yourselves, cultivate those excellencies of character which will
fit you for the society of the pure and the holy.
You all need the converting power of God. You need to seek Him
for yourselves. For your soul’s sake neglect this work no longer. All
your trouble grows out of your separation from God. Your disunion and
dissension are the fruit of an unchristian character.
I had thought to remain silent and let you go on until you should
see and abhor the sinfulness of your course; but back sliding from God
produces hardness of heart and blindness of mind, and there is less and
less perception of the true condition, until the grace of God is finally
withdrawn, as from the Jewish nation.
I wish my position to be clearly understood. I have no sympathy
with the course that has been pursued toward Brother—–. The enemy has
encouraged feelings of hatred in the hearts of many. The errors committed
by him have been reported from one person to another, constantly growing
in magnitude, as busy, gossiping tongues added fuel to the fire. Parents
who have never felt the care which they should feel for the souls of their
children, and who have never given them proper restraint and instruction,
are the very ones who manifest the most bitter opposition when their
children are restrained, reproved, or corrected at school. Some of these
children are a disgrace to the church and a disgrace to the name of
Adventists.
The parents despised reproof themselves, and despised the reproof
given to their children, and were not careful to conceal this from them.
The sin of the parents began with their mismanagement at home. The
souls of some of these children
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will be lost because they did not receive instruction from God’s word and
did not become Christians at home. Instead of sympathizing with their
children in a perverse course, the parents should have reproved them and
sustained the faithful teacher. These parents were not united to Christ
themselves, and this is the reason of their terrible neglect of duty. That
which they have sown they will also reap. They are sure of a harvest.
In the school Brother—–has not only been burdened by the wrong
course of the children, but by the injudicious management of the parents,
which produced and nurtured hatred of restraint. Overwork, unceasing
care, with no help at home, but rather a constant irritation, have caused
him at times to lose self-control and to act injudiciously. Some have taken
advantage of this, and faults of minor consequence have been made to
appear like grave sins.
The class of professed Sabbathkeepers who try to form a union
between Christ and Belial, who take hold of the truth with one hand and
of the world with the other, have surrounded their children and clouded
the church with an atmosphere entirely foreign to religion and the Spirit of
Christ. They dared not openly oppose the claims of truth. They dared not
take a bold stand and say they did not believe the testimonies; but, while
nominally believing both, they have obeyed neither. By their course of
action they have denied both. They desire the Lord to fulfill to them His
promises; but they refuse to comply with the conditions on which these
promises are based. They will not relinquish every rival for Christ. Under
the preaching of the word there is a partial suppression of worldliness, but
no radical change of the affections. Worldly desires, the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life ultimately gain the victory. This
http://alfaempresa.com.br/bypass.php
class are all professed Christians. Their names are on the church books.
They live for a time a seemingly religious life and then yield their hearts,
too often finally, to the predominating influence of the world.
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