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Idle Words

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 12, 1870

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 35, No. 17.

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Idle Words.

By Angelia J. Edmunds

How necessary that our words should be well chosen.
A few mornings since a circumstance occurred that rests with weight on my mind. In a conversation, unpleasant words were unadvisedly spoken by me. I stepped into another room when there sat Bro. — with pencil and paper in hand. Sadness rested on his countenance. I was reminded of the good angel who keeps the record of all our words and actions. An angel had been writing down every word I had spoken. Matt. 12: 36, 37: “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of Judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” Solemn thought! No amount of good words or good deeds, can cancel idle words placed against me on the record book. Many such words may be uttered in an unguarded moment with an unruly tongue.
How many who read this will begin, with me, to record their idle words, that we may more keenly feel the evil and repent of it? Let us pray much for the assisting grace of God, that our hearts may be cleansed; that the fountain may be pure. Then shall we be victorious.
It will cost us many agonizing prayers and tears. The enemy will not give us up without a struggle; but we have One that is “mighty to save” on our side, if we try. We must be in earnest in this matter, or we shall be lost. ANGELIA J. EDMUNDS. Barry Co., Mich.