Chapter 143—True Refinement
The Lord Jesus demands our acknowledgment of the rights of
every man. Men’s social rights and their rights as Christians are to
be taken into consideration. All are to be treated with refinement and
delicacy as the sons and daughters of God.
Christianity will make a man a gentleman. Christ was courteous,
even to His persecutors; and His true followers will manifest the same
spirit. Look at Paul when brought before rulers. His speech before
Agrippa is an illustration of true courtesy as well as persuasive elo-
quence. The gospel does not encourage the formal politeness current
with the world, but the courtesy that springs from real kindness of
heart.
The most careful cultivation of the outward proprieties of life is not
sufficient to shut out all fretfulness, harsh judgment, and unbecoming
speech. True refinement will never be revealed so long as self is
considered as the supreme object. Love must dwell in the heart. A
thoroughgoing Christian draws his motives of action from his deep
heart-love for his Master. Up through the roots of his affection for
Christ springs an unselfish interest in his brethren. Love imparts
to its possessor grace, propriety, and comeliness of deportment. It
illuminates the countenance and subdues the voice; it refines and
elevates the whole being.—
The Ministry of Healing, 489, 490
.
[422]
True Courtesy Needed
There is the greatest necessity that men and women who have a
knowledge of the will of God should learn to become successful work-
ers in His cause. They should be persons of polish, of understanding,
not having the deceptive outside gloss and simpering affectation of
the worldling, but that refinement and true courteousness which savors
of heaven, and which every Christian will have if he is a partaker of
the divine nature. The lack of true dignity and Christian refinement in
the ranks of Sabbath-keepers is against us as a people, and makes the
365