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Testimonies for the Church Volume 3
these traits of character is a part of the life-work which Christ has
given us all to do.
God will not excuse you for not taking up the cross and practicing
self-denial in doing good to others with unselfish motives. If you will
take the trouble to make the self-denial required of Christians, you
may, by the grace of God, be qualified to win souls to Christ. God
has claims upon you to which you have never responded. There are
many all around us who hunger for sympathy and love. But, like
many others, you have been nearly destitute of that humble love which
naturally flows out in pity and sympathy for the destitute, the suffering,
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and the needy. The human countenance itself is a mirror of the soul,
read by others, and having a telling influence upon them for good or
evil. God does not call upon any of us to watch our brethren and to
repent of their sins. He has left us a work to do, and He calls upon us
to do it resolutely, in His fear, with an eye single to His glory.
Everyone, whether he is faithful or otherwise, must give to God an
account of himself, not of others. Seeing faults in other professors and
condemning their course will not excuse or offset one error of ours. We
should not make others our criterion nor excuse anything in our course
because others have done wrong. God has given us consciences for
ourselves. Great principles have been laid down in His word, which
are sufficient to guide us in our Christian walk and general deportment.
You, my dear friends, as a family, have not kept the principles of the
law of God. You have never felt the burden of the duty devolving upon
man to his fellow men.
“And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted Him, saying,
Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What
is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as
thyself. And He said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and
thou shalt live. But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And
who is my neighbor? And Jesus answering said,
“A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell
among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him,
and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down
a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the
other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came