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

did not awaken your interest. Here you could have
expended means, and run no risks, met no
disappointments, and in the end would have
received immense profits. Here you could have
invested in the never-failing bank of heaven. Here
you could have bestowed your treasures where no
thief approacheth nor rust corrupteth. This
enterprise is eternal and is as much nobler than any
earthly enterprise as the heavens are higher than
the earth.
Your children were not disciples of Christ.
They were in friendship with the world, and their
natural hearts desired to be like worldlings. The
lust of the eye and the pride of life controlled them
and have influenced you to a certain extent. You
have sought more earnestly to please and gratify
your children than to please and glorify God. You
have forgotten the claims of God upon you, and the
wants of His cause. Selfishness has led you to
expend money in ornaments for the gratification of
yourself and your children. You did not think that
this money was not yours; that it was only lent you
to test and prove you, to see if you would shun the
498