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Counsels on Health
when their religious experience consists in a sickly sentimentalism
rather than in purity, true goodness, and humiliation of self. The mind
should be drawn away from self; its powers should be exercised in
devising means to make others happier and better. “Pure religion and
undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless
and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the
world.”
James 1:27
.
True Religion Ennobles the Mind
True religion ennobles the mind, refines the taste, sanctifies the
judgment, and makes its possessor a partaker of the purity and the
holiness of heaven. It brings angels near and separates us more and
more from the spirit and influence of the world. It enters into all the
acts and relations of life and gives us the “spirit of a sound mind,” and
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the result is happiness and peace.
Said the apostle Paul to his Philippian brethren, “Finally, brethren,
whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever
things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are
lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue,
and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Adopt this as the
rule of life. “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto
God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall
keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:8, 6,
7
.