Digging For Truth

Brethren - All ye are Brethren

         Quotations from the writings of Ellen G. White with the phrase . . .

             "A l l    y e    a r e    b r e t h r e n"        (  2  RELATED  PHRASES )                          

                       The  phrase  'All ye are Brethren'  appears  128  times in the published writings of EGW                See page on Original site                                                    Related phrase:   true brotherhood  ( below )

The spirit of domination is extending to the presidents of our conferences.  If a man is sanguine of his own powers and seeks to exercise dominion over his brethren, feeling that he is invested with authority to make his will the ruling power, the best and only safe course is to remove him, lest great harm be done, and he lose his own soul, and imperil the souls of others.  "All ye are brethren."   Christian Leadership, page 31.3  {ChL 35.3}  {TM 362.1}

 

 
For one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.  Matthew 23:8.  {UL 74.1}

   Before God's servants take up any work, they are to pray to God in all humility, with a sense of their dependence upon God, realizing that they must be worked by His Spirit. They are to guard against setting themselves up as kings, because if they do this, they will dishonor the Lord and make a failure of their work. "All ye are brethren."  {UL 74.2}

 

 
God's cause at this time is in special need of men and women who possess Christlike qualifications for service, executive ability, and a large capacity for work, who have kind, warm, sympathetic hearts, sound common sense, and unbiased judgment; who will carefully weigh matters before they approve or condemn, and who can fearlessly say No, or Yea and Amen; who, because they are sanctified by the Spirit of God, practice the words "All ye are brethren," striving constantly to uplift and restore fallen humanity. -- Manuscript Releases, vol. 2, p. 88 {DG 101.1}
 
 
The Lord is displeased with the want of harmony that has existed among the workers. He cannot impart His Holy Spirit, for they are bent on having their own way, and the Lord presents to them His way. Great discouragement will come in from Satan and his confederacy of evil, but "all ye are brethren," and it is an offense to God when you allow your individual, unsanctified traits of character to be active agencies to discourage one another. -- Letter 31, 1892.  {Ev 101.3}
 
The desire to have one's own way, contrary to the judgment of co-workers, is to find no place in our institutions. "All ye are brethren."   A spirit of love and tenderness is to be shown. In our sanitariums, and in any institution, kind words, pleasant looks, a condescending demeanor, are of great value. There is a charm in the intercourse of men who are truly courteous. In business transactions what power for good a little condescension has! How restoring and uplifting the influence of such dealing upon men who are poor and depressed, borne down to the earth by sickness and poverty! Shall we withhold from them the balm that such dealing brings? . . .  {MM 172.2} 
 
If a man is sanguine of his own powers, and seeks to exercise dominion over his brethren, feeling that he is invested with authority to make his will the ruling power, the best and only safe course is to remove him, lest great harm be done, and he lose his own soul, and imperil the souls of others. "All ye are brethren." ... Those in authority should manifest the spirit of Christ. They should deal as He would deal with every case that requires attention. They should go weighted with the Holy Spirit.-- Lt 55, 1895. (SpIRHWBC 32, 33.)  {PM 139.3}
 
The Lord will have faithful men who love and fear Him connected with every school, every printing office, health institution, and publishing house. Their wages should not be fashioned after the worldling's standard. There should be, as far as possible, excellent judgment exercised to keep up, not an aristocracy, but an equality, which is the law of heaven. "All ye are brethren" (Matt. 23:8). A few should not demand large wages, and such wages should not be presented as an inducement to secure ability and talents. This is placing things on a worldly principle. The increase of wages brings with it a corresponding increase of selfishness, pride, display, self-gratification, and needless extravagance that the people who do their utmost to pay their tithes and present their offerings to God do not have. Poverty is seen in all their borders. The Lord loves the one just as much as the other, with the exception that the self-sacrificing, humble, contrite souls who love God and strive to serve Him, are ever kept nearer to the great heart of Infinite Love than the man who feels at liberty to have all the good things of this life.-- 2SM 192.  {PM 239.4}
 
We want to understand that there are no gods in our Conference. There are to be no kings here, and no kings in any Conference that is formed. "All ye are brethren."  Let us work on the platform of humility, seeking the Lord earnestly that his light may shine into our hearts, and that the arrangements we make may be after God's order. I thank God that we are today in the presence of the whole heavenly universe. While we are making these arrangements, all heaven is witnessing to them. If the veil could be removed, if our ears could be opened, we would see the holy angels and hear a song of triumph ascending to God, because advance is to be made in the Southern field. This field, because it is a hard one, has stood with little help and with little sympathy. Those who work there must put on the righteousness of Christ. He says, My righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of God shall be your rearward.  {GCB, April 5, 1901 par. 12}

 

                        true   brotherhood                          
Those who love Jesus and the souls for whom he had died will follow after the things which make for peace. But they must take care lest in their efforts to prevent discord, they surrender truth; lest in warding off division, they sacrifice principle. True brotherhood can never be maintained by compromising principle. As Christians approach the Christlike model, and become pure in spirit and action, they will feel the venom of the serpent. The opposition of the children of disobedience is excited by a Christianity that is spiritual. At this crisis is the time to decide who are God’s faithful servants, who will be true to principle, who will bear in mind that truth is too dearly purchased for its least principle to be surrendered. That peace and harmony which are secured by mutual concessions to avoid all differences of opinion are not worthy of the name. On points of feeling between man and man, concessions should sometimes be made; but never should one iota of principle be sacrificed to obtain harmony. All our words and actions pass in review before God; and if we wish to stand in the Judgment as having done all that we could do to exert a correct influence over our fellow men, we must return kind acts for acts of mischief and malice. Christ is our pattern; we must follow him. { RH January 16, 1900, par. 6 }

 

 

                                           Christ  declares,  "All ye are brethren"                                                                     

 

"The head of every man is Christ." God, who put all things under the Saviour's feet, "gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all." 1 Cor. 11:3;  Eph. 1:22, 23. The church is built upon Christ as its foundation; it is to obey Christ as its head. It is not to depend upon man, or be controlled by man. Many claim that a position of trust in the church gives them authority to dictate what other men shall believe and what they shall do. This claim God does not sanction. The Saviour declares, "All ye are brethren."   All are exposed to temptation, and are liable to error. Upon no finite being can we depend for guidance. The Rock of faith is the living presence of Christ in the church. Upon this the weakest may depend, and those who think themselves the strongest will prove to be the weakest, unless they make Christ their efficiency. "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm." The Lord "is the Rock, His work is perfect." "Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him." Jer. 17:5;  Deut. 32:4;  Ps. 2:12.  {DA 414.3}

 

 
In the name of the Lord I would say to the teachers in our schools, Attend to your appointed work. You are not called upon by God to engage in politics. "All ye are brethren," Christ declares, "and as one you are to stand under the banner of Prince Emmanuel." "What doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord, and His statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good? . . . For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment. Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God; Him shalt thou serve, and to Him shalt thou cleave, and swear by His name. He is thy praise, and He is thy God."  {FE 477.2}

 

 
The Lord looks upon the creatures He has made with compassion, no matter to what race they may belong. God "hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth."... Speaking to His disciples the Saviour said, "All ye are brethren." God is our common Father, and each one of us is our brother's keeper.-- The Review and Herald, Jan. 21, 1896.  {2SM 344.3}
 
Those who occupy important positions, who are brought in contact with souls for whom Christ has died, should place upon men the estimate God has placed upon them and regard them as precious. But many have treated the purchase of Christ's blood in a harsh manner, in harmony with the disposition of men instead of according to the mind and spirit of Christ. Of His disciples Christ says, "All ye are brethren." We should ever keep in mind the relation which we bear one to another, and remember that we must meet those with whom we associate here, around the judgment seat of Christ. God will be the Judge, and He will deal justly with every individual.  {TM 224.1}
 
Christ gave His disciples a most important lesson in regard to who should be His disciples. "In the kingdom that I am about to set up," He said, "strife for the supremacy shall have no place. All ye are brethren.  All My servants there shall be equal. The only greatness recognized there will be the greatness of humility and devotion to the service of others. He that humbleth himself shall be exalted, and he that exalteth himself shall be abased. He who seeks to serve others by self-denial and self-sacrifice will be given the attributes of character that commend themselves to God, and develop wisdom, true patience, forbearance, kindness, compassion. This gives him the chiefest place in the kingdom of God."  {TDG 356.1}
 

 

 

 

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Related Information

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