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The Spirit of Prophecy Volume 2
rivalry disgrace the cause of God. The true Christian should vindicate
the right at the expense of all personal considerations.
The news that had been carried to John concerning the success
of Jesus, was also borne to Jerusalem, and there created against him
jealousy, envy, and hatred. Jesus knew the hard hearts and darkened
minds of the Pharisees, and that they would spare no pains to create
a division between his own disciples and those of John that would
greatly injure the work, so he quietly ceased to baptize and withdrew
to Galilee. He knew that the storm was gathering which was soon to
sweep away the noblest prophet God had ever given to the world. He
wished to avoid all division of feeling in the great work before him,
and, for the time, removed from that region for the purpose of allaying
all excitement detrimental to the cause of God.
Here is a lesson to the followers of Christ, that they should take
every proper precaution to avoid disagreement; for in every division
of interest, resulting in disation and unhappy differences in the church,
souls are lost that might have been saved in the kingdom of Heaven.
In the occurrence of a religious crisis, leading men who profess to be
God’s instruments should follow the example of the great Master and
that of the noble prophet John. They should stand firm and united in
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defense of the truth, while they carefully labor to avoid all injurious
dissensions.
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