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L E T T E R S

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The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 5, 1862

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 20, No. 10.

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L E T T E R S.

By M. L. Priest

“Then they that feared the Lord, spake often one to another.”

From Sister Priest.

DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS: I am satisfied that we are living in perilous times, and are forming characters for eternity. Oh solemn thought! Many soul-stirring epistles have been written to arouse us. God has spoken plainly to us through vision, and by his word. Jesus yet pleads. Angels wait. Mercy lingers. Are any still unmoved! Perhaps some are aroused, but wondering why they don’t rise. Have you searched for the cause! Can you say with Paul, “God forbid I should glory, save in the cross of Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world?” Can we in surveying the cross, count our richest gain, but loss, and pour contempt on all our pride?
Could we realize that Jesus notices every act, as much as if in the flesh, and among us, should we not blush with shame, that we turn from him with such neglect? Should we strive as hard to please him as we do to appear well in the sight of the world, methinks we should have his approving smile, and the blessed assurance that he is ours, and we are his. My heart aches while I reflect how many times must he turn away with a frown! What earthly friend would we thus neglect, who had been the means of saving the natural life? Oh think of the contrast? The Son of God giving his life, for us, that we might have eternal life, dying the just for the unjust, and notwithstanding all our sinfulness, all our slighting, our coldness and stupidity, since we professed to love him, he has borne with us, and still he pleads. But soon he’ll cease his pleading. O let us wake up, let us be in earnest in the closet, and cry for clean hearts. The fountain must be cleansed. And when about the duties of life, let every act tell for God and his truth. Cultivate humility. Subdue pride. I know from experience that if grace thrives, pride will die. May the Lord help us to put off the old man and become new creatures in Christ Jesus. O let us be in earnest. Soon it will be too late. Jesus soon is coming to claim his own. Let us not only seek but strive to be ready.
M. L. PRIEST. Clinton Mass.