On Publishing Conflicting Views
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good pleasure. We need Jesus abiding in the heart, a constant living
wellspring; then the streams flowing from the living fountain will be
pure, sweet, and heavenly. Then the foretaste of heaven will be given
to the humble in heart.
Close Doors of Difference—Truths connected with the second
coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven will be talked of, written
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upon, more than now. There is to be closed every door that will lead
to points of difference and debate among brethren. If the old man
was purged from every heart, then there would be greater safety in
discussion, but now the people need something of a different character.
There is altogether too little of the love of Christ in the hearts of those
who claim to believe the truth. While all their hopes are centered in
Jesus Christ, while His Spirit pervades the soul, then there will be
unity, although every idea may not be exactly the same on all points.
The Bible is yet but dimly understood. A lifelong, prayerful study
of its sacred revealings will leave still much unexplained. It is the
deep movings of the Spirit of God that is needed to operate upon the
heart to mold character, to open the communication between God and
the soul, before the deep truths will be unraveled. Man has to learn
himself before God can do great things for him. The little knowledge
imparted might be a hundredfold greater if the mind and character were
balanced by the holy enlightenment of the Spirit of God. Altogether
too little meekness and humility are brought into the work of searching
for the truth as for hidden treasures, and if the truth were taught as it is
in Jesus, there would be a hundredfold greater power, and it would be
a converting power upon human hearts; but everything is so mingled
with self that the wisdom from above cannot be imparted.—
Letter 37,
1887
.
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