we shall have His prospering hand with us in our temporal affairs, but if His hand is against us He can defeat all our plans and scatter faster than we can gather.
(5T 271.3)
MC
VC
I was shown that the situation of things in these two conferences is sad indeed; but God has many precious souls here over whom He has a jealous care, and He will not leave them to be deceived and misled.
(5T 272.1)
MC
VC
There is precious talent in the churches in Oregon and Washington Territory; and had it been developed by well-directed labor, there might now be efficient workers in these conferences. A live church is always a working church. The truth is a power, and those who see its force will stand boldly and fearlessly in its defense. Truth must be apprehended by the intellect, received into the heart, and its principles incorporated into the character; and then there must be a constant effort to win others to accept it, for God holds men responsible for the use they make of the light He imparts to them.
(5T 272.2)
MC
VC
The Lord calls upon all His people to improve the ability He has given them. The mental powers should be developed to the utmost; they should be strengthened and ennobled by dwelling upon spiritual truths. If the mind is allowed to run almost entirely upon trifling things and the common business of everyday life, it will, in accordance with one of its unvarying laws, become weak and frivolous, and deficient in spiritual power.
(5T 272.3)
MC
VC