Testimonies for the Church Volume 1 - A New You Ministry

testimony in your case. There you can see what is required of you to become aChristian. Do not lay off your armor, or leave the battlefield until you have obtainedthe victory, and triumph in your Redeemer.*****Chap. 28 - Church TrialsThe following view was given at Ulysses, Pennsylvania, July 6, 1857. It relates tothings as they have existed in—–and other places in New York.There have been so many church trials among the brethren in the State of NewYork, that God has not had the least to do with, that the church have lost their strength,and they know not how to regain it. Love for one another has disappeared, and afaultfinding, accusing spirit has prevailed. It has been considered a virtue to hunt upeverything about one another that looked wrong, and make it appear fully as bad as itreally was. The bowels of compassion that yearn in love and pity toward brethren, havenot existed. The religion of some has consisted in faultfinding, picking at everythingbearing the appearance of wrong, until the noble feelings of the soul are withered. Themind should be elevated to dwell upon eternal scenes, heaven, its treasures, its glories,and should take sweet and holy satisfaction in the truths of the Bible. It should loveto feed upon the precious promises that God’s word affords, draw comfort from them,and be lifted above trifles to weighty, eternal things.But, oh, how differently has the mind been employed! Picking at straws! Churchmeetings, as they have been held, have been a living curse to many in New York.These manufactured trials have given full liberty to evil surmising. Jealousy has beenfed. Hatred has existed, but they knew it not. A wrong idea has been in the minds ofsome, to reprove without love, hold others to their idea of what is right, and spare not,but bear down with crushing weight.164