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Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce
great good you had done, to reckon up those who had embraced the
truth since you came to Colorado, when had it not been for publications
and other influences aside from yours, there would have been but very
few that would have balanced on the side of truth as your sheaves. You
claim too much....
There will be those who will solicit you to labor among them,
and you may in your unsanctified heart flatter yourself that this is
in your favor, and that you are of value. But do you suppose for a
moment, if they could read your heart or have opened before them
your past course of wickedness, they would be eager for your labors?
It is because they have not a knowledge of your course and what long
forbearance the people of God have exercised toward you. They know
not how aggravating has been your case, how many testimonies of
warning have been given you, all of which have been unheeded. Should
they know the matters as they are, they would give no encouragement
to your preaching....
[179]
David’s Well-learned Lessons—The fruits of repentance are seen
in the example of David. He learned the lesson of resignation under
affliction, patience under injuries, and of humble, childlike reliance
upon God. In your discouraged, dark condition, you should have both
commenced as young converts, seeking to have no will nor way of your
own, no surmising nor judging of the motives of others, and leaving
forever the long, fretting, complaining years of the past. Many who
see not as God seeth, but view matters from man’s standpoint, might
reason that with David there might have been excuse for repining, and
that the sincerity of his repentance years before might have excepted
him from present judgment.
David might have thought so himself. He might have said, I have
for a long time been obedient, and this should offset against my dis-
obedience. It is hard for me in my old age to meet this sweeping blast.
My life generally has been a life of faithful discharge of duty as God’s
honored servant, the king of Israel, the singer of His church. It is hard
now to hang my harp upon the willow and remain tuneless and become
a wandering exile. “My own son seeketh my life.”
Excuses for Sin of No Value With God—But David makes no
excuse. Justice points to the broken tablets of the broken law and draws
her sword against the transgressor. All apologies or excuses for sin are
of no value with God. The sentiment of the soul of David was, Who