Jeremiah 2:34
Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these. Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these.
The blood of the souls of the poor innocents is found in the skirts and upon the garments of those responsible for harming them. That guilt is open and plain to be seen, not found only by secret search. Those whose influence and conduct lead others astray, or whose temptation puts souls in peril, bear guilt for those souls and have their blood upon them. The stain rests on the garments even when the wrong is done secretly and even when those who do it are unconscious of their influence, and it will be exposed at the final judgment.
Applied to institutional work, this condemns restricting and repressing and oppressing individuals as a failure to uphold right principles. Such dealing with individuals bears the mark of injustice and wrongdoing that God will not approve. Those who profess to speak for God yet deny the faith by worldly conduct bring this bloodguilt upon themselves. Their worldly life weakens the force of their teaching so that hearers remain unconvicted, and the ministry is brought into contempt while souls entrusted to their influence are placed in peril.
Putting temptation in another's way brings this same bloodguilt, as in making wine or cider for profit. It is no excuse that someone else would supply it if they did not, for money gained by violating the command to love one's neighbor is offensive to God. Such gain cannot be made acceptable by offering it to Him. Professing Christians who follow worldly ways draw people away from Christ by their influence, and if they persist they will face the weight of the people they have misled. Sabbath-keepers whose harmful influence and failure to live by the warnings and light given them would bring spiritual harm to precious souls come under this open guilt.