Sanctification of heart and life is alone acceptable with God. Said the angel, as he pointed to the ministers who are not right: “Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.”(James 4:8) “Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord.” Isaiah 52:11. God calls for integrity of soul; for truth in the inward parts, transforming the entire man by the renewing of the mind through the influences of the divine Spirit. Not all the ministers are devoted to the work; not all have put their hearts into it. They move as listlessly as though a temporal millennium were allowed them in which to work for souls. They shun burdens and responsibilities, care and privations. Self-denial, suffering, and weariness are not pleasant nor convenient. It is the study of some to save themselves from wearing labor. They study their own convenience and how to please themselves, their wives, and their children; and the work upon which they have entered is nearly lost sight of. (2T 335.1) MC VC

God calls for humiliation of soul and humble confessions from the ministers whose works have not been wrought in Him. I was cited to men who engage in worldly enterprises. They know that if they would gain their object they must suffer fatigue. They sacrifice ease and love of home, and endure privations; they are persevering, energetic, and ardent. Our ministers do not all manifest half the zeal shown by those who are securing earthly gain. They are not as intent upon their purpose, nor as earnest in their efforts; they are not as persevering, and are not as willing to deny themselves, as those who engage in worldly pursuits. (2T 335.2) MC VC

Compare these two enterprises. One is certain, eternal, enduring as the life of God; the other is a thing of this life, changeable, perishable, and if men succeed in their ambitious pursuits, that which they gain frequently stings like an adder, and drowns them in perdition. Oh, why should there be so great a contrast in the efforts of those who are engaged—the one class in a worldly enterprise, the other in a heavenly? the one laboring for a treasure here that is perishable, and in the effort suffering much pain for that which is frequently a source of great evil, the other putting forth efforts for the salvation of precious souls, which will be approved of Heaven and rewarded with heavenly riches. There are no risks to run here, no losses to be sustained, the profits are sure and immense. (2T 335.3) MC VC