Those who prefer to act alone are not good soldiers.

They have some crookedness in their character which

needs to be straightened. They may think themselves conscientious, but they do not the works of Christ.
They cannot render efficient service. Their work will be of a character to draw apart when Christ's prayer
was that His disciples might be one as He was one with the Father. {14MR 29.3}
There are those who think it a virtue to be firm, set, and determined in some peculiar ideas of their own
plans and notions that lead them away from unity and concert of action. They take a firm-set will to be of
Christian [character] forming, when [actually] it is in them a too high appreciation of their own wisdom.
They do not consider that there is a possibility of their being deceived in the interpretation of Scripture and
their duty. {14MR 29.4}
Self-restraint is essential to be exercised by every Christian if they answer the prayer of Christ. He is not
a good soldier who will not submit his own judgment and his own ideas to preserve unity of action. We
have a noble Captain and every soldier must obey orders. The meekness and lowliness of Christ always
leads to unity and hence to strength in united action.--Letter 62, 1886, pp. 3-6.

We are not able to keep ourselves; we are kept by the power of God. Our Redeemer has all power in
heaven and in earth, and if we do just as Jesus tells us to, we shall be kept safe in His love. In our own
strength we are perfect weakness, but, when we put our whole trust in Jesus Christ, we are kept by His
power, for He is fully able to keep every soul who puts his trust in Him. {14MR 72.1}
The peril to which every soul is exposed is very great. The great adversary of God, and the enemy of
man is watching to find an opportunity to take us when we are off our guard. Jesus has told us of our
danger, and warned us against the wily foe. He has repeatedly enjoined upon us the duty of always
watching and praying, lest we enter into temptation. {14MR 72.2}
Believe in Jesus, trust in Jesus with living, constant faith, and rely without doubt upon Jesus to keep and
save you. One mighty to save has hold upon you; and as long as you will submit to be led by Him, to learn
of Him, to confide in Him, He will keep you from falling; and when God engages to keep you, He is a sure
defense. He is a strong fortress, and as you confide in Him, you are perfectly secure. His word is pledged in
your defense, if you will believe in Him. Simply trust in God, and obey His commandments, and you are
saved by the merits and intercession of Jesus Christ. {14MR 72.3}

Christ is the Son of God in deed and in truth and in love, and is the representative of the Father as well as
the representative of the human race. His arm brought salvation. He took humanity, was bone of our bone
and flesh of our flesh, and submitted to all the temptations wherewith man would be beset. He showed in
the great controversy with Satan that He was fully able to remove the stigma and discount the degradation
of sin which Satan has placed upon the human family. By taking humanity and combining it with divinity,
He was able to meet every demand of the law of God, to overcome every objection which Satan had made
prominent as standing in the way of man's obedience to God's commandments. {14MR 83.2}
Satan placed before the world that the only hope of salvation was in getting rid of the law of God. But
Christ came to make it plain that it was sin, the transgression of the law, that was to be abolished, in order
that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.
{14MR 84.1}

Captain Eldridge's influence over you has not been right in some things. Your influence with him might
have been much more to his good and the glory of God than it has been. But the past, with its burden of
record, has gone into eternity; now in repentance and confession and conversion to God, in childlike
submission and obedience to His will, is your only hope of salvation. I am deeply in earnest; I could not
abate one jot or tittle of truth to please you or to make you my best friend. No; it is life or death
with you. There is not time for us to trifle with eternal realities. We must be saved in God's way, just as He
has presented it in His Word, else we can never be saved at all. We must be pure and single-hearted, in
principle firm as a rock. Jesus said, "He that will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his
cross, and follow Me; so shall he be My disciple." Thank God, Oh, thank Him with heart and voice, that He
is still our compassionate Redeemer, ready to forgive sin and by His own blood to cleanse us from every
stain that sin has made. I write in love. (Signed) Aunt Ellen.--Letter 2a, 1892. {14MR 121.2}

A new order of things has come into the ministry. There is a desire to pattern after other churches, and
simplicity and humility are almost unknown. The young ministers seek to be original, and to introduce new
ideas and new plans for labor. Some open revival meetings, and by this means call large numbers into the
church. But when the excitement is over, where are the converted ones? Repentance and confession of sin
are not seen. The sinner is entreated to believe in Christ and accept Him, without regard to his past life of
sin and rebellion. The heart is not broken. There is no contrition of soul. The supposed converted ones have
not fallen upon the Rock, Christ Jesus. {2SM 18.4}
The Old and New Testament Scriptures show us the only way in which this work should be done.
Repent, repent, repent was the message rung out by John the Baptist in the wilderness. Christ's message to
the people was "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:5). And the apostles were
commanded to preach everywhere that men should repent. {2SM 19.1}
The Lord desires His servants today to preach the old gospel doctrine, sorrow for sin, repentance, and
confession. We want old-fashioned sermons, old-fashioned customs, old-fashioned fathers and mothers in
Israel. The sinner must be labored for, perseveringly, earnestly, wisely, until he shall see that he is a
transgressor of God's law, and shall exercise repentance toward God, and faith toward the Lord Jesus
Christ--Undated manuscript 111. {2SM 19.2}

You know not the deceptions of the human heart. You know not the devices of Satan. Some who have
drawn largely upon your sympathy have a sickly, diseased imagination, are lovesick, sentimental, ever
eager to create a sensation and make a great ado. Some are dissatisfied with their married life. There is not
enough romance in it. Novel reading has perverted all the good sense they ever had. They live in an
imaginary world. Their imagination creates a husband for themselves such as exists only in romances found
in novels. They talk of unrequited love. They are never contented or happy, because their imagination
pictures to them a life that is unreal. When they face the reality, come down to the simplicity of real life,
and take up life's burdens in their families, as is woman's lot, then they will find contentment and
happiness. {2T 302.1}