Spalding and Magan's Unpublished Manuscript Testimonies - Ellen G. White

you, and submit yourselves; for they watch for our
souls, as they that must give account, that they may
do it with joy, and not with grief; for this is
unprofitable for you." These specific directions
would not have been given, unless there were those
who needed reproof and counsel.
There are persons who will never receive
reproof, who build themselves up in their own way,
and insist on clinging to their own evil habits and
practices. When reproved they say, "Why do you
tell me these things? I can not be any different."
But they deceive themselves in saying this. They
could make changes if they would; but they prefer
to have their own way, rather than to make a
determined effort to seek a better and more perfect
way, by which their usefulness might be greatly
increased, and their ability developed to fill
positions of trust.
Those who will never admit that they are
wrong, feel injured when reproved, and bring forth
reasons as numerous as vain, to justify themselves.
They always think that they are right, and so
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