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Mind, Character, and Personality Volume 1
Those who have offered themselves to Christ to become His disciples
must deny self daily, must lift up the cross and follow in the footsteps
of Jesus. They must go where His example leads the way.—
Letter 28,
1888
The Virtue of Christian Courtesy—Paul, though firm as a rock
to principle, yet ever preserved his courtesy. He was zealous for the
vital points and was not regardless of the grace and politeness due to
social life. The man of God did not absorb the man of humanity.—
Letter 25, 1870
(HC 236.)
Some persons speak in a harsh, uncourteous manner that wounds
the feelings of others, and then they justify themselves by saying, “It
[46]
is my way; I always tell just what I think”; and they exalt this wicked
trait of character as a virtue. Their uncourteous deportment should be
firmly rebuked.—
The Review and Herald, September 1, 1885
. (HC
229.)
The Author Called to Meet Every Phase of Fanaticism—In
1844 we had to meet fanaticism on every hand, but always the word
came to me: A great wave of excitement is an injury to the work. Keep
your feet in the footprints of Christ. I was given a message to meet
every phase of fanaticism. I was instructed to show the people that
under a wave of excitement a strange work is done. There are those
who improve the opportunity to bring in superstitions. Thus the door
is closed to the promulgation of sound doctrine.—
Letter 17, 1902
An Impending Danger—As the end draws near, the enemy will
work with all his power to bring in fanaticism among us. He would
rejoice to see Seventh-day Adventists going to such extremes that they
would be branded by the world as a body of fanatics. Against this
danger I am bidden to warn ministers and lay members. Our work is
to teach men and women to build on a true foundation, to plant their
feet on a plain “Thus saith the Lord.”—
Gospel Workers, 316
(1915).
Mind Control One Form of Fanaticism—I have spoken dis-
tinctly regarding the dangerous science which says that one person
shall give up his mind to the control of another. This science is the
devil’s own.
This is the character of the fanaticism we had to meet in 1845. I
did not then know what it meant, but I was called upon to bear a most
decided testimony against anything of the kind.—
Letter 130 1/2, 1901