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The Desire of Ages
the wounds of the soul, there is need of the most delicate touch, the
finest sensibility. Only the love that flows from the Suffering One
of Calvary can avail here. With pitying tenderness, let brother deal
with brother, knowing that if you succeed, you will “save a soul from
death,” and “hide a multitude of sins.”
James 5:20
.
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But even this effort may be unavailing. Then, said Jesus, “take
with thee one or two more.” It may be that their united influence will
prevail where that of the first was unsuccessful. Not being parties to
the trouble, they will be more likely to act impartially, and this fact
will give their counsel greater weight with the erring one.
If he will not hear them, then, and not till then, the matter is to
be brought before the whole body of believers. Let the members of
the church, as the representatives of Christ, unite in prayer and loving
entreaty that the offender may be restored. The Holy Spirit will speak
through His servants, pleading with the wanderer to return to God.
Paul the apostle, speaking by inspiration, says, “As though God did
beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled
to God.”
2 Corinthians 5:20
. He who rejects this united overture has
broken the tie that binds him to Christ, and thus has severed himself
from the fellowship of the church. Henceforth, said Jesus, “let him
be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.” But he is not to be
regarded as cut off from the mercy of God. Let him not be despised or
neglected by his former brethren, but be treated with tenderness and
compassion, as one of the lost sheep that Christ is still seeking to bring
to His fold.
Christ’s instruction as to the treatment of the erring repeats in more
specific form the teaching given to Israel through Moses: “Thou shalt
not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in anywise rebuke thy
neighbor, that thou bear not sin for him.”
Leviticus 19:17
, margin. That
is, if one neglects the duty Christ has enjoined, of trying to restore
those who are in error and sin, he becomes a partaker in the sin. For
evils that we might have checked, we are just as responsible as if we
were guilty of the acts ourselves.
But it is to the wrongdoer himself that we are to present the wrong.
We are not to make it a matter of comment and criticism among our-
selves; nor even after it is told to the church, are we at liberty to repeat
it to others. A knowledge of the faults of Christians will be only a
cause of stumbling to the unbelieving world; and by dwelling upon