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Testimonies for the Church Volume 5
honorable, or even honest, to win from the lips of another, under the
guise of friendship, secrets which have been entrusted to him, and then
turn the knowledge thus gained to his injury? Is it Christian charity
to gather up every floating report, to unearth everything that will cast
suspicion on the character of another, and then take delight in using it
to injure him? Satan exults when he can defame or wound a follower
of Christ. He is “the accuser of our brethren.” Shall Christians aid him
in his work?
God’s all-seeing eye notes the defects of all and the ruling passion
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of each, yet He bears with our mistakes and pities our weakness. He
bids His people cherish the same spirit of tenderness and forbearance.
True Christians will not exult in exposing the faults and deficiencies
of others. They will turn away from vileness and deformity, to fix the
mind upon that which is attractive and lovely. To the Christian every
act of faultfinding, every word of censure or condemnation, is painful.
There have always been men and women who profess the truth,
who have not conformed their lives to its sanctifying influence; men
who are unfaithful, yet deceiving themselves and encouraging them-
selves in sin. Unbelief is seen in their life, their deportment, and
character, and this terrible evil acts as does a canker.
Would all professed Christians use their investigative powers to see
what evils needed to be corrected in themselves, instead of talking of
others’ wrongs, there would be a more healthy condition in the church
today. Some will be honest when it costs nothing; but when policy
will pay best, honesty is forgotten. Honesty and policy will not work
together in the same mind. In time, either policy will be expelled, and
truth and honesty reign supreme, or, if policy is cherished, honesty
will be forgotten. They are never in agreement; they have nothing in
common. One is the prophet of Baal, the other is the true prophet of
God. When the Lord makes up His jewels, the true, the frank, the
honest, will be looked upon with pleasure. Angels are employed in
making crowns for such ones, and upon these star-gemmed crowns will
be reflected, with splendor, the light which radiates from the throne of
God.
Our ministering brethren are too often imposed upon by the relation
of trials in the church, and they too frequently refer to them in their
discourses. They should not encourage the members of the church to
complain of one another, but should set them as spies upon their own
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