Testimonies for the Church, Volume 2 - Ellen G. White

workmen that need not be ashamed. If they refuse
this strict discipline, God will release them and
select men who will not rest until they are
thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Our
hearts are naturally sinful, and slothful in the
service of Christ; and we need to be guarded
constantly, or we shall fail to endure hardness as
good soldiers of Christ; and we shall not feel the
necessity of aiming vigorous blows against
besetting sins, but will readily yield to the
suggestions of Satan and raise a standard for
ourselves rather than accept the pure and elevated
standard that God has raised for us.
I saw that the Sabbathkeeping ministers of
Maine have failed to become Bible students. They
have not felt the necessity of a diligent study of the
word of God for themselves, that they might be
thoroughly furnished unto all good works; neither
have they felt the necessity of urging the close
searching of the Scriptures upon their hearers. If
there had not been one Seventh-day Adventist
minister in Maine to oppose the counsel of God, all
that has been accomplished might have been done
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