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Testimonies for the Church Volume 2
he could from his brethren, until he had been helped, through their
liberalities, to a valuable home; then he apostatized, and became the
bitterest enemy of the very ones who had been most liberal to him.
This man will have to render an account for the means that he has
taken from truehearted believers in the truth. He did not rob them,
but the treasury of God. We wish him no evil; for “God shall bring
every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be
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good, or whether it be evil.” He has walked in the ways of his heart
and in the sight of his eyes, but for all these things God will bring
him into judgment. All the hidden things of darkness will then be
brought to light, and the secret counsels of the heart shall be made
manifest.
Brother B, you are not as these men. We would not compare
you to them, but we would say: Beware of walking in their footsteps
and of having your conversation with covetousness. This desire on
the part of ministers to obtain means for selfish purposes is a snare
to them, which, if they continue in, will prove their overthrow. As
they get their eyes upon self, their interest in the prosperity of God’s
cause, and their love for poor souls, become less and less. They
do not lose their love for, and interest in, the truth at once. Their
departure from the cause of right is so gradual and imperceptible
that it is frequently difficult to tell the time when the change in them
took place.
I think your course highly dangerous. You have not felt the
necessity of heeding the light which God has given you, and arousing
yourself to save your family, acquitting yourself as a father and priest
of your household. You did not deny the light given, you did not
rise up against it; but you neglected to carry it out because it was
not convenient and agreeable to your feelings to do this. Therefore
you were like Meroz. You came not up to the help of the Lord,
although the matter was of so vital consequence as to affect the
eternal interests of your children. You neglected your duty. In this
respect you were a slothful servant. You have but little sense of how
God regards the neglect of parents to discipline their children. Had
you reformed here, you would have seen the necessity of the same
effort to maintain discipline and order in the church. Your slackness
in your family has been seen also in your labors in the church. You
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cannot build up the church until you are a transformed man.