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Testimonies for the Church Volume 3
willing to be led, and when your understanding is sanctified and your
will and prejudices surrendered, such a light will be shed abroad in
your heart as will illumine the Scriptures and show you present truth
in its beautiful harmony. It will appear like a golden chain, link joined
to link in a perfect whole. “Except ye be converted, and become as
little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” “Learn
of Me,” says Christ; “for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall
find rest unto your souls.”
If you have indeed entered the school of Christ, He expects you to
manifest in your character and deportment the lowliness which is so
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beautifully exemplified in His character. Christ will not undertake to
teach the self-righteous, self-conceited, and self-willed. If such come
to Him with the inquiry, What is truth? He gives them no answer. It
is only the meek that He will guide in judgment; the meek will He
teach His way. Solomon was naturally endowed with good judgment
and large reasoning powers, but he acknowledged himself before God
as a little child. He sought for wisdom from God with humility, and
he sought not in vain. If you really search for the truth with the right
motive you will come with the body, for they have the truth. If you
are searching the Scriptures and different authors that you may find
doctrines which will coincide with your own preconceived opinions,
and if you have already settled your faith, then you will be boastful,
self-confident, and unyielding.
Self-Confidence a Snare
Brother B, with your present self-willed, stubborn spirit, you will
go further and further from the truth; and unless you are converted you
will prove to be a great hindrance to the cause of God in any place
where you have any influence. You are persistent to carry your points.
Your self-sufficient spirit must be yielded before you can see anything
clearly. You have led your wife to think that you knew the truth better
than any of our ministers; you have taken the key of knowledge into
your own hands, so far as she is concerned, and have kept her in
darkness. God has given His church men of judgment, experience,
and faith. They know the way of truth and salvation, for they have
searched for it in agony of spirit because of the opposition they had to