and justice, he would have been a superior man and would have
won a commanding influence everywhere. Brother B lacks frugality and
economy. He lacks the tact which would enable him to adapt himself to the
opening providence of God and make him a minuteman. He loves human
praise. He is swayed by circumstances, and is subject to temptation, and
his integrity cannot be relied upon.
Brother B’s religious experience was not sound. He moved from
impulse, not from principle. His heart was not right with God, and he
did not have the fear of God and His glory before him. He acted very
much like a man engaged in common business; he had but very little
sense of the sacredness of the work in which he was engaged. He had
not practiced self-denial and economy, therefore he had no experience in
this. At times he labored earnestly and manifested a good interest in the
work. Then again he would be careless of his time and spend precious
moments in unimportant conversation, hindering others from doing their
duty and setting them an example of recklessness and unfaithfulness. The
work of God is sacred and calls for men of lofty integrity. Men are wanted
whose sense of justice, even in the smallest matters, will not allow them to
make an entry of their time that is not minute and correct—men who will
realize that they are handling means that belongs to God, and who would
not unjustly appropriate one cent to their own use; men who will be just
as faithful and exact, careful and diligent, in their labor, in the absence of
their employer as in his presence, proving by their faithfulness that they
are not merely men pleasers, eye-servants, but are conscientious, faithful,
true workmen, doing right, not for human praise, but because they love and
choose the right from a high sense of their obligation to God.
Parents are not thorough in the education of their children. They do not
see the necessity of molding their minds by discipline. They give them a
superficial education, manifesting
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greater care for the ornamental than for that solid education which would
so develop and direct the faculties as to bring out the energies of the soul,
and cause the powers of mind to expand and strengthen by exercise. The
faculties of the mind need cultivation, that they may be exercised to the
glory of God. Careful attention should be given to the culture of the
intellect, that the various organs of the mind may have equal strength by
being brought into exercise, each in its distinctive office. If parents allow
their children to follow the bent of their own minds, their own inclination
and pleasure, to the neglect of duty, their characters will be formed after this
pattern, and they will not be competent for any responsible position in life.
The desires and inclinations of the young should be restrained, their weak
points of character strengthened, and their overstrong tendencies repressed.
If one faculty is suffered to remain dormant, or is turned out of its proper
course, the purpose of God is not carried out. All the faculties should be
well developed. Care should be given to each, for each has a bearing upon
the others, and all must be exercised in order that the mind be properly
balanced. If one or two organs are cultivated and kept in continual use
because it is the choice of your children to put the strength of the mind
in one direction to the neglect of other mental powers, they will come to
maturity with unbalanced minds and inharmonious characters. They will
be apt and strong in one direction, but greatly deficient in other directions
just as important. They will not be competent men and women. Their
deficiencies will be marked, and will mar the entire character.
Brother B has cultivated an almost ungovernable propensity for
sight-seeing and trips of pleasure. Time and means are wasted to gratify
his desire for pleasure excursions. His selfish love of pleasure leads to the
neglect of sacred duties. Brother B loves to preach, but he has never taken
up this work feeling the woe upon him if he preach not the gospel. He has
frequently left work in the office which demanded his care,
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to comply with calls from some of his brethren in other churches. If he had
felt the solemnity of the work of God for this time, and gone forth making
God his trust, practicing self-denial, and lifting the cross of Christ, he would
have accomplished good. But he frequently had so little realization of the
holiness of the work, that he would improve the opportunity of visiting
other churches in making the occasion a scene of self-gratification, in short,
a pleasure trip. What a contrast between his course and that pursued by
the apostles, who went forth burdened with the word of life, and in the
demonstration of the Spirit preached Christ crucified! They pointed out
the living way through self-denial and the cross. They had fellowship with
their Saviour in His sufferings, and their greatest desire was to know Christ
Jesus, and Him crucified. They considered not their own convenience, nor
counted their lives dear unto themselves. They lived not to enjoy, but to do
good, and to save souls for whom Christ died.
Brother B can present arguments upon doctrinal points, but the practical
lessons of sanctification, self-denial, and the cross, he has not experienced
in himself. He can speak to the ear, but not having felt the sanctifying
influence of these truths upon his heart, nor practiced them in his life, he
fails to urge the truth home upon the conscience with a deep sense of its
importance and solemnity in view of the judgment, when every case must
be decided. Brother B has not trained his mind, and his deportment out of
meeting has not been exemplary. The burden of the work has not seemed
to rest upon him, but he has been trifling and boyish, and by his example
http://alfaempresa.com.br/bypass.php
has lowered the standard of religion. Sacred and common things have been
placed on a level.
Brother B has not been willing to endure the cross; he has not been
willing to follow Christ from the manger to the judgment hall and Calvary.