If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. Matthew 18:15.

If you are grieved because your neighbors or friends are doing wrong to their own hurt, if they are overtaken in fault, follow the Bible rule. “Tell him his fault between thee and him alone.” As you go to the one you suppose to be in error, see that you speak in a meek and lowly spirit, for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. The erring can in no other way be restored than in the spirit of meekness and gentleness and tender love. Be careful in your manner. Avoid anything in look or gesture, word or tone of voice, that savors of pride or self-sufficiency. Guard yourself against a word or look that would exalt self or present your goodness and righteousness in contrast with their failings. Beware of the most distant approach to disdain, overbearing, or contempt. With care avoid every appearance of anger, and though you use plainness of speech, yet let there be no reproach, no railing accusation, no token of warmth, but that of earnest love. Above all, let there be no shadow of hate or ill will, no bitterness nor sourness of expression….

Bear in mind that the success of reproof depends greatly upon the spirit in which it is given. Do not neglect earnest prayer that you may possess a lowly mind and that angels of God may work upon the hearts you are trying to reach, before you, and so soften them by heavenly impressions, that your efforts may avail….

You may have excused yourself for speaking evil of your brother or sister or neighbor to others before going to them, and taking the steps God has absolutely commanded. Perhaps you say, “I did not speak to anyone until I was so burdened that I could not refrain.” What burdened you? Was it a plain neglect of your own duty, a thus saith the Lord? You were under the guilt of sin because you did not go tell him his fault between thee and him alone….

Sometimes the mildest and tenderest reproof will have no good effect. In that case, the blessing you wanted another to receive by pursuing a course of righteousness, ceasing to do evil and learning to do well, will return into your own bosom. If the erring persist in sin, treat them kindly and leave them with your Heavenly Father.—The Review and Herald, July 17, 1879.

From From the Heart

Because you say, “I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing”—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Revelation 3:17.

Dear Brother: We are pained to learn the condition of Brother B [A. W Bartlett], and to know that Satan is pushing him on to cause disaffection in the Indiana Conference under the pious guise of Christian holiness. Both you and ourselves fully believe that holiness of life is necessary to fit us for the inheritance of saints in light. We contend that this state must be reached in a Bible way. Christ prayed that His disciples might be sanctified through the truth, and the apostles preached of purifying our hearts by obeying the truth.

The professed church of Christ is full of the spurious article, and one distinct feature of it is the more the members drink into the spirit of popular sanctification, the less they prize the present truth. Many of those who are the open opponents of God’s Sabbath, the third angel’s message, and the health reform are among the sanctified ones. Some of them have even reached the almost hopeless position that they cannot sin. These, of course, have no further use for the Lord’s Prayer, which teaches us to pray that our sins may be forgiven, and but very little use for the Bible, as they profess to be led by the Spirit….

What a terrible deception! They think they are complete in Christ, and know not that they are wretched, blind, miserable, poor, and naked….

We warn our brethren of the Indiana Conference and elsewhere. Our position has ever been that true sanctification, which will stand the test of the judgment, is that which comes through obedience of the truth and of God….

God is leading out a people, but it has been Satan’s effort all the way to induce certain ones to set up their judgment against that of the body, and thus lead them away from the body to certain ruin. Thus have self-deceived souls fallen all the way along during the history of the third angel’s message. Those who are led by fanaticism will gradually feel in harmony with those who fully reject the truth, and unless they can be arrested in their course will, sooner or later, be in the ranks of our bitterest opponents. (Signed by both James and Ellen White.)—The Review and Herald, June 6, 1878.

From From the Heart

You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 2:1.

The seeking of the kingdom of God and His righteousness is to be the object and aim of our lives. It is no child’s play to fulfill this injunction, but whatever self-denial it calls for, it is still for our interest in this life and the life to come to obey this command. We are to have an eye single to the glory of God, and thus grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The more earnestly and diligently we seek for divine wisdom, the more firmly established we shall be in the truth….

We are not always to remain children in our knowledge and experience in spiritual things. We are not always to express ourselves in the language of one who has just received Christ, but our prayers and exhortations are to grow in intelligence as we advance in experience in the truth. The language of a child of 6 in a child of 10 years of age would not be pleasing to us, and how painful would it be to hear expressions of childish intelligence in one who had arrived at years of maturity….

The youth who has had several years of experience in the Christian life ought not to have the hesitating language of one who is a babe in Christ. There is a want of growth in professed Christians. Those who are not growing up unto the full stature of men and women in Christ Jesus manifest this in the way they speak of the things of the kingdom of God….

The testimonies that are borne by many of the professed followers of Christ are those of persons who have become dwarfs in the Christian life. The language of true, deep, intelligent experience is wanting….

We are not to cultivate the language of the earthy, and be so familiar with human conversation that the language of Canaan will be new and unfamiliar to us….

Christians are to be faithful students in the school of Christ, ever learning more of heaven, more of the words and will of God, more of the truth, and how to use faithfully the knowledge that they have gained to instruct others and to lead them to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. We are to have an intelligent knowledge of the Scriptures, for how can we know God’s will and way without searching for the treasures of God’s righteousness in His Holy Word? We should know the truth for ourselves and understand both the prophecies and the practical teachings of our Lord.—Youth’s Instructor, June 28, 1894.

From From the Heart

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength…. You shall love your neighbor as yourself Mark 12:30, 31.

We see beauty and loveliness and glory in Jesus. We behold in Him matchless charms. He was the majesty of heaven…. Angels bowed in adoration before Him and readily obeyed His commands. Our Savior gave up all. He laid aside His glory, His majesty, and splendor, and came down to this earth and died for a race of rebels who were transgressors against His Father’s commandments. Christ condescended to humble Himself that He might save the fallen race. He drank the cup of suffering, and in its place offers us the cup of blessing; yes, that cup was drained for us; and although many know all this, yet they choose to go on in sin and folly; and still Jesus invites them…. The truths of God’s Word must be brought to bear upon us, and we must lay hold upon them. If we do this, they will have a sanctifying influence upon our lives; they will fit us that we may have a preparation for the kingdom of glory, that when our probation shall close, we may see the King in His beauty and dwell in His presence forevermore.

And now the question is, Are we willing to make the sacrifice? … “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” What a promise is this!

And do you think that by embracing the truth of God you are degrading yourself? … The truth elevates the receiver every time…. It brings purity of character and purity of life and gives a fitness that we may join the heavenly company in the kingdom of glory. Without this fitness we can never see the heavenly abode….

Does the truth require you to stand alone in your position to serve God, because others around you are not willing to yield to the claims that Christ has upon them? Does it require a separation in feeling from them? Yes; and this is the cross which you must bear, which leads many to say, I cannot yield to the claims of the truth. But says Christ, If anyone love father, or mother, or brother, or sister, more than me, he is not worthy of me…. Is this too great a sacrifice to make for Him who sacrificed all for you?—The Review and Herald, April 19, 1870.

From From the Heart

This is a hard saying; who can understand it? John 6:60.

Some professed followers of Christ may be inclined to say, as did the disciples at a certain time as they listened to the earnest truths which fell from the lips of the divine Teacher, “This is an hard saying; who can hear it?” Many may think that the way is made too straight. When we talk of self-denial and sacrifice for Christ’s sake, they think we dwell too much on these points. You would prefer to hear us speak of the Christian’s reward. We know that those who are faithful will inherit all things, but the great question with us should be, “Who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth?” Who shall be counted worthy to receive the exceeding great and precious reward that shall be given to the overcomers? Those who shall be partakers of Christ’s sufferings will be sharers with Him of His glory.

Without holiness, the Word of God tells us, no one can see the Lord. Without purity of life it is impossible for us to be fitted and prepared to dwell with the holy and sinless angels in a pure and holy heaven. No sin can be there. No impurity can enter the pearly gates of the golden city of God. And the question for us to settle is whether we will turn from all sin and comply with the conditions God has given us, that we may become His sons and daughters. Separation from the world He requires of us in order to become members of the royal family….

We believe without a doubt that Christ is soon to come, and believing this we feel a necessity upon us to plead with men and women to prepare for the coming of the Son of man…. We want you to be of that company that shall bow before the throne of God crying, “Worthy, worthy, worthy, is the Lamb that was slain for us.” …

When you are all ready, having overcome your sins, having put away all your iniquity from you, you are in a condition to receive the finishing touch of immortality….

It will not be safe for you to wait for a better time to come. It is while it is called today. If anyone will hear His voice, harden not your hearts. It is to listen today to the invitation of mercy. It is to yield your pride, your folly, your vanity, and make an entire surrender of your heart to God. Come to Him with your talents and all the influence you have, and lay all these without reserve at the feet of Him who died on Calvary’s cross to redeem you.—The Review and Herald, April 12, 1870.

From From the Heart