The Lord does not forsake His faithful
workmen. Bear in mind that our life in this world is but a pilgrimage,
that heaven is the home to which we are going. Have faith in
God. If my words have wounded and bruised your soul, I am sorry;
I am wounded and bruised also. Our work, a strange work, a great
work, given us by God, links us heart and soul together. You
dare not throw off your armor. You must wear it till the end.
When the Lord releases you, it will be time for you to lay your
armor at His feet. You have enlisted in His army to serve till
the close of the battle, and you would not disgrace yourself
and dishonor God by deserting.
May the Lord open to you many matters that
He has opened to me. Satan is watching his opportunity to dishonor
the cause of God. I have been shown your peril, and I have also
been shown your guardian angel preserving you again and again
from yourself, keeping you from making shipwreck of faith. My
brother, lift up the standard, lift it up, and be not fainthearted
or discouraged.
I have given the leading men in the General
Conference and the Mission Board the light given me by God: that
you and they should counsel together; that, instead of holding
themselves aloof, they should be your fellow helpers; that you
had been ordained by God to stand in a position of trust, and
you needed help instead of censure.
In the intensity of my desire that you
should make straight paths for your feet, I have written earnest
words to you, but never, never, to denounce or condemn you. Oh,
that God would make you understand that my deep interest in you
has not changed in the least. I have a most earnest desire that
you shall stand fast in God, firm, tried, and true. I know that
the Lord wants you to have the crown of victory.
"When He ascended up on high, He led
captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. . . . And He gave
some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and
some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints,
for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of
Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure
of the stature of the fullness of Christ: that we henceforth
be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with
every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness,
whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in
love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head,
even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together and
compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the
effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase
of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Ephesians 4:8-16.