Brother Y, God has been very merciful to you and Brother X. Life, that has been so precarious with you both, He has graciously spared. Days, months, and years have been granted, bringing you opportunities to develop character. God has placed you in connection with His work, that you might become imbued with the spirit of Christ. Every day, every hour, comes to you as a blood-bought privilege, that you may not only work out your own salvation, but may be an agent in bringing souls to Christ, building up His kingdom, and making manifest the glory of God. God calls for heart and devotion to the work. Those who are indeed laborers together with God, will carry the burden of the work, and like the minister whom He shall send, they will feel, “Woe is me if I fail to stand faithful and true to my position of trust.” (2SM 214.1) MC VC

My brother, if you have no more heart interest in the work than is indicated by the fact that you can drop it so easily, I have nothing to say, no plea to make for you to remain in the office, or for Brother X to return to it. You both reveal that you are not men that can be depended upon. And an example that would be given in offering you additional inducements to remain would not be pleasing to God. (2SM 214.2) MC VC

I would not for one moment present to you or any other man a bribe of dollars and cents to hold you in connection with the work, whatever inconvenience it might suffer for a time because of your withdrawal from it. Christ stands at the helm. If His Spirit does not make you willing to be anything or do anything for the truth’s sake, then you can learn that lesson only by passing through trial. God will test the faith of every soul. Christ has purchased us at an infinite sacrifice. Although He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that we through His poverty might come in possession of eternal riches. All that we possess of ability and intellect is only that which the Lord has lent us in trust to use for Him. It is our privilege to be partakers with Christ in His sacrifice if we will. (2SM 214.3) MC VC

Your heart is sad and grieved, but no longer deceive yourself, or expect that men and women will value the light that God has given them from His own holiness, until they shall open their hearts to Jesus. “Lean on Me,” He says, “trust in Me: I will never fail you; I will be to you a present help in every time of need.” (2SM 218.1) MC VC

I have been shown that all who now occupy important positions in the Review office will be tested. If they will make Christ their pattern, He will give them wisdom and knowledge and understanding; they will grow in grace and aptitude in Christ’s way; their characters will be molded after His similitude. If they fail to keep the way of the Lord, another spirit will control the mind and judgment, and they will devise plans without the Lord, and will take their own course, and leave the positions they have occupied. The light has been given them; If they depart from it, and follow their own course, let no man present a bribe to induce them to remain. They will be a hindrance and a snare. The time has come when everything is to be shaken that can be shaken, that those things that cannot be shaken may remain.—Letter 20a, 1893. (2SM 218.2) MC VC