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"The Endowment"
by Earl R. Curry
Characteristic No. 8: There shall be an endowment of purification of mind,
spirit, and purpose.
The working out, the achieving of the high purposes of life
which are dear to the heart of Him who is the Eternal Father,
in the finest and deepest meanings of that name,
require extraordinary men and women in the body of the church.
Ordinary men could not be trusted with the great powers which shall
arise out of the endowment because of their narrow, self-
centeredness that is so much a part of ordinary life.
These great powers can only be delegated or placed upon His servants and His
people as they are extraordinarily purified in
body,
mind,
spirit, and
purpose.
Therefore, to Malachi, centuries ago, was shown these things, when he wrote,
"Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me;
and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple,
even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in;
behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.
But who may abide the day of His coming?
And who shall stand when he appeareth?
For He is like a refiner's fire, and like a fuller's soap; and
He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and
He shall purify the sons of Levi (those who are ministers)
and purge them as gold and silver,
that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in
righteousness."
Now, in this day,
when the mighty Lord of Hosts is about to send this His great messenger for
that which He has to do,
in this His day of preparation,
ere the great Father shall make bare His arm in extraordinary power--
whosoever will, let himself be purified.
The dross of whatever is
evil, or
worldly, or
narrow and shortsighted, or
selfish, or
hateful, or
ignoble, or
base--
all these must be burned out, and in their place be established
goodness,
high spirituality,
mountain-top breadth of vision and understanding of what is possible for life,
great love and finest motives of brotherhood,
Christ-like nobility of character, and
utter purification of mind and spirit and purpose.
How shall the Lord of Hosts accomplish all this purification,
seeing that man's hearts are so often as tho made of stone, and
seeing also that so often they
trust so greatly in themselves, and
are content with things as they are?
This purification must first come thru trial,
even a great trial which shall engulf the nations of men.
The people of the church and the covenant people shall inevitably be
affected by that day of trial.
By these trials shall the heart of the world be humbled, and
by them also shall even the heart of the chosen people be humbled.
Men and women of the world and of the church
must be made aware, at long last, that
the wisdom of this world will perish, but
the wisdom of God will endure forever; they
must be made to know that only as they trust in the great Father and
His ways
are golden days possible and
is salvation possible, both here and hereafter.
Isaiah saw this long ago when he cried with a loud voice that has been heard down
thru the centuries since,
"Behold the Lord will come with fire, and with His chariots like a whirlwind,
to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire.
For by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh....
That they may sanctify themselves and purify themselves...in the
greatest garden of the Lord, which is the earth."
Also He said, in the days of Melchisedec, concerning the last days,
that the sons of God should be tried as by fire.
By many such means shall there be a beginning of special purification.
This purification shall proceed
as men shall come together
in a most hallowed association.
Even as like cleaves to like
and goodness to goodness,
just so will noble qualities,
brought to the fore in
the experiences of the school of the prophets and
the endowment,
cleave unto one another.
By contagious example shall the dross be set to one side
and goodness exalted.
This purification shall come about because of
the exalted spiritual experiences that shall be shared.
The guidance men have received,
the deep things of the Spirit they have been led to understand,
the miraculous testimonies related,
the widening of horizons they shall experience,
the ministry of angelic hosts in marvelous ways,
the visitation of those who have tarried--
how could anyone
partake of, or
share, or
experience all these bountiful blessings of the great Father
and not be purified from the sins of the world?
Then highest of all,
to be in the presence of the radiant Son of God.
Surely by all these would the sons of Levi
be purified and
made worthy
to offer a great offering in righteousness,
or even of a much more complete achievement, Zion, and
even the preaching of the
real and
complete and
spirit-tested gospel in all the world ere the end comes!
This purification will be
from the lusts of the flesh,
from the temptation of the devil,
from evil ways and thoughts,
from selfishness,
from personal glorification,
from narrow and unholy purposes,
and the like.
Out of the grand experiences of these days will come liberation from the
sins of the flesh, which as men give way to them,
bind them as with chains.
Out of the glory of these days shall arise a brotherhood of extraordinary ministers and
people whom God can and
shall wondrously use to achieve His purposes,
in the noblest of all possible associations--
even God working with man and man with God--
both doing so sacrificially and with glorious ends in view.
By all these things, as you shall individually and collectively carry them out,
shall the ministry of this day be made ready for the crowning experiences of the
Endowment.
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