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Counsels to Writers and Editors
Could those who are self-sufficient see how the universe of God
regards them, could they see themselves as God sees them, they would
behold such weakness, such manifest want of wisdom, that they would
cry to the Lord to be their righteousness; they would want to hide
from His sight. The apostle says, “Ye are not your own. For ye are
bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your
spirit, which are God’s.” When our schemes and our plans have been
broken; when men who have depended upon our judgment conclude
the Lord would lead them to act and judge for themselves, we should
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not feel like censuring, and like exercising arbitrary authority to compel
them to receive our ideas. Those who are placed in authority should
constantly cultivate self-control....
Would-be Guardians of the Doctrine—The rebuke of the Lord
will be upon those who would be guardians of the doctrine, who would
bar the way that greater light shall not come to the people. A great
work is to be done, and God sees that our leading men have need of
greater light, that they may unite harmoniously, with the messengers
whom He shall send to accomplish the work that He designs they
should. The Lord has raised up messengers and endued them with
His Spirit, and has said, “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like
a trumpet, and show My people their transgression, and the house of
Jacob their sins.”
Let no one run the risk of interposing himself between the people
and the message of heaven. The message of God will come to the
people; and if there were no voice among men to give it, the very
stones would cry out. I call upon every minister to seek the Lord, to
put away pride, to put away strife after supremacy, and humble the
heart before God. It is the coldness of heart, the unbelief of those
who ought to have faith, that keeps the churches in feebleness.—
The
Review and Herald, July 26, 1892
.
A Sign of Growth—Whenever the people of God are growing in
grace, they will be constantly obtaining a clearer understanding of His
word. They will discern new light and beauty in its sacred truths. This
has been true in the history of the church in all ages, and thus it will
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continue to the end. But as real spiritual life declines, it has ever been
the tendency to cease to advance in the knowledge of the truth. Men
rest satisfied with the light already received from God’s word, and