48
A Solemn Appeal
the lust of the flesh was rooted out of their hearts, they would not be so
weak. If our sisters would feel the necessity of purifying their thoughts,
and never suffer themselves to be careless in their deportment, which
leads to improper acts, they would not be in danger of staining their
purity. They would feel such an abhorrence of impure acts and deeds
that they would not be found among the number who fall through the
temptations of Satan, no matter who the medium might be whom Satan
should select.
A preacher may deal in sacred, holy things, and yet not be holy
in heart. He may give himself to Satan to work wickedness, and to
corrupt the soul and body of his flock. Yet if the minds of women and
youth professing to love and fear God were fortified with the Spirit of
God; if they had trained their minds to purity of thought, and educated
themselves to avoid all appearance of evil, they would be safe from
any improper advances, and be secure from the prevailing corruption
around them. The apostle has written concerning himself, “But I keep
under my body, and bring it in subjection; lest that by any means,
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when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”
1
Corinthians 9:27
.
If a minister of the gospel has not control of his lower passions;
if he fails to follow the example of the apostle, and so dishonors his
profession and faith as to even name the indulgence of sin, the sisters
who profess godliness should not for an instant flatter themselves that
sin and crime lose their sinfulness in the least because their minister
dares to engage in them. Because men who are in responsible places
show themselves to be familiar with sin, it should not lessen the guilt
and enormity of the sin in the minds of any. Sin should appear just as
sinful, just as abhorrent, as the word of God represents it to be, and the
one who indulges in sin should, in the minds of the pure and elevated,
be abhorred and withdrawn from, as they would flee from a serpent
whose sting was deadly.
If the sisters were elevated, and possessed purity of heart, any cor-
rupt advances, even from their minister, would be repulsed with such
positiveness that they would never be repeated. Minds must be terribly
befogged that can listen to the voice of the seducer because he is a
minister, and therefore break God’s plain and positive commands, and
flatter themselves that they commit no sin. Have we not the words of
John: “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments,
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