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Testimonies for the Church Volume 5
There must be no betraying of confidence or holy trust now to benefit
or exalt self. We should constantly watch our life with jealous care
lest we leave wrong impressions upon the world. Say it, act it: “I am
a Christian. I can not act upon the world’s maxims. I must love God
supremely and my neighbor as myself. I cannot enter into or connive
at any arrangement which will interfere in the slightest manner with
my usefulness or weaken my influence or destroy the confidence of
anyone in God’s instrumentalities.” ...
Remember that God’s people are but a little flock compared with
the professedly Christian world and the myriads of world-adoring men
and women. They are to be Bible Christians, examples to our youth of
righteousness and exactness in all things. Every influence surrounding
the young should be of a holy character, and this influence should
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begin in our own families. The sacred and the common should not be
commingled.
Guarding the Interests of Brethren
By his baptismal vows every member of the church has solemnly
pledged himself to guard the interests of his brethren. All will be
tempted to cling to their own cherished plans and ideas, which appear
sound to them; but they should watch and pray, and endeavor, to the
utmost of their ability, to build up the kingdom of Jesus in the world.
Every Christian is required by God, as far as it is in his power, to ward
off from his brethren and sisters every influence which will have the
least tendency to divide them or to separate their interests from the
work for this present time. He should not only have a regard for his
own spiritual interests, but should manifest a burden for the souls of
those to whom he stands related; and he should, through Christ, have a
constraining power over other members of the church. His words and
deportment should have an influence to lead them to follow Christ’s
example in self-denial, self-sacrifice, and love for others.
If there are any in the church who exert an influence contrary to
the love and disinterested benevolence which Jesus manifested for us,
if they draw apart from their brethren, faithful men should deal with
these cases in wisdom, laboring for their souls, yet being careful that
their influence shall not leaven others, and that the church shall not be
led astray by their disaffection and false reports. Some are filled with