Necessity of Harmony
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the manner in which we should treat our fellow beings and especially
those who are our brethren in Christ.
God is continually benefiting us, but we are too indifferent to His
favors. We have been loved with an infinite tenderness, and yet many
of us have little love for one another. We are too severe upon those
we suppose to be in error, and are very sensitive to the least blame or
question in regard to our own course.
Hints are thrown out and sharp criticisms of one another, but at
the same time the very ones who throw out these hints and criticisms
are blind to their own failings. Others can see their errors, but they
cannot see their own mistakes. We are daily recipients of the bounties
of heaven and should have loving gratitude springing up in our hearts
to God, which should cause us to sympathize with our neighbors and
make their interests our own. Thoughts and meditations upon the
goodness of God to us would close the avenues of the soul to Satan’s
suggestions.
God’s love for us is proved daily; yet we are thoughtless of His
favors and indifferent to His entreaties. He seeks to impress us with
His Spirit of tenderness, His love and forbearance; but we scarcely
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recognize the marks of His kindness and have little sense of the lesson
of love He desires us to learn. Some, like Haman, forget all God’s
favors, because Mordecai is before them and is not disgraced; because
their hearts are filled with enmity and hatred rather than love, the spirit
of our dear Redeemer, who gave His precious life for His enemies. We
profess to have the same Father, to be bound for the same immortal
home, to enjoy the same solemn faith, and to believe the same testing
message; and yet many are at strife with one another like quarrelsome
children. Some who are engaged in the same branch of the work are
at variance with one another and therefore at variance with the Spirit
of Christ.
The love of praise has corrupted many hearts. Those who have
been connected with the Health Institute have at times manifested a
spirit of finding fault with the plans laid, and Satan has given them a
hold upon the minds of others there who have accepted these persons
as blameless while innocent persons have been charged with wrong.
It is a wicked pride that delights in the vanity of one’s own works,
that boasts of one’s excellent qualities, seeking to make others seem
inferior in order to exalt self, claiming more glory than the cold heart