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Selected Messages Book 1
was mistaken.” I warn you to be careful. Sow not one expression of
doubt. God has wrought for you, bringing sound doctrines of truth into
actual contact with the heart. Blessing was given you, that it might
produce fruit in sound practices and upright character.
The Sin of Rejecting Evidence
The sin for which Christ reproved Chorazin and Bethsaida was the
sin of rejecting evidence that would have convinced them of the truth,
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had they yielded to its power. The sin of the scribes and Pharisees was
the sin of placing the heavenly work which had been wrought before
them in the darkness of unbelief, so that the evidence which should
have led them into a settled faith was questioned, and the sacred things
which should have been cherished were regarded as of no value. I fear
that the people have permitted the enemy to work along these very
lines, so that the good which emanated from God, the rich blessing
which He has given, have come to be regarded by some as fanaticism.
If this attitude is preserved, then when the Lord shall again let
His light shine upon the people, they will turn from the heavenly
illumination, saying, “I felt the same in 1893, and some in whom I
have had confidence, said that the work was fanaticism.” Will not those
who have received the rich grace of God, and who take the position that
the working of the Holy Spirit was fanaticism, be ready to denounce
the operations of the Spirit of God in the future, and the heart thus
be proof against the solicitations of the still, small voice? The love
of Jesus may be presented to those who thus barricade themselves
against it, and exercise no constraining power upon them. The riches
of the grace of heaven may be bestowed and yet rejected, instead
of being cherished and gratefully recognized. With the heart men
did believe unto righteousness, and for a time confession was made
unto salvation; but, sad to relate, the receiver did not cooperate with
heavenly intelligences, and cherish the light by working the works of
righteousness.—
The Review and Herald, February 6, 1894
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