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Testimonies for the Church Volume 3
There are some in the church who profess to be keeping the law
of Jehovah, but who are transgressors of that law. There are men who
do not discern their own defects. They possess a selfish, penurious
spirit and blind their own eyes to their sin of covetousness, which
the Bible defines as idolatry. Men of this character may have been
esteemed by their brethren as most exemplary Christians; but the eye
of God reads the heart and discerns the motives. He sees that which
man cannot see in the thoughts and character. In His providence
He brings these persons into positions which will in time reveal the
defects in their character, that if they wish to see and correct them they
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can do so. There are some who have all their lives studied their own
interest and been swallowed up in their own selfish plans and who have
been anxious to advantage themselves without much thought whether
others would be distressed or perplexed by any plans or actions of
theirs. Selfish interest overbears mercy and the love of God. The Lord
sometimes permits this class to go on in their selfish course in spiritual
blindness until their defects are apparent to all who have spiritual
discernment and they evidence by their works that they are not genuine
Christians.
Men who have property and a measure of health, and who enjoy
the inestimable blessing of sight, have every advantage over a blind
man. Many ways are open to them in their business career that are
closed to a man who has lost his sight. Persons enjoying the use of all
their faculties should not look to their own selfish interest and deprive
a blind brother of one iota of his opportunity to gain means. Brother E
is a poor man. He is a feeble man; he is also a blind man. He has had
an earnest desire to help himself, and, although living under a weight
of discouraging infirmities, his affliction has not dried up the generous
impulses of his soul. In his limited circumstances he has had a heart
to do and has done more in the sight of God for those who were in
need of help than many of his brethren who are blessed with sight
and who have a good property. Brother E has a capital in his business
calculation and inventive faculty. He has worked earnestly with high
hopes of inventing a business by which he might support himself and
not be dependent upon his brethren.
I wish that we might all see as God sees. I wish all could realize
how God looks upon those men who profess to be followers of Christ,
who have the blessing of sight and the advantage of means in their