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To Brethren in Responsible Positions
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up as if of great value, while Christ and His righteousness have
been excluded? Have not men woven selfishness into everything
they have touched, revealing it persistently and determinedly in their
work? Have they not treated the message of God with disdain? Have
they not handled means which was not theirs as though they had
a right to do with it as they pleased? And when this means was
used to open new fields, have they not acted as though it came from
their own individual capital, which they deserved great credit for
thus appropriating? Has not the money offered as an oblation to
God been used to pile up large buildings in Battle Creek—to give
character to the work, it is said, but really to give opportunity for
men to show the genius and tact they manifest in managing these
large business houses?
“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy
nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises
of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous
light: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people
of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained
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mercy. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims,
abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; having your
conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak
against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they
shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.”
The Evil of Self-Serving
How do men regard the work of the Lord when they feel them-
selves at liberty to be disobedient, unthankful, unholy, condemna-
tory, and harsh, loving to serve themselves rather than the Lord?
Those who hold sacred trusts are forming their own destiny by the
spirit and character they reveal; and do they ever think how their
works will appear in the judgment? If the important truth for this
time were an abiding principle in the souls of those who minister
in the work of the Lord, how earnestly they would strive to obtain
perfection of character, that they might surround the souls of those
with whom they come in contact with a life-giving, holy atmosphere
that would revive the hearts of the humble and contrite!