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We Shall Be Pure, February 25
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Exodus 20:14
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This commandment forbids not only acts of impurity, but sensual
thoughts and desires, or any practice that tends to excite them. Purity
is demanded not only in the outward life, but in the secret intents and
emotions of the heart. Christ, who taught the far-reaching obligation of
the law of God, declared the evil thought or look to be as truly sin as is
the unlawful deed
When the thought of evil is loved and cherished, however secretly,
said Jesus, it shows that sin still reigns in the heart. The soul is still in
the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. He who finds pleasure
in dwelling upon scenes of impurity, who indulges the evil thought, the
lustful look, may behold in the open sin, with its burden of shame and
heartbreaking grief, the true nature of the evil which he has hidden in the
chambers of the soul. The season of temptation, under which, it may be,
one falls into grievous sin, does not create the evil that is revealed, but
only develops or makes manifest that which was hidden and latent in the
heart. As a man “thinketh in his heart, so is he”; for out of the heart “are
the issues of life.
The heart in which Christ dwells, will be so filled, so
satisfied, with His love that it will not be consumed with longing to attract
sympathy and attention to itself. And through the surrender of the soul to
God, His wisdom can accomplish what human wisdom fails to do
So long as life shall last, there will be need of guarding the affections
and the passions with a firm purpose. Not one moment can we be secure
except as we rely upon God, the life hidden with Christ
The nearer we live to Jesus, the more will we partake of His pure and
holy character; and the more offensive sin appears to us, the more exalted
and desirable will appear the purity and brightness of Christ
[63]
70
Patriarchs and Prophets, 308
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71
Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, 94
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72
Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, 101
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Prophets and Kings, 84
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74
Testimonies For The Church 5:141
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62