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Testimonies for the Church Volume 5
holiness. The psalmist says: “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord
will not hear me.” As workers we must take heed to our ways. If the
psalmist could not be heard if he regarded iniquity in his heart, how
can the prayers of men now be heard while iniquity is regarded by
them?
After the passing of the time in 1844, fanaticism came into the
ranks of Adventists. God gave messages of warning to stay the in-
coming evil. There was too great familiarity between some men and
women. I presented to them the holy standard of truth that we should
reach and the purity of deportment that we should maintain in order to
meet the approval of God and be without spot or wrinkle or any such
thing. Most solemn denunciations from God were given to men and
women whose thoughts were running in an impure channel, while they
claimed to be especially favored by God; but the message which God
gave was despised and rejected. They turned upon me and said: “Has
God spoken only by you, and not by us?” They did not amend their
ways, and the Lord suffered them to go on till defilement marked their
lives.
We are not out of danger even now. Every soul who engages to
give to the world the message of warning will be sorely tempted to
pursue such a course in life as will deny his faith. It is Satan’s studied
plan to make the workers weak in prayer, weak in power, and weak in
influence, because of their defects of character. We, as workers, must
be united in frowning down and condemning everything that bears the
least approach to evil in our associations with one another. Our faith
is holy; our work is to vindicate the honor of God’s law, and is not
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of a character to bring anyone down to a low level in thought or in
deportment.
There is an exalted platform for us to stand upon. We must believe
and teach the truth as it is in Jesus. Holiness of heart will never lead
to impure actions. When one who claims to be teaching the truth is
inclined to be much in the company of young or even married women,
when he familiarly lays his hand upon them, or is often conversing
with them in a familiar manner, be afraid of him; the pure principles of
truth are not inwrought in his soul. Such are not in Christ, and Christ
is not abiding in them. They need a thorough conversion before God
can accept their labors. The truth of heavenly origin never degrades
the receiver, never leads him to the least approach to undue familiarity;