A
Memorial Dedication to All the Spiritual Cowards in the Hour of a
Religious Crisis
“If God abhors one sin above another, of which His people are guilty, it is doing nothing in case of an emergency. Indifference and neutrality in a religious crisis is regarded of God as a grievous crime and equal to the very worst type of hostility against God.” —Testimonies, vol. 3, page 281. ***
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Some who occupy the position of watchmen
to warn the people of danger have given up their watch and recline at ease.
They are unfaithful sentinels. They remain inactive, while their wily foe
enters the fort and works successfully by their side to tear down what God
has commanded to be built up. They see that Satan is deceiving the
inexperienced and unsuspecting; yet they take it all quietly, as though they
had no special interest, as though these things did not concern them. They
apprehend no special danger; they see no cause to raise an alarm. To them
everything seems to be going well, and they see no necessity of raising the
faithful, trumpet notes of warning which they hear borne by the plain
testimonies, to show the people their transgressions and the house of Israel
their sins. These reproofs and warnings disturb the quiet of these sleepy,
ease-loving sentinels, and they are not pleased. They say in heart, if not in
words: "This is all uncalled for. It is too severe, too harsh. These men
are unnecessarily disturbed and excited, and seem unwilling to give us any
rest or quietude 'Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the
congregation are holy, every one of them.' They are not willing that we
should have any comfort, peace, or happiness. It is active labor, toil, and
unceasing vigilance alone which will satisfy these unreasonable,
hard-to-be-suited watchmen. Why don't they prophesy smooth things, and cry:
Peace, peace? Then everything would move on smoothly." {2T 440.1} These are the true feelings of many of
our people. And Satan exults at his success in controlling the minds of so
many who profess to be Christians. He has deceived them, benumbed their
sensibilities, and planted his hellish banner right in their midst, and they
are so completely deceived that they know not that it is he. The people have
not erected graven images, yet their sin is no less in the sight of God. They
worship mammon. They love worldly gain. Some will make any sacrifice of
conscience to obtain their object. God's professed
441 people are selfish and self-caring. They love the things of this world, and
have fellowship with the works of darkness. They have pleasure in
unrighteousness. They have not love toward God nor love for their neighbors.
They are idolaters, and are worse, far worse, in the sight of God than the
heathen, graven-image worshipers who have no knowledge of a better way. {2T
440.2} Christ's followers are required to come
out from the world, and be separate, and touch not the unclean, and they have
the promise of being the sons and daughters of the Most High, members of the
royal family. But if the conditions are not complied with
on their part, they will not, cannot, realize the fulfillment of the promise.
A profession of Christianity is nothing in the sight of God; but true,
humble, willing obedience to His requirements designates the children of His
adoption, the recipients of His grace, the partakers
of His great salvation. Such will be peculiar, a spectacle unto the world, to
angels, and to men. Their peculiar, holy character will be discernible, and
will distinctly separate them from the world, from its affections and lust.
{2T 441.1} I saw that but few among us answer to
this description. Their love to God is in word, not in deed and in truth.
Their course of action, their works, testify of them
that they are not children of the light but of darkness. Their works have not
been wrought in God, but in selfishness, in unrighteousness. Their hearts are
strangers to His renewing grace. They have not experienced the transforming
power which leads them to walk even as Christ walked. Those who are living
branches of the heavenly Vine will partake of the sap and nourishment of the
Vine. They will not be withered and fruitless branches, but will show life
and vigor, and will flourish and bear fruit to the glory of God. They will be
careful to depart from all iniquity and to perfect holiness in the fear of
God. {2T 441.2} Like ancient Israel the church has
dishonored her God by 442 departing from the light, neglecting her duties, and abusing her high and
exalted privilege of being peculiar and holy in character. Her members have
violated their covenant to live for God and Him only. They have joined with
the selfish and world-loving. Pride, the love of pleasure, and sin have been cherished, and Christ has departed. His Spirit
has been quenched in the church. Satan works side by side with professed
Christians; yet they are so destitute of spiritual discernment that they do
not detect him. They have not the burden of the work. The solemn truths they
profess to believe are not a reality to them. They have not genuine faith.
Men and women will act out all the faith which they in reality possess. By their
fruits ye shall know them. Not their profession, but the fruit they bear,
shows the character of the tree. Many have a form of godliness, their names
are upon the church records; but they have a spotted record in heaven. The
recording angel has faithfully written their deeds. Every selfish act, every
wrong word, every unfulfilled duty, and every secret sin, with every artful
dissembling, is faithfully chronicled in the book of records kept by the
recording angel. {2T 441.3} Very many who profess to be servants of
Christ are none of His. They are deceiving their souls to their own
destruction. While they profess to be servants of Christ, they are not living
in obedience to His will. "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves
servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto
death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" Many, while professing to be
servants of Christ, are obeying another master, working daily against the
Master whom they profess to serve. "No man can serve two masters: for
either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the
one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." {2T 442.1} Earthly and selfish interests engage the
soul, mind, and 443 strength of God's professed followers. To all intents and purposes they are
servants of mammon. They have not experienced a crucifixion to the world,
with its affections and lusts. But few among the many who profess to be
Christ's followers can say in the language of the apostle: "God forbid
that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the
world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." "I am crucified
with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the
life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who
loved me, and gave Himself for me." If willing obedience and true love
characterize the lives of the people of God, their light will shine with a
holy brightness to the world. {2T 442.2} The words which Christ addressed to His
disciples were designed for all who should believe on His name: "Ye are
the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his
savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is
thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden underfoot
of men." A profession of godliness without the living principle is as
utterly valueless as salt without its saving properties. An unprincipled
professed Christian is a byword, a reproach to Christ, a dishonor to His
name. "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men
light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and
it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine
before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which
is in heaven." {2T 443.1} The good works of God's people have a
more powerful influence than words. By their virtuous life and unselfish acts
the beholder is led to desire the same righteousness which produced so good
fruit. He is charmed with that power from God which
transforms selfish human beings into the divine image,
and God is honored, His name glorified. But the Lord is 444 dishonored and His cause reproached by His people's being in bondage to the
world. They are in friendship with the world, the enemies of God. Their only
hope of salvation is to separate from the world and zealously maintain their
separate, holy, and peculiar character Oh! why will
not God's people comply with the conditions laid down in His word? If they
would do this they would not fail to realize the excellent blessings freely
given of God to the humble and obedient. {2T 443.2} I was amazed as I beheld the terrible
darkness of many of the members of our churches. The lack of true godliness
was such that they were bodies of darkness and death, instead of being the
light of the world. Many professed to love God, but in works denied Him. They
did not love, serve, nor obey Him. Their own selfish interests were primary.
With a large number there seemed to be an alarming lack of principle. They
were swayed by unconsecrated influence and seemed to have no root in
themselves. I inquired what these things meant. Why was there such a destitution of spirituality, so few who had a living
experience in religious things? I was referred to the words of the prophet:
"Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put
the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired
of at all by them? Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith
the Lord God; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in
his heart, and putteth the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face,
and cometh to the prophet; I the Lord will answer him that cometh according
to the multitude of his idols; that I may take the house of Israel in their
own heart, because they are all estranged from Me through their idols."
{2T 444.1} The people of God were represented to me
as in a backslidden state. They have not an eye single to the glory of God.
Their own glory is prominent. They seek to glorify themselves
445 and yet call themselves Christians. Holiness of heart and purity of life
was the great subject of the teachings of Christ. In His Sermon on the Mount,
after specifying what must be done in order to be blessed, and what must not
be done, He says: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your
Father which is in heaven is perfect." {2T 444.2} Perfection, holiness, nothing short of
this, would give them success in carrying out the principles He had given
them. Without this holiness the human heart is selfish, sinful, and vicious.
Holiness will lead its possessor to be fruitful and abound in all good works.
He will never become weary in well-doing, neither will he look for promotion
in this world. He will look forward for promotion to the time when the
Majesty of heaven shall exalt the sanctified ones to His throne. Then shall
He say unto them: "Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world." The Lord then
enumerates the works of self-denial and mercy, compassion and righteousness,
which they had wrought. Holiness of heart will produce right actions. It is
the absence of spirituality, of holiness, which leads to unrighteous acts, to
envy, hatred, jealousy, evil surmisings, and every hateful and abominable
sin. {2T 445.1} I have tried in the fear of God to set
before His people their danger and their sins, and have endeavored, to the
best of my feeble powers, to arouse them. I have stated startling things,
which, if they had believed, would have caused them distress and terror, and
led them to zeal in repenting of their sins and iniquities. I have stated
before them that, from what was shown me, but a small number of those now
professing to believe the truth would eventually be saved--not because they
could not be saved, but because they would not be saved in God's own
appointed way. The way marked out by our divine Lord is too narrow and the
gate too strait to admit them
446 while grasping the world or while cherishing selfishness or sin of any
kind. There is no room for these things; and yet there are but few who will
consent to part with them, that they may pass the narrow way and enter the
strait gate. {2T 445.2} The words of Christ are plain:
"Strive [agonize] to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto
you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able." Not all professed
Christians are Christians at heart. There are sinners in Zion now, as there
were anciently. Isaiah speaks of them in referring to the day of God:
"The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the
hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He
that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly, he that despiseth
the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands
from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from
hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell on
high: his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be
given him; his waters shall be sure." {2T 446.1} There are hypocrites now who will
tremble when they obtain a view of themselves. Their own vileness will
terrify them in that day which is soon to come upon us, a day when "the
Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their
iniquity." Oh, that terror might now lay hold
upon them, that they might have a vivid sense of their condition and arouse
while there is mercy and hope, confess their sins, and humble their souls
greatly before God, that He might pardon their transgressions and heal their
backslidings! The people of God are unready for the fearful, trying scenes
before us, unready to stand pure from evil and lust amid the perils and
corruptions of this degenerate age. They have not on the armor of
righteousness, and are unprepared to war against the prevailing iniquity.
Many are not obeying the commandments
447 of God, yet they
profess so to do. If they would be faithful to obey all the statutes of God
they would have a power which would carry conviction to the hearts of the
unbelieving. {2T 446.2} I have sought to do my duty. I have
pointed out the special sins of some. I was shown that in the wisdom of God
the sins and errors of all would not be revealed. All would have sufficient
light to see their sins and errors, if they desired to do so and earnestly
wished to put them away, and to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord.
They could see what sins God marked and reproved in others. If these were
cherished by themselves, they should know that they were abhorred of God and
were separated from Him; and that unless they earnestly and zealously set
about the work of putting them away they would be left in darkness. God is
too pure to behold iniquity. A sin is just as grievous
in His sight in one case as in another. No exception will be made by an
impartial God. All who are guilty are addressed in these individual
testimonies, although their names may not be attached to the special
testimony borne; and if individuals pass over and cover up their own sins
because their names are not especially called, they will not be prospered of
God. They cannot advance in the divine life, but will become darker and
darker, until the light of heaven will be entirely withdrawn. {2T 447.1} Those who profess godliness, yet are not
sanctified by the truth which they profess, will not change materially their
course of action, which they know is hateful before God, because they are not
subjected to the trial of being reproved individually for their sins. They
see, by the testimonies of others, their own case faithfully pointed out
before them. They are cherishing the same evil. By continuing their course of
sin, they are violating their consciences, hardening their hearts, and
stiffening their necks, just the same as though the testimony had been borne
directly to them. In passing on and
448 refusing to put away their sins and correct their wrongs by humble
confession, repentance, and humiliation, they choose their own way, and are
given up to the same, and are finally led captive by Satan at his will. They
may become quite bold because they are able to conceal their sins from others
and because the judgments of God do not come in a visible manner upon them.
They may be apparently prosperous in this world. They may deceive poor,
shortsighted mortals and be regarded as patterns of piety while in their
sins. But God cannot be deceived. "Because sentence against an evil work
is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set
in them to do evil. Though a sinner do evil an hundred times,
and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them
that fear God, which fear before Him: but it shall not be well with the wicked,
neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God." Although the life of a
sinner may be prolonged upon the earth, yet not in the earth made new. He
shall be of that number whom David mentions in his psalm: "For yet a
little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently
consider his place, and it shall not be. But the meek shall inherit the
earth." {2T 447.2} Mercy and truth are promised to the
humble and penitent, but judgments are prepared for the sinful and
rebellious. "Justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy
throne." A wicked and adulterous people will not escape the wrath of God
and the punishment they have justly earned. Man has fallen; and it will be
the work of a lifetime, be it longer or shorter, to recover from that fall,
and regain, through Christ, the image of the divine, which he lost by sin and
continued transgression. God requires a thorough transformation of soul,
body, and spirit in order to regain the estate lost through Adam. The Lord
mercifully sends rays of light to show man his true
449 condition. If he will not walk in the light he manifests a pleasure in
darkness. He will not come to the light lest his deeds shall be reproved. {2T
448.1} The case of N. Fuller has caused me much
grief and anguish of spirit. That he should yield himself to the control of
Satan to work wickedness as he has done is terrible. I believe that God
designed that this case of hypocrisy and villainy should be brought to light
in the manner it has been, that it might prove a warning to others. Here is a
man who was acquainted with the teachings of the Bible, and who had listened
to testimonies borne by me in his presence against the very sins which he was
practicing. More than once he had heard me speak decidedly in regard to the
prevailing sins of this generation, that corruption
was teeming everywhere, that base passions controlled men and women
generally, that among the masses crimes of the darkest dye were continually
practiced, and they were reeking in their own corruption. The nominal
churches are filled with fornication and adultery, crime and murder, the
result of base, lustful passion; but these things are kept covered. Ministers
in high places are guilty; yet a cloak of godliness covers their dark deeds,
and they pass on from year to year in their course of hypocrisy. The sins of
the nominal churches have reached unto heaven, and the honest in heart will
be brought to the light and come out of them. {2T 449.1} From the light that God has given me,
fornication and adultery are estimated by a large number of the first-day
Adventists as sins which God winks at. These sins are practiced to a great
extent. They do not acknowledge the claims of God's law upon them. They have
broken the commandments of the great Jehovah and zealously teach their
hearers to do the same, declaring that the law of God is abolished and has no
claims upon them. In accordance with this free state of things, sin does not
appear so exceedingly sinful; "for by the
450 law is the knowledge of sin." We may expect to find in this company men who will deceive, and lie, and give loose
rein to lustful passions. But men and women who acknowledge the Ten
Commandments binding, who observe the fourth commandment of the Decalogue,
should carry out in their lives the principles of all ten of the precepts
given in awful grandeur from Sinai. {2T 449.2} Seventh-day Adventists, who profess to
be looking for and loving the appearing of Christ, should not follow the
course of worldlings. These are no criterion for
commandment keepers. Neither should they pattern after first-day Adventists,
who refuse to acknowledge the claims of the law of God and trample it under
their feet. This class should be no criterion for them. Commandment-keeping
Adventists occupy a peculiar, exalted position. John viewed them in holy vision
and thus described them: "Here are they that keep the commandments of
God, and the faith of Jesus." {2T 450.1} The Lord made a special covenant with
ancient Israel: "Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and
keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all
people: for all the earth is Mine: and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of
priests, and an holy nation." He addresses His
commandment-keeping people in these last days: "But ye are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a
peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called
you out of darkness into His marvelous light." "Dearly beloved, I
beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from
fleshly lusts, which war against the soul." {2T 450.2} Not all who profess to keep the
commandments of God possess their bodies in sanctification and honor. The
most solemn message ever committed to mortals has been entrusted to this
people, and they can have a powerful influence if they
451 will be sanctified by it. They profess to be standing upon the elevated
platform of eternal truth, keeping all of God's commandments; therefore, if
they indulge in sin, if they commit fornication and adultery, their crime is
of tenfold greater magnitude than is that of the classes I have named, who do
not acknowledge the law of God as binding upon them. In a peculiar sense do
those who profess to keep God's law dishonor Him and reproach the truth by
transgressing its precepts. {2T 450.3} It was the prevalence of this very sin,
fornication, among ancient Israel, which brought upon them the signal
manifestation of God's displeasure. His judgments then followed close upon
their heinous sin; thousands fell, and their polluted bodies were left in the
wilderness. "But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they
were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the
intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be
ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to
eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as
some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and
were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured,
and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them
for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of
the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed
lest he fall." {2T 451.1} Seventh-day Adventists, above all other
people in the world, should be patterns of piety, holy in heart and in
conversation. I related in the presence of N. Fuller that the people whom God
had chosen as His peculiar treasure were required to be elevated, refined,
sanctified, partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through
452 lust. Should they who make so high a profession indulge in sin and
iniquity, their guilt would be very great. The Lord reproves the sins of one,
that others may take warning and fear. {2T 451.2} Warnings and reproofs are not given to
the erring among Seventh-day Adventists because their lives are more
blame-worthy than are the lives of professed Christians of the nominal
churches, nor because their example or their acts are worse than those of the
Adventists who will not yield obedience to the claims of God's law, but
because they have great light, and have by their profession taken their
position as God's special, chosen people, having the law of God written in
their hearts. They signify their loyalty to the God of heaven by yielding
obedience to the laws of His government. They are God's representatives upon
the earth. Any sin in them separates them from God and, in a special manner,
dishonors His name by giving the enemies of His holy law occasion to reproach
His cause and His people, whom He has called "a chosen generation, a
royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people," that they should
show forth the praises of Him that hath called them out of darkness into His
marvelous light. {2T 452.1} The people who are at war with the law
of the great Jehovah, who consider it a special virtue to talk, write, and
act the most bitter and hateful things to show their contempt of that law,
may make exalted profession of love to God, and apparently have much
religious zeal, as did the Jewish chief priests and elders; yet, in the day
of God, "Found wanting" will be said of them by the Majesty of
heaven. "By the law is the knowledge of sin." The mirror which would
discover to them the defects in their characters, they are infuriated
against, because it points out their sins. Leading Adventists who have
rejected the light are fired with madness against God's holy law, as the
Jewish nation were against the Son of God. They are
in a terrible deception, deceiving others and being deceived
453 themselves. They will not come to the light, lest their deeds should be
reproved. Such will not be taught. But the Lord reproves and corrects the
people who profess to keep His law. He points out their sins and lays open
their iniquity because He wishes to separate all sin and wickedness from
them, that they may perfect holiness in His fear and be prepared to die in
the Lord or to be translated to heaven. God rebukes, reproves, and corrects
them, that they may be refined, sanctified, elevated, and finally exalted to
His own throne. {2T 452.2} Elder Fuller has heard the testimony
borne in public, that the professed people of God were not all holy, that
some were corrupt. God sought to elevate them, but they refused to come up
upon a high plane of action. The corrupt animal passions bore sway, and the
moral and intellectual powers were overborne and made their servants. Those
who do not control their base passions cannot appreciate the atonement or
place a right value upon the soul. Salvation is not experienced or understood
by them. The gratification of animal passion is the highest ambition of their
lives. God will accept nothing but purity and holiness; one spot, one
wrinkle, one defect in the character, will forever debar them from heaven,
with all its glories and treasures. {2T 453.1} Ample provisions have been made for all
who sincerely, earnestly, and thoughtfully set about the work of perfecting
holiness in the fear of God. Strength, grace, and glory have been provided
through Christ, to be brought by ministering angels to the heirs of
salvation. None are so low, so corrupt and vile, that they cannot find in
Jesus, who died for them, strength, purity, and righteousness, if they will
put away their sins, cease their course of iniquity, and turn with full
purpose of heart to the living God. He is waiting to strip them of their
garments, stained and polluted by sin, and to put upon them the white, bright
robes of righteousness; and He bids them live and not die. In Him they may
flourish. Their branches
454 will not wither nor be fruitless. If they abide in Him, they can draw sap
and nourishment from Him, be imbued with His Spirit, walk even as He walked,
overcome as He overcame, and be exalted to His own right hand. {2T 453.2} Elder Fuller has been warned. The
warnings given to others condemned him. The sins reproved in others reproved
him and gave him sufficient light to see how God regarded crimes of such a
character as he was committing, yet he would not turn from his evil course.
He continued to pursue his fearful, impious work, corrupting the bodies and
souls of his flock. Satan had strengthened the lustful passions which this
man did not subdue, and engaged them in his cause to lead souls to death. {2T
454.1} While he professed to keep the law of
God, he was, in a most wanton manner, violating its plain precepts. He has
given himself up to the gratification of sensual pleasure. He has sold
himself to work wickedness. What will be the wages of such a man? The
indignation and wrath of God will punish him for sin. The vengeance of God
will be aroused against all those whose lustful passions have been concealed
under a ministerial cloak. While professing to be a shepherd of the flock, he
was leading the flock to certain ruin. These dreadful results are the fruits
of the carnal mind, which "is enmity against God: for it is not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can be." {2T 454.2} I was referred to this scripture:
"Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it
in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members
as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as
those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of
righteousness unto God." Professed Christians, if no further light is
given you than that contained in this text, you will be without excuse if you
suffer yourselves to be controlled by base passions. {2T 454.3} The word of God is sufficient to
enlighten the most 455 beclouded mind and may be understood by those who have any desire to
understand it. But notwithstanding all this, some who profess to make the
word of God their study are found living in direct opposition to its plainest
teachings. Then, to leave men and women without excuse, God gives plain and
pointed testimonies, bringing them back to the word that they have neglected
to follow. Yet those who serve their own lusts turn from all this light. They
will not cease their course of sin, but continue to take pleasure in
unrighteousness in the face of the threatenings and
vengeance of God against those who do such things. {2T 454.4} I have long been designing to speak to
my sisters and tell them that, from what the Lord has been pleased to show me
from time to time, there is a great fault among them. They are not careful to
abstain from all appearance of evil. They are not all circumspect in their
deportment, as becometh women professing godliness.
Their words are not as select and well chosen as those of women who have
received the grace of God should be. They are too familiar with their
brethren. They linger around them, incline toward them, and seem to choose
their society. They are highly gratified with their attention. {2T 455.1} From the light which the Lord has given
me, our sisters should pursue a very different course. They should be more
reserved, manifest less boldness, and encourage in themselves
"shamefacedness and sobriety." Both brethren and sisters indulge in
too much jovial talk when in each other's society. Women professing godliness
indulge in much jesting, joking, and laughing. This is unbecoming and grieves
the Spirit of God. These exhibitions reveal a lack of true Christian
refinement. They do not strengthen the soul in God, but bring great darkness;
they drive away the pure, refined, heavenly angels and bring those who engage
in these wrongs down to a low level.
456 {2T 455.2} Our sisters should encourage true
meekness; they should not be forward, talkative, and bold, but modest and
unassuming, slow to speak. They may cherish courteousness. To be kind,
tender, pitiful, forgiving, and humble, would be becoming and well pleasing
to God. If they occupy this position they will not be burdened with undue
attention from gentlemen in the church or out. All will feel that there is a
sacred circle of purity around these God-fearing women, which shields them
from any unwarrantable liberties. {2T 456.1} With some women professing godliness,
there is a careless, coarse freedom of manner which leads to wrong and evil.
But those godly women whose minds and hearts are
occupied in meditating upon themes which strengthen purity of life, and which
elevate the soul to commune with God, will not be easily led astray from the
path of rectitude and virtue. Such will be fortified against the sophistry of
Satan; they will be prepared to withstand his seductive arts. {2T 456.2} Vainglory, the fashion of the world, the
desire of the eye, and the lust of the flesh are connected with the fall of
the unfortunate. That which is pleasing to the natural heart and carnal mind
is cherished. If the lust of the flesh had been rooted out of their hearts
they would not be so weak. If our sisters would feel the necessity of
purifying their thoughts, and never suffer in themselves a carelessness of
deportment which leads to improper acts, they need not in the least stain their
purity. If they viewed the matter as God has presented it to me, they would
have such an abhorrence of impure acts that they would not be found among
those who fall through the temptations of Satan, no matter whom he might
select as the medium. {2T 456.3} A preacher may be dealing in sacred,
holy things, and yet not be holy in heart. He may give himself to Satan to
work wickedness and to corrupt the souls and bodies of his flock.
457 Yet if the
minds of women and youth professing to love and fear God were fortified with
His Spirit, if they had trained their minds to purity of thought and educated
themselves to avoid all appearance of evil, they would be safe from any improper
advances and be secure from the corruption prevailing around them. The
apostle Paul wrote concerning himself: "But I keep under my body, and
bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to
others, I myself should be a castaway." {2T 456.4} If a minister of the gospel does not
control his baser passions, if he fails to follow the example of the apostle
and so dishonors his profession and faith as to even name the indulgence of
sin, our sisters who profess godliness should not for an instant flatter
themselves that sin or crime loses its sinfulness in the least because their
minister dares to engage in it. The fact that men who are in responsible
places show themselves to be familiar with sin should not lessen the guilt and
enormity of the sin in the minds of any. Sin should appear just as sinful,
just as abhorrent, as it had been heretofore regarded; and the minds of the
pure and elevated should abhor and shun the one who indulges in sin, as they
would flee from a serpent whose sting was deadly. {2T 457.1} If the sisters were elevated and
possessed purity of heart, any corrupt advances, even from their minister,
would be repulsed with such positiveness as would
never need a repetition. Minds must be terribly befogged by Satan when they
can listen to the voice of the seducer because he is a minister, and
therefore break God's plain and positive commands and flatter themselves that
they commit no sin. Have we not the words of John: "He that saith, I know
Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar,
and the truth is not in him"? What saith the law? "Thou shalt not
commit adultery." When a man professing to keep God's holy law, and
ministering in
458 sacred things,
takes advantage of the confidence his position gives him and seeks to indulge
his base passions, this fact should of itself be sufficient to enable a woman
professing godliness to see that, although his profession is as exalted as
the heavens, an impure proposal coming from him is from Satan disguised as an
angel of light. I cannot believe that the word of God is abiding in the
hearts of those who so readily yield up their innocency
and virtue upon the altar of lustful passions. {2T 457.2} My sisters, avoid even the appearance of
evil. In this fast age, reeking with corruption, you are not safe unless you
stand guarded. Virtue and modesty are rare. I appeal to you as followers of
Christ, making an exalted profession, to cherish the precious, priceless gem
of modesty. This will guard virtue. If you have any hope of being finally
exalted to join the company of the pure, sinless angels, and to live in an
atmosphere where there is not the least taint of sin, cherish modesty and
virtue. Nothing but purity, sacred purity, will stand the grand review, abide
the day of God, and be received into a pure and holy heaven. {2T 458.1} The slightest insinuations, from
whatever source they may come, inviting you to indulge in sin or to allow the
least unwarrantable liberty with your persons, should be resented
as the worst of insults to your dignified womanhood. The kiss upon your
cheek, at an improper time and place, should lead you to repel the emissary
of Satan with disgust. If it is from one in high places who is dealing in
sacred things, the sin is of tenfold greater magnitude, and should lead a
God-fearing woman or youth to recoil with horror, not only from the sin he
would have you commit, but from the hypocrisy and villainy of one whom the
people respect and honor as God's servant. He is handling sacred things, yet
hiding his baseness of heart under a ministerial cloak. Be afraid of anything
like this familiarity. Be sure that the least approach to it is evidence of
459 a lascivious
mind and a lustful eye. If the least encouragement is given in this
direction, if any of the liberties mentioned are tolerated, no better
evidence can be given that your mind is not pure and chaste as it should be,
and that sin and crime have charms for you. You lower the standard of your
dignified, virtuous womanhood, and give unmistakable evidence that a low,
brutal, common passion and lust has been suffered to remain alive in your
heart and has never been crucified. {2T 458.2} As I have been shown the dangers of
those who profess better things, and the sins that exist among them,--a class
who are not suspected of being in any danger from these polluting sins,--I
have been led to inquire: Who, O Lord, shall stand when Thou appearest? Only those who have clean hands and pure
hearts shall abide the day of His coming. {2T 459.1} I feel impelled by the Spirit of the
Lord to urge my sisters who profess godliness to cherish modesty of
deportment and a becoming reserve, with shamefacedness and sobriety. The
liberties taken in this age of corruption should be no criterion for Christ's
followers. These fashionable exhibitions of familiarity should not exist
among Christians fitting for immortality. If lasciviousness, pollution,
adultery, crime, and murder are the order of the day among those who know not
the truth, and who refuse to be controlled by the principles of God's word,
how important that the class professing to be followers of Christ, closely
allied to God and angels, should show them a better and nobler way. How
important that by their chastity and virtue they stand in marked contrast to
that class who are controlled by brute passions. {2T 459.2} I have inquired: When will the youthful
sisters act with propriety? I know there will be no decided change for the
better until parents feel the importance of greater carefulness in educating
their children correctly. Teach them to act with reserve and modesty. Educate
them for usefulness, to be helps,
460 to minister to
others rather than to be waited upon and be ministered unto. {2T 459.3} Satan controls the minds of the youth in
general. Your daughters are not taught self-denial and self-control. They are
petted, and their pride is fostered. They are allowed to have their own way
until they become headstrong and self-willed, and you are put to your wit's
end to know what course to pursue to save them from ruin. Satan is leading
them on to be a proverb in the mouth of unbelievers because of their
boldness, their lack of reserve and womanly modesty. The young boys are
likewise left to have their own way. They have scarcely entered their teens
before they are by the side of little girls of their own age, accompanying
them home and making love to them. And the parents are so completely in
bondage through their own indulgence and mistaken love for their children
that they dare not pursue a decided course to make a change and restrain
their too-fast children in this fast age. {2T 460.1} With many young ladies the boys are the
theme of conversation; with the young men, it is the girls. "Out of the
abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." They talk of those subjects
upon which their minds mostly run. The recording angel is writing the words
of these professed Christian boys and girls. How will they be confused and
ashamed when they meet them again in the day of God! Many children are pious
hypocrites. The youth who have not made a profession of religion stumble over
these hypocritical ones and are hardened against any effort that may be made
by those interested in their salvation. {2T 460.2} There ought to be picked men at the
heart of the work, men who in every emergency can be relied upon to keep the
fort, men who are unselfish, abounding in generosity and all good works,
whose lives are hid in God, and who consider the better life of more value
than food and clothing. "Is not the
461 life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" God calls for
faithful sentinels right at the heart of the work, who will love souls for
whom Christ died, and who will bear the burden for perishing souls, looking
forward to that recompense of reward which will be theirs when they enter
into the joy of their Lord and behold souls saved through their
instrumentality to live as long as God shall live, and be happy, eternally
happy, in His glorious kingdom. Oh, that we could arouse fathers and mothers
to a sense of their duty! Oh, that they would feel deeply the weight of
responsibility resting upon them! Then they might forestall the enemy and
gain precious victories for Jesus. Parents are not clear in this matter. They
should closely investigate their lives, analyze their thoughts and motives,
and see if they have been circumspect in their course of action. They should
watch closely to see if their example in conversation and deportment has been
such as they would wish their children to imitate. Purity and virtue should
shine out in their words and acts before their children. {2T 460.3} I have been shown families where the
husband and father has not preserved that reserve,
that dignified, godlike manhood, which is befitting a follower of Christ. He
has failed to perform the kind, tender, courteous acts due to his wife, whom
he has promised before God and angels to love, respect, and honor while they
both shall live. The girl employed to do the work has been free and somewhat
forward to dress his hair and to be affectionately attentive, and he is
pleased, foolishly pleased. In his love and attention to his wife he is not
as demonstrative as he once was. Be sure that Satan is at work here. Respect
your hired help, treat them kindly, considerately, but go no further. Let
your deportment be such that there will be no advances to familiarity from
them. If you have words of kindness and acts of courtesy to give, it is
always safe to give them to your wife. It will be a great blessing to her,
and will
462 bring happiness to her heart, to be reflected upon you again. {2T 461.1} I have been shown also that the wife has
let her sympathies and interest and affection go out to other men, who may be
members of the family. She makes these her confidants, shows a preference for
their society, and relates to them her troubles and perhaps her private
family matters. {2T 462.1} This is all wrong. Satan is at the
bottom of it; and unless you are alarmed and stop just where you are, he will
lead you to ruin. You cannot observe too great caution and encourage too much
reserve in this matter. If you have tender, loving words and kindly
attentions to bestow, let them be given to him whom you have promised before
God and angels to love, respect, and honor while you both shall live. Oh, how
many lives are made bitter by the breaking down of the walls which enclose
the privacies of every family and which are calculated to preserve its purity
and sanctity! A third person is taken into the confidence of the wife, and
her private family matters are laid open before the special friend. This is
the device of Satan to estrange the hearts of the husband and wife. Oh, that
this would cease! what a world of trouble would be
saved! Lock within your own hearts the knowledge of each other's faults. Tell
your troubles alone to God. He can give you right counsel and sure
consolation, which will be pure, having no bitterness in it. {2T 462.2} I am acquainted with a number of women
who have thought their marriage a misfortune. They have read novels until
their imaginations have become diseased, and they live in a world of their
own creating. They think themselves women of sensitive minds, of superior,
refined organizations, and imagine that their husbands are not so refined,
that they do not possess these superior qualities, and therefore cannot
appreciate their own supposed virtue and refined organizations. Consequently
these women think themselves great
463 sufferers, martyrs. They have talked of this and thought upon it until they
are nearly maniacs upon this subject. They imagine their worth superior to
that of other mortals, and it is not agreeable to their fine sensibilities to
associate with common humanity. These women are making themselves fools; and
their husbands are in danger of thinking that they do possess a superior
order of mind. {2T 462.3} From what the Lord has shown me, the
women of this class have had their imaginations perverted by novel reading,
daydreaming, and castle-building, living in an imaginary world. They do not
bring their own ideas down to the common, useful duties of life. They do not
take up the life burdens which lie in their path, and seek to make a happy,
cheerful home for their husbands. They rest their whole weight upon them, not
bearing their own burden. They expect others to anticipate their wants and do
for them, while they are at liberty to find fault and to question as they
please. These women have a lovesick sentimentalism, constantly thinking they
are not appreciated, that their husbands do not give them all the attention
they deserve. They imagine themselves martyrs. {2T 463.1} The truth of the matter is, if they
would show themselves useful their value might be appreciated; but when they
pursue a course to constantly draw upon others for sympathy and attention,
while they feel under no obligation to give the same in return, passing along
reserved, cold, and unapproachable, bearing no burden for others and having
no feeling for their woes, there can be in their lives but little that is
valuable. These women have educated themselves to think and act as though it
was a great condescension in them to marry the men they did, and that
therefore their fine organizations would never be fully appreciated. They
have viewed things all wrong. They are unworthy of their husbands. They are a
constant tax upon their care and patience, when they might be helps, lifting
464 the burdens of life with them, instead of dreaming over unreal life
found in novels and love romances. May the Lord pity the men who are bound to
such useless machines, fit only to be waited upon, to breathe, eat, and
dress. {2T 463.2} These women who suppose they possess
such sensitive, refined organizations make very useless wives and mothers. It
is frequently the case that they withdraw their affections from their
husbands, who are useful, practical men, and show much attention to other
men, and with their lovesick sentimentalism draw upon the sympathies of
others, tell them their trials, their troubles, their aspirations to do some
elevated work, and reveal the fact that their married life is a
disappointment, a hindrance to their doing the work they had hoped to do. {2T
464.1} Oh, what wretchedness exists in families
that might be happy! These women are a curse to themselves and a curse to
their husbands. In supposing themselves to be angels, they make themselves
fools, and are nothing but heavy burdens. The common duties of life which the
Lord has left for them to do, they leave right in their path, and are
restless and complaining, always looking for an easy, more exalted, and more
agreeable work. Supposing themselves to be angels, they are found human after
all. They are fretful, peevish, dissatisfied, jealous of their husbands
because the larger portion of their time is not spent waiting upon them. They
complain of being neglected when their husbands are doing the very work they
ought to do. Satan finds easy access to this class. They have no real love
for anyone but themselves. Yet Satan tells them that if such a one were their
husband, they would be happy indeed. They are easy victims to the device of
Satan, being readily led to dishonor their own husbands and to transgress the
law of God. {2T 464.2} I would say to women of this
description: You can make or destroy your own happiness. You can make your
position
465 happy or unbearable. The course which you pursue will create happiness or
misery for yourself. Have these persons never thought that their husbands
must tire of them in their uselessness, their peevishness, their
faultfinding, their passionate fits of weeping while
imagining their case so pitiful? Their irritable, peevish disposition is
indeed weaning from them the affections of their husbands and driving them to
seek for sympathy, and peace, and comfort elsewhere than at home. A poisonous
atmosphere is in their dwelling, and home is to them anything but a place of
rest, peace, or happiness. The husband is subject to Satan's temptation, and
his affections are placed on forbidden objects, and he is lured on to crime
and finally lost. {2T 464.3} Great is the work and mission of women,
especially those who are wives and mothers. They can be a blessing to all
around them. They can have a powerful influence for good if they will let
their light so shine that others may be led to glorify our heavenly Father.
Women may have a transforming influence if they will only consent to yield
their way and their will to God, and let Him control their mind, affections,
and being. They can have an influence which will tend to refine and elevate
those with whom they associate. But this class are
generally unconscious of the power they possess. They exert an unconscious
influence which seems to work out naturally from a sanctified life, a renewed
heart. It is the fruit that grows naturally upon the good tree of divine
planting. Self is forgotten, merged in the life of Christ. To be rich in good
works is as natural as their breath. They live to do others good and yet are
ready to say: We are unprofitable servants. {2T 465.1} God has assigned woman her mission; and
if she, in her humble way, yet to the best of her ability, makes a heaven of
her home, faithfully and lovingly performing her duties to her husband and
children, continually seeking to let a holy
466 light shine
from her useful, pure, and virtuous life to brighten all around her, she is
doing the work left her of the Master, and will hear from His divine lips the
words: Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord. These women who are doing with ready willingness what their hands find
to do, with cheerfulness of spirit aiding their husbands to bear their
burdens, and training their children for God, are missionaries in the highest
sense. They are engaged in an important branch of the great work to be done
on earth to prepare mortals for a higher life, and they will receive their
reward. Children are to be trained for heaven and fitted to shine in the
courts of the Lord's kingdom. When parents, especially mothers, have a true
sense of the important, responsible work which God has left for them to do,
they will not be so much engaged in the business which concerns their
neighbors, with which they have nothing to do. They will not go from house to
house to engage in fashionable gossip, dwelling upon the faults, wrongs, and
inconsistencies of their neighbors. They will feel so great a burden of care
for their own children that they can find no time to take up a reproach
against their neighbor. Gossipers and news carriers are a terrible curse to
neighborhoods and churches. Two thirds of all the church trials arise from
this source. {2T 465.2} God requires all to do with faithfulness
the duties of today. This is much neglected by the larger share of professed
Christians. Especially is present duty lost sight of by the class I have
mentioned, who imagine that they are of a finer order of beings than their
fellow mortals around them. The fact that their
minds turn in this channel is proof that they are of an inferior order,
narrow, conceited, and selfish. They feel high above the lowly and humble
poor, such as Jesus says He has called. They are forever trying to secure
position, to gain applause, to obtain credit for doing some great work that
others cannot do. But it disturbs the fine grain of their refined organism
467 to associate
with the humble, the unfortunate. They mistake the reason altogether. The
reason why they shun any of these duties not so agreeable is found in their
supreme selfishness. Dear self is the center of all their actions and
motives. {2T 466.1} I was pointed to the Majesty of heaven.
When He whom angels worshiped, He who was rich in honor, splendor, and glory,
came to the earth, and found Himself in fashion as a man, He did not plead
His refined nature as an excuse to hold Himself aloof from the unfortunate.
In His work He was found among the afflicted, the poor, distressed, and needy
ones. Christ was the embodiment of refinement and purity; His was an exalted
life and character; yet in His labor He was found not among men of
high-sounding titles, not among the most honorable of this world, but with
the despised and needy. I came, says the divine Teacher, "to save that
which was lost." Yes; the Majesty of heaven was ever found working to
help those who most needed help. May the example of Christ put to shame the
excuses of that class who are so attracted to their poor selves that they
consider it beneath their refined taste and their high calling to help the
most helpless. Such have taken a position higher
than their Lord, and in the end will be astonished to find themselves lower
than the lowest of that class whom their refined, sensitive natures were
shocked to mingle with and work for. True, it may not always be agreeable to
unite with the Master and become co-workers with Him in helping the very
class who stand most in need of help; but this is the work which Christ
humbled Himself to do. Is the servant greater than his Lord? He has given the
example, and enjoins upon us to copy it. It may be disagreeable, yet duty
demands that just such a work be performed. {2T 467.1} Faithful and picked men are needed at
the head of the work. Those who have not had an experience in bearing burdens,
and who do not wish to have that experience, should not, on any account, live
there. Men are wanted who will watch for
468 souls as they that must give an account. Fathers and mothers in Israel are
wanted at this important post. Let the selfish and self-caring, the stingy,
covetous souls, find a location where their miserable traits of character
will not be so conspicuous. The more isolated such ones are, the better for
the cause of God. I appeal to the people of God, wherever they may be found:
Awake to your duty. Take it to heart that we are really living amid the
perils of the last days. {2T 467.2} I hope that the case of N. Fuller will
awaken you, fathers and mothers, to see the necessity of thorough work in
your houses, among yourselves and your children, that not one of you may be
so deluded by Satan as to regard sin as this poor, much-to-be-pitied man has
done. Those who have participated with him in crime would never have been
left to be deceived and ruined had they possessed a high sense of virtue and
purity, and cherished a constant and lively horror of sin and iniquity. While
living under and proclaiming the most solemn message ever borne to mortals,
presenting the law of God as a test of character and as the seal of the
living God, they are transgressing its holy precepts. The consciences of
those who do this have become seared and terribly hardened. They have
resisted the influences of the Spirit of God until they can use sacred truth
as a cloak to hide the deformity of their corrupted souls. This man has been
terribly deluded by Satan. He has been serving vicious passions while
professing to be consecrated to the work of God, ministering in sacred
things. He has considered himself in health while there was no soundness in
him. {2T 468.1} I have felt deeply as I have seen the
powerful influence of animal passions in controlling men and women of no
ordinary intelligence and ability. They would be capable of engaging in a
good work, of exerting a powerful influence, were they not enslaved by base
passions. My confidence in humanity
469 has been terribly shaken. I have been shown that persons of apparently
good deportment, not taking unwarrantable liberties with the other sex, were
guilty of practicing secret vice nearly every day of their lives. They have
not refrained from this terrible sin even while most solemn meetings have
been in session. They have listened to the most solemn, impressive discourses
upon the judgment, which seemed to bring them before the tribunal of God,
causing them to fear and quake; yet hardly an hour would elapse before they
would be engaged in their favorite, bewitching sin, polluting their own
bodies. They were such slaves to this awful crime that they seemed devoid of
power to control their passions. We have labored for some earnestly, we have
entreated, we have wept and prayed over them; yet we have known that right
amid all our earnest effort and distress the force of sinful habit has
obtained the mastery, and these sins have been committed. {2T 468.2} Through severe attacks of sickness or by
powerful conviction the consciences of some of the guilty have been aroused
and have so scourged them that it has led to confession of these things with
deep humiliation. Others are equally guilty. They have practiced this sin
nearly their whole lifetime and, in their broken-down constitutions and sievelike memories, are reaping the result of this
pernicious habit; yet they are too proud to confess. They are secretive, and
have not shown compunctions of conscience for this great sin. My confidence
in the Christian experience of such is very small. They seem to be insensible
to the influence of the Spirit of God. The sacred and common are alike to
them. The common practice of a vice so degrading as the polluting of their
own bodies has not led to bitter tears and heartfelt repentance. They feel
that their sin is against themselves alone. Here they mistake. Are they
diseased in body or mind, others are made to feel, others suffer. The
imagination is at fault, the memory is deficient,
470 mistakes are made, and there is a deficiency everywhere which seriously
affects those with whom they live and who associate with them. Mortification
and regret are felt because these things are known by others. {2T 469.1} I have mentioned these cases to illustrate
the power of this soul-and-body-destroying vice. The entire mind is given up
to low passion. The moral and intellectual faculties are over-borne by the
baser powers. The body is enervated, the brain weakened. The material
deposited there to nourish the system is squandered. The drain upon the
system is great. The fine nerves of the brain, being excited to unnatural
action, become benumbed and in a measure paralyzed. The moral and
intellectual powers are weakening, while the animal passions are strengthening
and being more largely developed by exercise. The appetite for unhealthful
food clamors for indulgence. When persons are addicted to the habit of
self-abuse, it is impossible to arouse their moral sensibilities to
appreciate eternal things or to delight in spiritual exercises. Impure thoughts seize and control the imagination and fascinate
the mind, and next follows an almost uncontrollable desire for the
performance of impure actions. If the mind were educated to contemplate
elevating subjects, the imagination trained to reflect upon pure and holy
things, it would be fortified against this terrible, debasing,
soul-and-body-destroying indulgence. It would, by training, become accustomed
to linger upon the high, the heavenly, the pure, and the sacred, and could
not be attracted to this base, corrupt, and vile indulgence. {2T 470.1} What can we say of those who are living
right in the blazing light of truth, yet daily practicing and following in a
course of sin and crime? Forbidden, exciting pleasures have a charm for them
and hold and control their entire being. Such take pleasure in
unrighteousness and iniquity, and must perish outside of the city of God,
with every abominable thing.
471 {2T 470.2} I have sought to arouse parents to their
duty, yet they sleep on. Your children are practicing secret vice, and they
deceive you. You have such implicit confidence in them that you think them
too good and innocent to be capable of secretly practicing iniquity. Parents
fondle and pet their children, and indulge them in pride, but do not restrain
them with firmness and decision. They are so much afraid of their willful,
stubborn spirits that they fear to come in contact with them; the sin of
negligence, which was marked against Eli, will be their sin. The exhortation
of Peter is of the highest value to all who are striving for immortality. He
addresses those of like precious faith: {2T 471.1} "Simon Peter, a servant and an
apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with
us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: Grace and
peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our
Lord, according as His divine power hath given unto us all things that
pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath
called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and
precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside
this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue
knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to
patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly
kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you
that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar
off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the
rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for
if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: 472 for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the
everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." {2T 471.2} We are in a world where light and knowledge
abound, yet many claiming to be of like precious faith are willingly
ignorant. Light is all around them, yet they do not appropriate it to
themselves. Parents do not see the necessity of informing themselves,
obtaining knowledge, and putting it to a practical use in their married life.
If they followed out the exhortation of the apostle, and lived upon the plan
of addition, they would not be unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ. But many do not understand the work of sanctification. They seem to
think they have attained to it, when they have learned only the first lessons
in addition. Sanctification is a progressive work; it is not attained to in
an hour or a day, and then maintained without any special effort on our part.
{2T 472.1}
Many parents do not obtain the knowledge that they should in the
married life. They are not guarded lest Satan take advantage of them and
control their minds and their lives. They do not see that God requires them
to control their married lives from any excesses. But very few feel it to be
a religious duty to govern their passions. They have united themselves in
marriage to the object of their choice, and therefore reason that marriage
sanctifies the indulgence of the baser passions. Even men and women professing
godliness give loose rein to their lustful passions, and have no thought that
God holds them accountable for the expenditure of vital energy, which weakens
their hold on life and enervates the entire system. {2T 472.2} The marriage covenant covers sins of the
darkest hue. Men and women professing godliness debase their own bodies
through the indulgence of the corrupt passions, and thus lower themselves
beneath the brute creation. They abuse the powers which God has given them to
be preserved in sanctification
473 and honor. Health and life are sacrificed upon the altar of base
passion. The higher, nobler powers are brought into subjection to the animal
propensities. Those who thus sin are not acquainted with the result of their
course. Could all see the amount of suffering which they bring upon
themselves by their own sinful indulgence, they would be alarmed, and some,
at least, would shun the course of sin which brings such dreaded wages. So miserable an existence is entailed upon a large
class that death would to them be preferable to life; and many do die
prematurely, their lives sacrificed in the inglorious work of excessive
indulgence of the animal passions. Yet because they are married they think
they commit no sin. {2T 472.3} Men and women, you will one day learn
what is lust and the result of its gratification. Passion of just as base a
quality may be found in the marriage relation as outside of it. The apostle
Paul exhorts husbands to love their wives "even as Christ also loved the
church, and gave Himself for it." "So ought men to love their wives
as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh;
but nourisheth and cherisheth
it, even as the Lord the church." It is not pure love which actuates a
man to make his wife an instrument to minister to his lust. It is the animal
passions which clamor for indulgence. How few men show their love in the
manner specified by the apostle: "Even as Christ also loved the church,
and gave Himself for it; that He might [not pollute it, but] sanctify and
cleanse it; . . . that it should be holy and without blemish." This is
the quality of love in the marriage relation which God recognizes as holy.
Love is a pure and holy principle; but lustful passion will not admit of
restraint, and will not be dictated to or controlled by reason. It is blind
to consequences; it will not reason from cause to effect. Many women are
suffering from great debility and settled disease because the laws of their
being have been
474 disregarded; nature's laws have been trampled upon. The brain nerve power is
squandered by men and women, being called into unnatural
action to gratify base passions; and this hideous monster, base, low passion,
assumes the delicate name of love. {2T 473.1} Many professed Christians who passed
before me seemed destitute of moral restraint. They were more animal than
divine. In fact, they were about all animal. Men of
this type degrade the wife whom they have promised to nourish and cherish.
She is made an instrument to minister to the gratification of low, lustful
propensities. And very many women submit to become slaves to lustful passion;
they do not possess their bodies in sanctification and honor. The wife does
not retain the dignity and self-respect which she possessed previous to
marriage. This holy institution should have preserved and increased her
womanly respect and holy dignity; but her chaste, dignified, godlike
womanhood has been consumed upon the altar of base passion; it has been
sacrificed to please her husband. She soon loses respect for the husband, who
does not regard the laws to which the brute creation yield
obedience. The married life becomes a galling yoke; for love dies out, and
frequently distrust, jealousy, and hate take its place. {2T 474.1} No man can truly love his wife when she
will patiently submit to become his slave and minister to his depraved
passions. In her passive submission, she loses the value she once possessed
in his eyes. He sees her dragged down from everything elevating, to a low
level; and soon he suspects that she will as tamely submit to be degraded by
another as by himself. He doubts her constancy and purity, tires of her, and
seeks new objects to arouse and intensify his hellish passions. The law of
God is not regarded. These men are worse than brutes; they are demons in
human form. They are unacquainted with the elevating, ennobling principles of
true, sanctified love.
475 {2T 474.2} The wife also becomes jealous of the
husband and suspects that if opportunity should offer he would just as
readily pay his addresses to another as to her. She sees that he is not
controlled by conscience or the fear of God; all these sanctified barriers
are broken down by lustful passions; all that is god-like in the husband is made
the servant of low, brutish lust. {2T 475.1} The world is filled with men and women
of this order; and neat, tasty, yea, expensive houses contain a hell within.
Imagine, if you can, what must be the offspring of
such parents. Will not the children sink still lower in the scale? The
parents give the stamp of character to their children. Therefore children
that are born of these parents inherit from them qualities of mind which are
of a low, base order. And Satan nourishes anything tending to corruption. The
matter now to be settled is: Shall the wife feel bound to yield implicitly to
the demands of her husband, when she sees that nothing but base passions
control him, and when her reason and judgment are convinced that she does it
to the injury of her body, which God has enjoined upon her to possess in
sanctification and honor, to preserve as a living sacrifice to God? {2T
475.2} It is not pure, holy love which leads
the wife to gratify the animal propensities of her husband at the expense of
health and life. If she possesses true love and wisdom, she will seek to
divert his mind from the gratification of lustful passions to high and
spiritual themes by dwelling upon interesting spiritual subjects. It may be
necessary to humbly and affectionately urge, even at the risk of his
displeasure, that she cannot debase her body by yielding to sexual excess.
She should, in a tender, kind manner, remind him that God has the first and
highest claim upon her entire being, and that she cannot disregard this
claim, for she will be held accountable in the great day of God. "What?
know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you,
which ye have of God, and 476 ye are not your
own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and
in your spirit, which are God's." "Ye are bought with a price; be
not ye the servants of men." {2T 475.3} If she will elevate her affections, and
in sanctification and honor preserve her refined, womanly dignity, woman can
do much by her judicious influence to sanctify her husband, and thus fulfill
her high mission. In so doing, she can save both her husband and herself,
thus performing a double work. In this matter, so delicate and so difficult
to manage, much wisdom and patience are necessary, as well as moral courage
and fortitude. Strength and grace can be found in prayer. Sincere love is to
be the ruling principle of the heart. Love to God and love to the husband can
alone be the right ground of action. {2T 476.1} Let the wife decide that it is the
husband's prerogative to have full control of her body, and to mold her mind
to suit his in every respect, to run in the same channel as his own, and she
yields her individuality; her identity is lost, merged in that of her
husband. She is a mere machine for his will to move and control, a creature
of his pleasure. He thinks for her, decides for her, and acts for her. She
dishonors God in occupying this passive position. She has a responsibility
before God which it is her duty to preserve. {2T 476.2} When the wife yields her body and mind
to the control of her husband, being passive to his will in all things,
sacrificing her conscience, her dignity, and even her identity, she loses the
opportunity of exerting that mighty influence for good which she should
possess to elevate her husband. She could soften his stern nature, and her sanctifying
influence could be exerted in a manner to refine and purify, leading him to
strive earnestly to govern his passions and be more spiritually minded, that
they might be partakers together of the divine
477 nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
The power of influence can be great to lead the mind to high and noble
themes, above the low, sensual indulgences for which the heart unrenewed by grace naturally seeks. If the wife feels
that in order to please her husband she must come down to his standard, when
animal passion is the principal basis of his love and controls his actions,
she displeases God; for she fails to exert a sanctifying influence upon her
husband. If she feels that she must submit to his animal passions without a
word of remonstrance, she does not understand her duty to him nor to her God.
Sexual excess will effectually destroy a love for devotional exercises, will
take from the brain the substance needed to nourish the system, and will most
effectively exhaust the vitality. No woman should aid her husband in this
work of self-destruction. She will not do it if she is enlightened and has
true love for him. {2T 476.3} The more the animal passions are
indulged, the stronger do they become, and the more violent will be their
clamors for indulgence. Let God-fearing men and women awake to their duty.
Many professed Christians are suffering with paralysis of nerve and brain
because of their intemperance in this direction. Rottenness is in the bones
and marrow of many who are regarded as good men, who pray and weep, and who
stand in high places, but whose polluted carcasses will never pass the
portals of the heavenly city. {2T 477.1} Oh, that I could make all understand
their obligation to God to preserve the mental and physical organism in the
best condition to render perfect service to their Maker! Let the Christian
wife refrain, both in word and act, from exciting the animal passions of her
husband. Many have no strength at all to waste in this direction. From their
youth up they have weakened the brain and sapped the constitution by the
gratification of animal passions. Self-denial and temperance should 478 be the watchword
in their married life; then the children born to them will not be so liable
to have the moral and intellectual organs weak, and the animal strong. Vice
in children is almost universal. Is there not a cause? Who have given them
the stamp of character? May the Lord open the eyes of all to see that they
are standing in slippery places! {2T 477.2} From the picture that has been presented
before me of the corruption of men and women professing godliness, I have
feared that I should altogether lose confidence in humanity. I have seen that
a fearful stupor is upon nearly all. It is almost impossible to arouse the
very ones who should be awakened, so as to have any just sense of the power
which Satan holds over minds. They are not aware of the corruption teeming
all around them. Satan has blinded their minds and lulled them to carnal
security. The failures in our efforts to bring others up to understand the
great dangers that beset souls have sometimes led me to fear that my ideas of
the depravity of the human heart were exaggerated. But when facts are brought
to us showing the sad deformity of one who has dared to minister in sacred
things while corrupt at heart, one whose sin-stained hands have profaned the
vessels of the Lord, I am sure that I have not drawn the picture any too
strong. {2T 478.1} I have been bearing a very strong
testimony, both in writing and in speaking, hoping to awaken God's people to
understand that they have fallen upon perilous times. I have felt sick at
heart at the indifference manifested by those who should understand the
workings of Satan, and who ought to be awake and guarded. I have seen that
Satan is leading the minds of even those who profess the truth to indulge in
the terrible sin of fornication. The mind of a man or woman does not come
down in a moment from purity and holiness to depravity, corruption, and
crime. It takes time to transform the human to the divine, or to degrade
those formed in the image
479 of God to the
brutal or the satanic. By beholding we become changed. Though formed in the
image of his Maker, man can so educate his mind that sin which he once loathed
will become pleasant to him. As he ceases to watch and pray, he ceases to
guard the citadel, the heart, and engages in sin and crime. The mind is
debased, and it is impossible to elevate it from corruption while it is being
educated to enslave the moral and intellectual powers, and bring them in
subjection to grosser passions. Constant war against the carnal mind must be
maintained; and we must be aided by the refining influence of the grace of
God, which will attract the mind upward and habituate it to meditate upon
pure and holy things. {2T 478.2} The body is not kept under by many
professed Sabbathkeepers. Some have embraced the
Sabbath whose minds have ever been depraved. And when they embraced the truth
they did not feel the necessity of turning square about and changing their
whole course of action. They have been for years following the inclinations
of an unregenerate heart, and have been swayed by the corrupt passions of
their carnal natures, which had defaced the image of God in them and defiled
everything they touched; therefore their entire future life would be all too
short, at the longest, to climb Peter's ladder of Christian perfection,
preparatory to their entering into the kingdom of God. But there are not many
who feel that they cannot be saved by a profession of the truth, unless they
become sanctified through the truth in answer to the prayer of our divine
Lord to His Father: "Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is
truth." {2T 479.1} Men and women who profess to be disciples
of Christ and to keep all the commandments of God will have to feel in their
daily lives the true spirit of agonizing to enter in at the strait gate. The
agonizing ones are the only ones who will urge their passage through the
strait gate and narrow way that
480 lead to life eternal, to fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. Those
who merely seek to enter in will never be able. The entire Christian life of
many will be spent in no greater effort than that of seeking, and their only
reward will be to find it an utter impossibility for them to enter in at that
strait gate. {2T 479.2} I have been surprised to see how many
families are blinded by Satan so that they have no sense of his workings, his
wiles and deceptions, practiced in their very midst. Parents seem to be
stupefied by the paralyzing influence of the evil one, and yet think they are
all right. I have been shown that Satan seeks to debase the minds of those
who unite in marriage, that he may stamp his own hateful image upon their
children. Because they have entered into the marriage relation, many think
that they may permit themselves to be controlled by animal passions. They are
led on by Satan, who deceives them and leads them to pervert this sacred
institution. He is well pleased with the low level which their minds take;
for he has much to gain in this direction. He knows that if he can excite the
baser passions, and keep them in the ascendancy, he has nothing to be
troubled about in their Christian experience; for the moral and intellectual
faculties will be subordinate, while the animal propensities will predominate
and keep in the ascendancy; and these baser passions will be strengthened by
exercise, while the nobler qualities will become weaker and weaker. {2T
480.1} He can mold their posterity much more
readily than he could the parents, for he can so control the minds of the
parents that through them he may give his own stamp of character to their
children. Thus many children are born with the animal passions largely in the
ascendancy, while the moral faculties are but feebly developed. These
children need the most careful culture to bring out, strengthen, and develop
the moral and intellectual powers, that these may take the lead. But the
workings of Satan are not perceived; his wiles are not
481 understood. Children are not trained for God. Their moral and religious education
is neglected. The animal passions are constantly strengthened, while the
moral faculties become enfeebled. {2T 480.2} Some children begin to practice
self-pollution in their infancy; and as they increase in years, the lustful
passions grow with their growth and strengthen with their strength. Their
minds are not at rest. Girls desire the society of boys, and boys that of the
girls. Their deportment is not reserved and modest. They are bold and
forward, and take indecent liberties. The habit of self-abuse has debased
their minds and tainted their souls. Vile thoughts,
and the reading of novels, love stories, and vile books excite their
imagination, and just such suit their depraved minds. They do not love work,
and when engaged in labor they complain of fatigue; their backs ache; their
heads ache. Is there not sufficient cause? Are they fatigued because of their
labor? No, no! Yet the parents indulge these children in their complaints,
and release them from labor and responsibility. This is the very worst thing
that they can do for them. They are thus removing almost the only barrier
that prevents Satan from having free access to their weakened minds. Useful
labor would in some measure be a safeguard from his decided control of them.
{2T 481.1} We
have some knowledge of Satan's manner of working and how well he succeeds in
it. From what has been shown me, he has paralyzed the minds of parents. They
are slow to suspect that their own children can be wrong and sinful. Some of
these children profess to be Christians, and parents sleep on, fearing no
danger, while the minds and bodies of their children are becoming wrecked.
Some parents do not even take care to keep their children with them when in
the house of God. Young girls attend meetings and take their seats, it may
be, with their parents, but more frequently back in the
482 congregation. They are in the habit of making an excuse to leave the house. Boys
understand this, and go out before or after the exit of the girls, and then,
as the meeting closes, they accompany them home. Parents are none the wiser
for this. Again, excuses are made to walk, and boys and girls assemble in the
fair grounds, or some other secluded place, and there play and have a regular
high time, with no experienced eye upon them to caution them. They imitate
men and women of advanced age. {2T 481.2} This is a fast age. Little boys and
girls commence paying attentions to one another when they should both be in
the nursery, taking lessons in modesty of deportment. What is the effect of
this common mixing up? Does it increase chastity in the youth who thus gather
together? No, indeed! it increases the first lustful
passions; after such meetings the youth are crazed by the devil and give
themselves up to their vile practices. {2T 482.1} Parents are asleep and know not that
Satan has planted his hellish banner right in their households. What, I was
led to inquire, will become of the youth in this corrupt age? I repeat, Parents are asleep. The children are infatuated
with a lovesick sentimentalism, and the truth has no power to correct the
wrong. What can be done to stay the tide of evil? Parents can do much if they
will. If a young girl just entering her teens is accosted with familiarity by
a boy of her own age, or older, she should be taught to so resent this that
no such advances will ever be repeated. When a girl's company is frequently
sought by boys or young men, something is wrong. That young girl needs a
mother to show her her place, to restrain her, and
teach her what belongs to a girl of her age. {2T 482.2} The corrupting doctrine which has
prevailed, that, as viewed from a health standpoint, the sexes must mingle
together, has done its mischievous work. When parents and
483 guardians manifest one tithe of the shrewdness which Satan possesses, then can
this association of sexes be nearer harmless. As it is, Satan is most
successful in his effort to bewitch the minds of the youth; and the mingling
of boys and girls only increases the evil twentyfold. Let boys and girls be
kept employed in useful labor. If they are tired, they will have less
inclination to corrupt their own bodies. There is nothing to be hoped for in
the case of the young, unless there is an entire change in the minds of those
who are older. Vice is stamped upon the features of boys and girls, and yet
what is done to stay the progress of this evil? Boys and young men are
allowed and encouraged to take liberties by immodest advances of girls and
young women. May God arouse fathers and mothers to work earnestly to change
this terrible state of things, is my prayer. {2T 482.3} I have been looking over the Testimonies
given for Sabbathkeepers and I am astonished at the
mercy of God and His care for His people in giving them so many warnings,
pointing out their dangers, and presenting before them the exalted position
which He would have them occupy. If they would keep themselves in His love
and separate from the world, He would cause His special blessings to rest
upon them and His light to shine round about them. Their influence for good
might be felt in every branch of the work and in every part of the gospel
field. But if they fail to meet the mind of God, if they continue to have so
little sense of the exalted character of the work as they have had in the
past, their influence and example will prove a terrible curse. They will do
harm and only harm. The blood of precious souls will be found upon their
garments. {2T 483.1} Testimonies of warning have been
repeated. I inquire: Who have heeded them? Who have been zealous in repenting
of their sins and idolatry, and have been earnestly pressing toward the mark
for the prize of the high calling of God in
484 Christ Jesus?
Who have shown the inward work of God, leading to self-denial and humble
self-sacrifice? Who that have been warned have so
separated themselves from the world, from its affections and lusts, that they
have shown a daily growth in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ? Whom do we find among the active ones,
that feel the burden for the church? Whom do we see that God is
especially using, working by and through them to elevate the standard, and to
bring the church up to it, that they may prove the Lord and see if He will
not pour them out a blessing? {2T 483.2} I have waited anxiously, hoping that God
would put His Spirit upon some and use them as instruments of righteousness
to awaken and set in order His church. I have almost despaired as I have
seen, year after year, a greater departure from that simplicity which God has
shown me should characterize the life of His followers. There has been less
and less interest in, and devotion to, the cause of God. I ask: Wherein have
those who profess confidence in the Testimonies sought to live according to
the light given in them? Wherein have they regarded the warnings given?
Wherein have they heeded the instructions they have received? {2T 484.1} I saw that great changes must be wrought
in the hearts and lives of very many before God can work in them by His power
for the salvation of others. They must be renewed after the image of God, in
righteousness and true holiness. Then the love of the world, the love of
self, and every ambition of life calculated to exalt self will be changed by
the grace of God and employed in the special work of saving souls for whom
Christ died. Humility will take the place of pride, and haughty self-esteem
will be exchanged for meekness. Every power of the heart will be controlled
by disinterested love for all mankind. Satan, I saw, will arouse when they in
earnest commence the work of reformation in themselves. He knows
485 that these persons, if consecrated to God, could prove the strength of
His promises and realize a power working with them that the adversary would
not be able to gainsay or resist. They would realize the life of God in the
soul. {2T 484.2} One family in particular have needed all
the benefits they could receive from the reform in diet, yet these very ones
have been completely backslidden. Meat and butter have been used by them
quite freely, and spices have not been entirely discarded. This family could
have received great benefit from a nourishing, well-regulated diet. The head
of the family needed plain, nutritious food. His habits were sedentary, and
his blood moved sluggishly through the system. He could not, like others,
have the benefit of healthful exercise; therefore his food should have been
of the right quality and quantity. There has not been in this family the
right management in regard to diet; there has been irregularity. There should
have been a specified time for each meal, and the food should have been
prepared in a simple form and free from grease; but pains should have been taken
to have it nutritious, healthful, and inviting. In this family, as also in
many others, a special parade has been made for visitors, many dishes
prepared and frequently made too rich, so that those seated at the table
would be tempted to eat to excess. Then in the absence of company there was a
great reaction, a falling off in the preparations brought on the table. The
diet was spare and lacked nourishment. It was considered not so much matter
"just for ourselves." The meals were frequently picked up, and the
regular time for eating not regarded. Every member of the family was injured
by such management. It is a sin for any of our sisters to make such great
preparations for visitors, and wrong their own families by a spare diet which
will fail to nourish the system. {2T 485.1} The brother referred to felt a lack in
his system; he was not nourished, and he thought that meat would give him the
486 needed strength. Had he been suitably cared for, his table spread at the
right time with food of a nourishing quality, all the demands of nature would
have been abundantly supplied. The butter and meat stimulate. These have
injured the stomach and perverted the taste. The sensitive nerves of the
brain have been benumbed, and the animal appetite strengthened at the expense
of the moral and intellectual faculties. These higher powers, which should
control, have been growing weaker, so that eternal things have not been
discerned. Paralysis has benumbed the spiritual and devotional. Satan has
triumphed to see how easily he can come in through the appetite and control
men and women of intelligence, calculated by the Creator to do a good and
great work. {2T 485.2} The case above referred to is not an
isolated one; if it were, I would not introduce it here. When Satan takes
possession of the mind, how soon the light and instruction that the Lord has
graciously given, fade away and have no force! How many frame
excuses and make necessities which have no existence, to bear them up in
their course of wrong in setting aside the light and trampling it underfoot!
I speak with assurance. The greatest objection to health reform is that this
people do not live it out; and yet they will gravely say they cannot live the
health reform and preserve their strength. {2T 486.1} We find in every such instance a good
reason why they cannot live out the health reform. They do not live it out,
and have never followed it strictly, therefore they
cannot be benefited by it. Some fall into the error that because they discard
meat they have no need to supply its place with the best fruits and
vegetables, prepared in their most natural state, free from grease and
spices. If they would only skillfully arrange the bounties with which the
Creator has surrounded them, parents and children with a clear conscience unitedly engaging in the work, they would enjoy simple
food, and would then be
487 able to speak understandingly of health reform. Those who have not been
converted to health reform, and have never fully adopted it, are not judges
of its benefits. Those who digress occasionally to gratify the taste in
eating a fattened turkey or other flesh meats, pervert their appetites, and
are not the ones to judge of the benefits of the system of health reform They
are controlled by taste, not by principle. {2T 486.2} I have a well-set table on all
occasions. I make no change for visitors, whether believers or unbelievers. I
intend never to be surprised by an unreadiness to
entertain at my table from one to half a dozen extra who may chance to come
in. I have enough simple, healthful food ready to satisfy hunger and nourish
the system. If any want more than this, they are at liberty to find it
elsewhere. No butter or flesh meats of any kind come on my table. Cake is
seldom found there. I generally have an ample supply of fruits, good bread,
and vegetables. Our table is always well patronized, and all who partake of
the food do well, and improve upon it. All sit down with no epicurean
appetite, and eat with a relish the bounties supplied by our Creator. {2T
487.1} A wonderful indifference has been
manifested upon this important subject by those right
at the heart of the work. The lack of stability in regard to the principles
of health reform is a true index of their character and their spiritual
strength. They are deficient in thoroughness in their Christian experience.
Conscience is not regarded. The basis or cause of every right action existing
and operating in the renewed heart secures obedience without external or
selfish motives. The spirit of truth and a good conscience are sufficient to
inspire and regulate the motives and conduct of those who learn of Christ and
are like Him. Those who have no strength of religious principle in themselves
are easily swayed, by the example of others, in a wrong direction. Those who
have never learned
488 their duty from God, and acquainted themselves with His purposes
concerning them, are not reliable in times of severe conflict with the powers
of darkness. They are swayed by external and present appearances. Worldly men
are governed by worldly principles; they can appreciate no other. But
Christians should not be governed by these principles. They should not seek
to strengthen themselves in the performance of duty by any other
consideration than a love to obey every requirement of God as found in His
word and dictated by an enlightened conscience. {2T 487.2} In the renewed heart there will be a
fixed principle to obey the will of God, because there is a love for what is
just, and good, and holy. There will be no hesitating, conferring with the
taste, or studying of convenience, or moving in a certain course because
others do so. Everyone should live for himself. The minds of all who are
renewed by grace will be an open medium, continually receiving light, grace,
and truth from above, and transmitting the same to others. Their works are
fruitful. Their fruit is unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. {2T
488.1} But very few have an experimental
knowledge of the sanctifying influence of the truths which they profess.
Their obedience and devotion have not been in accordance with their light and
privileges. They have no real sense of the obligation resting upon them to
walk as children of the light, and not as children of darkness. If the light
that has been given to these had been given Sodom and Gomorrah, they would
have repented in sackcloth and ashes, and would have escaped the signal wrath
of God. It will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of
judgment than for those who have been privileged with the clear light, and
have had a vast amount of labor, but have not profited by it. They have
neglected the great salvation which God in mercy was willing to
489 bestow. They were so blinded by the devil that they verily thought
themselves rich and in the favor of God, when the True Witness declares them
to be wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.
- {2T 488.2} |
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