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Testimonies to Southern Africa
supposition that it is tares. The wisdom that is from above will come
to him who is meek and lowly in heart, and that wisdom will not lead
him to destroy, but to build up the people of God
Oh, encourage your soul to look to Jesus. Tell every one how dan-
gerous it is to neglect his own soul’s eternal healthfulness by looking
upon the diseased souls of others, by talking upon the uncomeliness
of character found in those who profess the name of Christ. The soul
does not become more and more like Christ by beholding evil, but like
the evil which it beholds. The same love of self, the same indulgence
of self, the same hastiness of spirit, the same petulance of temper, the
same sensitiveness and pride of opinion, the same unwillingness to
receive counsel, the same unsanctified, independent judgment, will be
manifest in those who criticize as in those who are criticized. They
will act as if they had not Christ as their pattern and example. Oh, how
much we need to guard against Satan’s devices....
My dear brother, you have learned what humanity is, when it is not
closely connected with God, even among professed Christians. But
of what significance is this to you? It is that you may learn to say,
“I am weak as the weakest of these poor souls who are erring.” You
may say that you know that it requires grace and strength from Christ
to submissively receive reproof, admonition, and counsel from the
word of the Lord through His servants. True humility is taught to the
Christian by the Holy Spirit, and under discipline, if self-confidence is
not dead in us, it will press itself to the front, and show its unsightly
developments....
He who will not accept advice and counsel from God’s human
agents is in danger of not receiving the counsel of heaven, and will be
fatally mistaken unless his spirit is changed. He will look upon others
with suspicion, thinking they are in the wrong, and in this attitude
there will be no chance to set him right; for he will reason that there
is no necessity for it. Christians should be teachable, they should
have self-control, they should ponder upon that which is presented to
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them, and fear that their own course may not be perfect, when they
see so many defects in their brethren that leads them to accuse and
condemn....
The wisdom that leads to alienation, difference, strife, and con-
tention, “descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.