Money was power among the foolish of earth, and money was their god; but their very prosperity has destroyed them. They became fools in the eyes of God and His heavenly angels, while men of worldly ambition thought them wise. Now their supposed wisdom is all foolishness, and their prosperity their destruction. Again ring forth shrieks of fearful, heart-rending anguish: “Rocks and mountains, fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of His wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?”Revelation 6:16~17. To the caves of the earth they flee as a covert, but these fail to be such then.
(2T 42.1)
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Dear brother, life or death is before you. Do you know why your steps have faltered? why you did not persevere with courage and firmness? You have a violated conscience. Your business career has not been straightforward. You have something to do here. Your father did not look upon business principles in the correct light. You regard them as do worldlings in general, but not as God regards them. “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”Matthew 19:19. Have you done this? “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.”Matthew 22:37. If this commandment is obeyed, it prepares the heart to obey the second, which is like unto it: “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”Matthew 19:19. All the Ten Commandments are embodied in the two specified. The first includes the first four commandments, which show the duty of man to his Creator. The second embraces the last six, which show the duty of man to his fellow man. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. They are two great arms sustaining all ten of the commandments, the first four and the last six. These must be strictly obeyed.
(2T 42.2)
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We love you, and want you to be successful in your efforts in striving for the better life.
(2T 569.1)
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Steamer “Keokuk,” Mississippi River, September 30, 1869.
(2T 569)
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A few things which are pressing upon my mind I feel a duty to write to Brother L and you. I have related the substance of the matter before you; but as my mind is still burdened, I will write.
(2T 569.2)
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I was shown that with you, I and mine have come to be first. You have had so great a care for yourself that the Lord has had no room to work for you. You have given Him no chance. He has, in a great measure, given Brother L and yourself up to work according to your own judgment, that you might be convinced that your wisdom is foolishness. You have not worked for the interest of the widow and fatherless, as the Lord has especially enjoined upon His followers; neither have you made the cases of the Lord’s poor your own, by taking a special interest in them, nor have you sought to glorify God and magnify His name; therefore the Lord has suffered you and Brother L to pursue a course of your own choosing. He has permitted you to look out for yourselves. Your own selfish interests have been the foundation of your actions, and you will reap the harvest which you yourselves have sown. I saw that you would verily receive the reward that sooner or later follows the serving of your own selfish interest. “Give an account of thy stewardship,”(Luke 16:2) must be heard by you. You are accountable to God for the work entrusted to you, which you have shamefully neglected in order to serve yourselves.
(2T 569.3)
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