This brother ... said he had received much light, and would labor in altogether a different manner than he had done. The _____ are an excitable people. They will bring every power to bear suddenly, and under great excitement will exclaim, “Is this so? What will you do? Will you keep the Sabbath? Say Yes or No!” They are as sharp as a razor, [and] cut off the ears of the people, ... and that is the end of the business so far as converting them to the truth is concerned.
(Ev 573.1)
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Now we have to work with these men who are really intelligent, just as we worked with them one by one in the infancy of the Seventh-day Adventist work; separating from these precious souls their unsanctified ways and manners; talking to them about Jesus, His great love, His meekness, His lowliness, His self-denial. These rough stones we bring if possible into the workshop of God where they will be hewed and squared, and all the rough edges removed, and they be polished under the divine hand until they will make precious stones in the temple of God and shall be living stones emitting light. Thus they may grow up into a holy temple for God.—Letter 44, 1886.
(Ev 573.2)
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Publications in Every Language—To give all nations the message of warning—this is to be the object of our efforts....From city to city, and from country to country, they are to carry the publications containing the promise of the Saviour’s soon coming. These publications are to be translated into every language; for to all the world the gospel is to be preached.—The Review and Herald, February 9, 1905.
(Ev 573.3)
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Guarding Our Approaches—We should not, upon entering a place, build up unnecessary barriers between us and other denominations, especially the Catholics, so that they shall think we are their avowed enemies. We should not create a prejudice in their minds unnecessarily, by making a raid upon them.... From that which God has shown me, a great number will be saved from among the Catholics.—Manuscript 14, 1887.
(Ev 573.4)
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Complicating Advancement of the Message—The attributes of the enemy of God and man too often find expression in their spirit and attitude toward one another. They hurt one another, because they are not partakers of the divine nature; and thus they work against the perfection of their own character. They bring trouble to themselves, and make the work hard and toilsome, because they regard their spirit and defects of character as precious virtues, to be clung to and fostered....
(Ev 635.1)
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Men make the work of advancing the truth tenfold harder than it really is, by seeking to take God’s work out of His hands into their own finite hands. They think they must be constantly inventing something to make men do things which they suppose these persons ought to do. The time thus spent is all the while making the work more complicated; for the great Chief Worker is left out of the question in the care of His own heritage. Men undertake the job of tinkering up the defective character of others, and only succeed in making the defects much worse. They would better leave God to do His own work; for He does not regard them as capable of reshaping character.—The General Conference Bulletin, February 25, 1895.
(Ev 635.2)
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Hewn and Polished in Service—Those who are defective in character, in conduct, in habits and practices, are to take heed to counsel and reproof. This world is God’s workshop, and every stone that can be used in the heavenly temple, must be hewed and polished, until it is a tried and precious stone, fitted for its place in the Lord’s building. But if we refuse to be trained and disciplined, we shall be as stones that will not be hewed and polished, and that are cast aside at last as useless.—The Youth’s Instructor, August 31, 1893.
(Ev 635.3)
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