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Testimonies for the Church Volume 2
that, although his profession is as exalted as the heavens, an impure
proposal coming from him is from Satan disguised as an angel of
light. I cannot believe that the word of God is abiding in the hearts
of those who so readily yield up their innocency and virtue upon the
altar of lustful passions.
My sisters, avoid even the appearance of evil. In this fast age,
reeking with corruption, you are not safe unless you stand guarded.
Virtue and modesty are rare. I appeal to you as followers of Christ,
making an exalted profession, to cherish the precious, priceless gem
of modesty. This will guard virtue. If you have any hope of being
finally exalted to join the company of the pure, sinless angels, and to
live in an atmosphere where there is not the least taint of sin, cherish
modesty and virtue. Nothing but purity, sacred purity, will stand the
grand review, abide the day of God, and be received into a pure and
holy heaven.
The slightest insinuations, from whatever source they may come,
inviting you to indulge in sin or to allow the least unwarrantable
liberty with your persons, should be resented as the worst of insults
to your dignified womanhood. The kiss upon your cheek, at an
improper time and place, should lead you to repel the emissary of
Satan with disgust. If it is from one in high places who is dealing
in sacred things, the sin is of tenfold greater magnitude, and should
lead a God-fearing woman or youth to recoil with horror, not only
from the sin he would have you commit, but from the hypocrisy and
villainy of one whom the people respect and honor as God’s servant.
He is handling sacred things, yet hiding his baseness of heart under
a ministerial cloak. Be afraid of anything like this familiarity. Be
sure that the least approach to it is evidence of a lascivious mind and
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a lustful eye. If the least encouragement is given in this direction, if
any of the liberties mentioned are tolerated, no better evidence can be
given that your mind is not pure and chaste as it should be, and that
sin and crime have charms for you. You lower the standard of your
dignified, virtuous womanhood, and give unmistakable evidence
that a low, brutal, common passion and lust has been suffered to
remain alive in your heart and has never been crucified.
As I have been shown the dangers of those who profess better
things, and the sins that exist among them,—a class who are not
suspected of being in any danger from these polluting sins,—I have