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Chapter 1—The Church of Christ
The Object of His Supreme Regard
[The General Conference Bulletin, 1893, 408, 409. Read before the
general conference in session, February 26, 1899.]
Melbourne, Australia,
December 23, 1892
Dear Brethren of the General Conference,
I testify to my brethren and sisters that the church of Christ,
enfeebled and defective as it may be, is the only object on earth on
which He bestows His supreme regard. While He extends to all the
world His invitation to come to Him and be saved, He commissions
His angels to render divine help to every soul that cometh to Him
in repentance and contrition, and He comes personally by His Holy
Spirit into the midst of His church. “If Thou, Lord, shouldest mark
iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with
Thee, that Thou mayest be feared. I wait for the Lord, my soul
doth wait, and in His word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord
more than they that watch for the morning.... Let Israel hope in the
Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous
redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.”
Ministers and all the church, let this be our language, from hearts
that respond to the great goodness and love of God to us as a people
and to us individually, “Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth
and forever.” “Ye that stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts
of the house of our God, praise the Lord; for the Lord is good: sing
praises unto His name; for it is pleasant. For the Lord hath chosen
Jacob unto Himself, and Israel for His peculiar treasure. For I know
that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods.” Consider,
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my brethren and sisters, that the Lord has a people, a chosen people,
His church, to be His own, His own fortress, which He holds in
a sin-stricken, revolted world; and He intended that no authority
should be known in it, no laws be acknowledged by it, but His own.
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