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to control minds and make them see things just as you see them. And
when light came to you, what course did you take? Did you merely
admit that you were wrong, or did you heartily confess your error and
humble your proud hearts before God? Did you cast aside your ways
and accept God’s teachings? Did you go to the very ones you had
bruised and wounded, and say: “I have been wrong; I have sinned
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against you. Forgive me. I have failed; I have worked in my own spirit.
I had a zeal, but not according to knowledge. It was the spirit of Jehu,
rather than the meekness and lowliness of Christ. The word of God
directs: ‘Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another,
that ye may be healed.’ Will you pray for me that God will forgive me
for the distress and anguish I have caused you?”
If you who have engaged in this work of bruising and condemning
have not heartily repented, then light, peace, and joy will not come into
your souls. When you are careful, kind, and tender to your brethren in
the same degree that you have been hard, unforgiving, and oppressive,
you will confess your faults and make restitution as far as possible;
and when you have done all on your part you may ask the Lord to do
that which it is impossible for you to do—heal the wounds you have
made, forgive you, and blot out your transgression. When there is so
great reluctance to confess a wrong which is laid open and plain before
the erring, it shows that they are controlled by their own untamable,
unsanctified natures rather than by the spirit of the gospel of Christ.
If God has ever spoken by me, you have most earnest work to do
in zealous repentance for showing to the erring the satanic element in
your character, not in coldness and indifference merely, but in neglect
and contempt. If they are indeed in darkness and doing things that
imperil their souls, you should manifest the greater interest in them.
Show them that while you will be true to principle and will not swerve
from the right, you love their souls. Let them know by your words and
actions that you have not a spirit of revenge and retaliation, but that for
their sakes you will sacrifice feeling and subdue self. Represent Jesus,
our pattern; manifest His spirit at all times and under all circumstances,
and let that mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus. Your ways
have not been God’s ways; your will has not been God’s will. The
precious plant of love has not been cultivated, and watered by the dews
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of grace. Self-love, self-righteousness, self-complacency, have exerted
a controlling power.