Individual Independence
385
These agents of Satan are hard to meet, and it is difficult to have
patience with them. But calmness, patience, and self-control are ele-
ments which every minister of Christ should cultivate. The combatants
of the truth have educated themselves for intellectual battle. They
are prepared to present on the surface sophistry and assertions as the
word of God. They confuse unsuspecting minds and place the truth
in obscurity, while pleasing fables are presented to the people in the
place of pure Bible truth.
Many choose darkness rather than light because their deeds are
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evil. But there are those who, if the truth could have been presented
in a different manner, under different circumstances, giving them a
fair chance to weigh the arguments for themselves and to compare
scripture with scripture, would have been charmed by its clearness and
would have taken hold upon it.
It has been very indiscreet for our ministers to publish to the world
the wily sophistry of error, furnished by designing men to cover up
and make of none effect the solemn, sacred truth of Jehovah. These
crafty men who lie in wait to deceive the unwary give their strength
of intellect to perverting the word of God. The inexperienced and
unsuspecting are deceived to their ruin. It has been a great error to
publish to all the arguments wherewith opponents battle the truth of
God, for in so doing minds of every class are furnished with arguments
which many of them had never thought of. Someone must render an
account for this unwise generalship.
Arguments against the sacred truth, subtle in their influence, af-
fect minds that are not well informed in regard to the strength of the
truth. The moral sensibilities of the community at large are blunted
by familiarity with sin. Selfishness, dishonesty, and the varied sins
which prevail in this degenerate age have blunted the senses to eternal
things so that God’s truth is not discerned. In giving publicity to the
erroneous arguments of our opponents, truth and error are placed upon
a level in their minds, when, if they could have the truth before them
in its clearness long enough to see and realize its sacredness and im-
portance, they would be convinced of the strong arguments in its favor
and would then be prepared to meet the arguments urged by opposers.
Those who are seeking to know the truth and to understand the will
of God, who are faithful to the light and zealous in the performance
of their daily duties, will surely know of the doctrine, for they will