- Closing Struggle -

Manuscript 1, 1849, (see also EW 42-45)

     I saw the commandments of God and [the] shut door could not be separated. I saw the time for the commandments of God to shine out to His people was when the door was opened in the inner apartment of the heavenly sanctuary in 1844. Then Jesus rose up and shut the door in the outer apartment and opened the door in the inner apartment and passed into the most Holy Place, and the faith of Israel now reaches within the second veil where Jesus now stands by the ark.

     I saw that Jesus had shut the door in the Holy Place and no man can open it, and that He had opened the door in the Most Holy Place and no man can shut it; and that since Jesus had opened the door in the Most Holy Place the commandments have been shining out and God has been testing His people on the Holy Sabbath. I saw that the test on the Sabbath could not come until the mediation of Jesus was finished in the Holy and He had passed within the second veil; therefore Christians who died before the seventh month [in] 1844, and had not kept the true Sabbath, rest in hope, for there was no condemnation until the true light on the Sabbath came.

     I saw that our adversaries had been trying to open the door in the outer apartment and to close the door in the inner apartment, where the ark is, containing the two tables of stone, on which are written the ten commandments by God's own finger. I saw that Satan was now using every device in this sealing time to keep the minds of God's people from present truth and cause them to waver.

     I saw that Satan was working through agents in a number of ways. He was at work through ministers who had rejected God's truth and had been given over to strong delusions to believe a lie, that they might be damned. I saw [that] while they were preaching or praying some would fall prostrate and helpless, not by the power of the Holy Ghost, No, no, but by the power of Satan, breathed upon these agents and through them to the people.

     I saw that some professed Adventists, who had rejected present truth, while preaching, praying, or in private conversation, used mesmerism to gain adherents and [that] the people would rejoice, thinking it was the power of God; and even those that used it [mesmerism] themselves were so far in the darkness and deception of the devil that they thought it was the power of God given them to exercise. I saw that these men had made God altogether such as one as themselves.

     I saw that some of the agents of the devil were affecting the bodies of those [whom] they could not deceive and drawn [away] from present truth. Some of them were even trying to afflict some of the saints unto death. (Oh, that all could get a view of it as God revealed it unto me, that they might know more of the wiles of Satan so as to be on their guard.)

     I saw that Satan was at work in these ways to distract, draw away, and deceive God's people, just now in this sealing time more than ever before. I saw some who were not standing stiffly; their knees were trembling, their feet were sliding, because they were not planted firmly on present truth, and [that] the covering of Almighty God could not be drawn over them. While they were thus trembling, Satan was trying his every art to hold them where they were until the sealing was over and the covering drawn over God's people, and they [were] left without protection in the time of slaughter.

     God has begun to draw this covering over His people, therefore it will very soon be drawn over all of those who are to have a shelter in the time of trouble or the day of the Lord.

     I saw that as God worked for His people, Satan would also work, and that the mysterious knocking, and signs and wonders of Satan, and false reformations would increase and spread. The reformations that were shown me were not reformations from error to truth, No, no, but from bad to worse, for those who professed a change of heart had only wrapped about them a religious cloak which covered up the iniquity of a vile heart so as to deceive God's people. But if their hearts could be seen, they would appear as black as ever.

     Men are demanded in these times who will not betray the truth, who will not yield to any guide but God. The trumpet must give a certain sound, clear and sharp. The sound of warning and alarm must be given. God has a message designed to arouse the people, and words of solemn importance must be spoken in no hesitating manner. The time of night must be sounded all along the line. Clear and distinct, the truth must come to the people in the spirit and power of God, that the church and the world may be aroused from their carnal slumbers. Men must be led to inquire with solemn interest, "What shall I do to be saved?" [see Acts 13:30]. False, unfaithful shepherds are crying, "Peace and safety," to soothe the consciences of those who need to be alarmed for their soul's sake. The voice and pen of God's faithful servants must be employed that those who are at ease may be aroused with the warning. "For when they shall cry, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them" [1 Thessalonians 5:3]. None will escape, save those who watch and keep their garments white.

     You must not only be watching and waiting, but praying and working. Have on the wedding garments. The third angel's message embraces more than the finite mind of man comprehends. Consider, the earth is to be lighted with its glory. The truth must be published far more extensively than it yet has been. It must be defined in clear, sharp lines before the people....

     In comparison to the number that reject the truth, those that receive it will be very small. But one soul is of more value than worlds beside. We must not become discouraged although our work does not seem to bring large returns....Although the greatest proportion of the world will reject the truth, some will accept it, some will respond to the drawing power of Christ. Those in whose hands the reading matter is placed may turn from the light and refuse to obey the convictions of conscience, but the messenger they despise, through the power of God, may fall into the hands of others and be as meat in due season to them. They will be aroused to search the Scriptures, to pray to know what is truth, and they will not ask in vain. Angels of God will minister to their necessities. Many who are in harmony with the truth, whose hearts are full of peace and gladness, because of the light for these last days, have received their knowledge from the pages that others rejected....

     I have been shown that Satan is stealing a march upon us. The law of God, through the agency of Satan, is to be made void. In our land of boasted freedom, religious liberty will come to an end. The contest will be decided over the Sabbath question which will agitate the whole world. Our time for work is limited, and God calls us as ministers and people to be minutemen. Teachers, as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves, must come to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. There are many who do not understand the prophecies relating to these days, and they must be enlightened....

     We must be waiting and watching and working diligently that Satan may not preoccupy the field and bring the issue upon us before our work is done. Satan has his work all prepared that through his lying wonders he may deceive the world. He will bind men in bundles and claim that the world is on his side. A corrupt union will exist among the wicked of the earth, and men will be banded together to trample down the standard of righteousness to please Satan and his evil angels, and to gratify a world at enmity with God and His law.

     God requires every man to do his duty and to show his loyalty. Satan is inventing every device possible that the people who know the truth may be lulled into fatal security, while he summons evil men and evil angels to carry on his scheme in secrecy. But all who seek God with their whole heart will be aroused. Those who love God with their whole soul will keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus.

     Some are inclined to think that too great a stir is being made, by their position of ease they say to the people, "peace and safety," when sudden destruction is about to fall upon the world. I tremble as I think of the words that have been spoken to me concerning those who do not act in accordance with the truth for this time. Said my guide, "Those who do not arouse will be passed by and God will move upon men who will respond to His call, and carry His work forward and upward."...

     A far greater work will be done than has yet been done, and none of the glory of it will flow to men, for angels that minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation are working night and day. All who will be saved must cooperate with the agencies of heaven to arouse the inhabitants of the earth to the solemn truths for this time....

     The third angel's message means far more than we take it to mean. We should search to find out all that is possible concerning this solemn message. The earth is to be lighted with its glory. The angels of God will even now go through our land to arouse the minds of the people if we will cooperate with them; but sad indeed is the fact that we are far behind the providences of God, and the work that ought to be done to send the rays of truth to those who sit in darkness is undone....Divine agencies will go before those who go out to work for God....Publications should be issued, written in the plainest, simplest language, explaining the subject of vital interest, and making known the things that are to come upon the world....

     Satan has his agents everywhere. They are engaged as canvassers and colporteurs, and so-called missionaries. Satan is constantly seeking so to occupy the minds of the people that they may not give attention to things of eternal interest. Every device and deception is prepared to control the minds of men, and if one plan fails, another is presented, and everything possible is invented to cover up the truth and turn the attention away from it by sophistry and falsehood.

     Those who shall be convicted of the truth will have to meet all manner of opposition. Men claiming to be teachers of Bible truth will assail those who embrace the truth, who have no experience in meeting objections, and they will seek to overwhelm them with false statements and wily reasoning. On this account, as well as for other reasons, it is necessary to have publications explaining the doctrines and meeting the arguments of objectors. If those who come into the faith can have a clear statement of the truths assailed, they will be armed with arguments with which to meet opposers and to defend themselves. In defending themselves they will unconsciously be sowing seeds of truth.

     Men will misrepresent the doctrines we believe and teach as Bible truths, and it is necessary that wise plans should be laid to secure the privilege of inserting articles in the secular papers, for this will be a means of awakening souls to see the truth. God will raise up men who will be qualified to sow beside all waters. God has given great light upon important truths, and it must come to the world....Everything that can be done in the work must be done to educate the public mind in regard to our true position, that we may not stand in a false light before the people....

     Just such a state of things as exists today existed before the flood and before the destruction of Sodom. Dissipation is on the increase in our world. Handbills on which indecent pictures are printed are posted up along our streets to allure the eyes and deprave the morals. These presentations are of such a character as to stir up the basest passions of the human heart through corrupt imaginings. These corrupt imaginings are followed by defiling practices, like those in which the Sodomites indulged. But the most terrible part of this evil is that it is practiced under the garb of sanctity. Our youth will be defiled, their thoughts degraded, and their souls polluted unless they are barricaded with the truth.

     Great trouble will soon arise among the nations which will not cease until Jesus comes. The world is becoming more and more lawless. The churches are united in their efforts to restrict religious liberty. What are we as a people doing in this crisis? Are we purifying our souls by obedience to Christ's words? Are we humbling our hearts before God and confessing our sins Are we seeking with earnestness and contrition of soul Him who is the source of our strength? Are we claiming the promises, believing that Jesus pardons our transgressions and forgives our sins? Are we educating ourselves to overcome all temptation to murmur and complain?...

     All are given the same opportunity that was granted to the first great rebel to demonstrate the spirit that moves them to action. It is God's purpose that everyone shall be tested and proved, to see whether he will be loyal or disloyal to the laws that govern the kingdom of heaven. To the last God permits Satan to reveal his character as a liar, an accuser, and a murderer. Thus the final triumph of His people will be made more marked, more glorious, more full and complete. The words of the prophet will then be fulfilled, [Isaiah 63:7 quoted]. The song of God's people will be, [Psalms 99:1-2 quoted].

     Now and onward to the close of time the people of God should be wide awake, not trusting in their own wisdom, but wholly in the wisdom of their Leader. They should set aside days for fasting and prayer. Entire abstinence from food should not be required, but they should deny themselves the food they usually enjoy, and partake of [a] plain, simple diet. No one should lift up his soul unto vanity, walking in self-indulgence and pride, for this is a time that demands genuine humiliation and most earnest prayer. We are nearing the most important crisis that has ever come upon the world. If we are not wide awake and watching, it will steal upon us as a thief. Satan is preparing to work through his human agencies in secrecy.

     There is in our church a decided want of love for Christ and for one another. Christ-like simplicity is looked upon as weakness. There is little clear spiritual discernment. Wrongs remain unconfessed. The transgression condemned in the law of God is on the increase in our borders. Sin is cherished and result is hardness of heart.

     Because those who are handling sacred things do not walk in the light, that light is becoming darkness to them. And how great is that darkness....Some run who do not possess moral worth are exalted, while those who are endeavoring to seek the Lord and walk in his steps are not appreciated. This danger will become more and more apparent. We must awake to the perils that are opening around us.

     In our conferences it is revealed that the brethren do not see eye to eye in understanding the word of God. There is among us a manifest want of searching the scriptures. We must know the reasons for our faith. The importance and solemnity of the scenes opening before us demand this, and on no account must the spirit of complaining be encouraged....

     We may have to plead most earnestly before legislative councils for the right to exercise independent judgment, to worship God according to the dictates of our consciences. Thus in His providence God has designed that the claims of His holy law shall be brought before men in the highest authority. But as we do all we can as men and women who are not ignorant of Satan's devices, we are to manifest no bitterness of feeling. Constantly we are to offer prayer for divine aid. It is God alone who can hold the four winds until the angels shall seal the servants of God in their foreheads.

     The Lord will do a great work in the earth. Satan makes a determined effort to divide and scatter His people. He brings up side issues to divide minds from the important subjects which should engage our attention....With one heart and mind we are to prepare for the conflict, with faith laying our petitions before the mercy seat. The throne of God is arched by the Bow of Promise, and the prayers offered in simplicity and faith will be heard. It is God's glory to answer the supplications of His people....

     Many are holding the truth only with the tips of their fingers. They have had great light and many privileges. Like Capernaum they have been exalted to heaven in this respect. In the time of test and trial that is approaching, they will become apostates unless they put away their pride and self-confidence, unless they have an entire transformation of character.

     I plainly stated...to these fanatical parties that they were doing the work of the adversary of souls; they were in darkness. They claimed to have great light that probation would close in October, 1884.

     I there stated in public that the Lord had been pleased to show me that there would be no definite time in the message given of God since 1884; and that I knew that this message, which four or five were engaged in advocating with great zeal, was heresy.

     Men who are dissatisfied with kingly rule and heavy taxation are emigrating to America and making their riotous speeches there to arouse the working class to make a raid upon the rich and rob and plunder those who have property. These uneasy, dissatisfied elements are increasing in power. Every year the swellings of wrath, tumults, and fierce riots are increasing in Europe.

     The signs of the times tell us we are surely in the last days. "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come" [2 Timothy 3:1]. We can see these perils more distinctly here in Europe. Things are rapidly developing. All are ranging under their respective banners. All are preparing for some great event. All are watching for the morning. One class is watching and waiting for their Lord, while the other class is waiting for what Lucifer may perform of his wonder-working power.

     Kingdoms are in uncertainty, one watching jealously the other. Soldiers are being drilled constantly, preparing for war. There is a rending apart of kingdoms. The stone cut out of the mountain without hands is surely to smite the image upon the feet...[see Daniel 2:35]. All things earthly will be dissolved and the apostle asks, "What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat" [2 Peter 3:11].

     The forces of the powers of darkness are mustering for the closing work of this earth's history....Where shall we stand in the future crisis that shall come? Shall we stand as children of God at His right hand, or as disobedient, unthankful, and unholy at His left hand?

     "And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel" [Zechariah 3:1-3].

     Joshua here represents the people of God, and Satan, pointing out their filthy garments, claims them as his property over which he has a right to exercise his cruel power. But these very ones have improved the hours of their probation to confess their sins with contrition of soul and put them away, and Jesus has written pardon against their names.

     Those who have not ceased to sin and have not repented and sought pardon for their transgressions are not represented in this company, for this company vex their souls over the corruptions and iniquity abounding around them, and God will recognize those who are signing and crying because of the abominations. They had not corrupted their ways before God, but had washed their robes of character and had made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

     Satan pointed to their sins which had not yet been blotted out, and which he had tempted them to commit, and then reviled them as being sinners clad with filthy garments. But Jesus changes their appearance. He says, "Take away his filthy garments from him...Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment. And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord stood by. And the angel of the Lord protested unto Joshua, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee places among these that stand by" [Zechariah 3:4-7].

     After the filthy garments have been removed the subject changes, showing that this has its application in the future.

     We can talk with Jesus as Enoch talked with God. He could tell his Lord all about his trials. Here was the way Enoch walked with God, and when the light shone out upon his pathway, he did not expect to say, "Why, what will my friends and relatives say of me if I take this course?" No, he did that which was right whatever the consequence.

     Now Enoch sought to have a connection with God, and those who do not have a connection with God have a connection with someone else who will lead them away from everything good. All of us have a character to form.

     Enoch formed a righteous character, and the result was that he was translated without seeing death. When the Lord shall come the second time, there will be some who will be translated without seeing death, and we want to know if we will be among that number. We want to know if we are wholly on the Lord's side--partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust--not by trying to make a clear path for our feet where we shall have no trials or difficulties to meet, but by placing ourselves in right relation to God, and letting Him take care of the consequences....

     The worthies who refused to bow to the golden image were cast into a burning fiery furnace; but Christ was with them there, and the fire did not consume them....Now some of us may be brought to just as severe a test: Will we obey the commandments of men or will we obey the commandments of God? This is the question that will be asked of many. The best thing for us is to come in close connection with God, and, if He would have us be martyrs for the truth's sake, it may be the means of bringing many more into the truth....

     Many whom we try to reach with the truth of God will not accept it. Why? Because it involved a cross....We have been piling up the rubbish before the door of our heart and this must all be cleaned away. Christ cannot enter there until we do. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock," He says, "Clear away the barriers that have been piled up around the door of the heart. He wants you to clear them away and He will come in."

     Dear Brethren Butler and Haskell:

     I have not been able to sleep for weeks after half past three o'clock. My mind is deeply exercised in regard to our condition as a people. We ought to be far in advance of any other people on the earth because we have greater light and greater knowledge of the truth, which lays us under increased accountability to advance that light and not only profess to believe the truth but to practice it. When we do practice the truth we are then following Jesus, who is the light of the world; and if we as a people are not constantly elevating, becoming more and more spiritually minded, we are becoming like the Pharisees--self-righteous--while we do not the will of God.

     We must have a greater nearness to God; much less of self and much more of Jesus Christ, and His grace must be brought into our everyday life. We are living in an important period of this world's history. The end of all things is at hand; the sands of time are fast running out; soon in heaven it will be said: "It is done....He that is holy, let him be holy still," "he which is filthy, let him be filthy still" [Revelation 21:6, 22:11].

     Let our testimonies be sharpened up; let us have a firmer hold on God. I cannot refrain from prayer at one, two, and three o'clock in the morning for the Lord to work upon the hearts of the people. I think of all heaven being interested in the work that is going on upon the earth. Ministering angels are waiting about the throne to instantly obey the mandate of Jesus Christ, to answer every prayer offered in earnest, living faith. I think of how many who profess the truth are keeping it apart from their lives. They do not bring its sanctifying, refining, spiritualizing power into their hearts. I think how this grieves Jesus.

     I think of His great sorrow as He wept over Jerusalem, exclaiming, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not" [Luke 13:34]. God forbid that these words shall apply to those who have great light and blessings. In the rejecting of Jerusalem it was because great privileges were abused which brings the denunciation upon all who lightly regarded the great opportunities and precious light that were entrusted to their keeping. (Privileges do not commend us to God, but they commend God to us.) No people are saved because they have great light and special advantages, for these high and heavenly favors only increase their responsibility.

     The more and increased light God has given make the receiver more responsible. It does not place the receiver in any safer position unless the privileges are wisely improved, prized and used to advance God's glory. Christ said, "Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes" [Matthew 11:21].

     When Jerusalem was divorced from God it was because of her sins. She fell from an exalted height that Tyre and Sidon had never reached. And when an angel falls he becomes a fiend. The depths of our ruin is measured by the exalted light to which God has raised us in His great goodness and unspeakable mercy. Oh, what privileges are granted to us as a people! And if God spared not His people that He loved because they refused to walk in the light, how can He spare the people whom He has blessed with the light of heaven in having opened to them the most exalted truth ever intrusted to mortal man to give to the world?

     We are far from being the people God would have us to be, because we do not elevate the soul and refine the character in harmony with the wonderful unfolding of God's truth and His purposes. "Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people" [Proverbs 14:34]. Sin is a disorganizer wherever it is cherished--in households, in the church, in the individual heart--there is disorder, strife, variance, enmity, envy, jealousy, because the enemy of man and of God has the controlling power of the mind. But let the truth be loved and brought into the life, as well as advocated, and that man and woman will hate sin and will be a living representative of Jesus Christ to the world.

     The people claiming to believe the truth will not be condemned because they had not the light but because they had great light and did not bring their hearts to the test of God's great moral standard of righteousness. The people who claim to believe the truth must be elevated by living it out. Real Bible religion must leaven the lives; refine and ennoble their characters, making them more and more like the divine model. Then will the homes be vocal with prayer, with thanksgiving and praise to God. Angels will minister in the home and accompany the worshiper to the house of prayer.

     Let the churches who claim to believe in truth, who are advocating the law of God, keep that law and depart from all iniquity. Let the individual members of the church resist the temptations to practice evils and indulge in sin. Let the church commence the work of purification before God by repentance, humiliation, deep heart searching, for we are in the antitypical day of atonement--solemn hour fraught with eternal results.

     Let those who teach the truth present it as it is in Jesus. They are as clean vessels under the subduing, sanctifying, refining, influence of the truth of God. Let them be leavened with Bible religion, and what an influence would go forth from them to the world! Let the individual members of the church be pure, steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the love of Jesus, and they will then be a light to the world. Let the men standing as watchmen and as shepherds of the flock proclaim the solemn truth, sound the notes of warning to all people, nations and tongues. Let them be living representatives of the truth they advocate, and honor God's law by strict and holy compliance to its requirements, and walk before the Lord in purity, in holiness, and a power will attend the proclamation of the truth that will reflect light everywhere.

     God never forsakes people or individuals until they forsake Him. Outward opposition will not cause the faith of God's people, [who are] keeping His commandments, to become dim.

     The would be neglect to bring purity and truth into practice that will grieve the Spirit of God and weaken them because God is not in their midst to bless. Internal corruption will bring the denunciations of God upon this people as it did upon Jerusalem. Oh, let pleading voices, let earnest prayer be heard, that those who preach to others shall not themselves be castaways. My brethren, we know not what is before us, and our only safety is in following the Light of the world. God will work with us and for us if the sins which brought His wrath upon the old world, upon Sodom and Gomorrah and upon ancient Jerusalem, does not become our crime.

     The least transgression of God's law brings guilt upon the transgressor and without earnest repentance and forsaking of the sins, he will surely become an apostate.

     You inquire in regard to the course which should be pursued to secure the rights of our people to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience. This has been a burden on my soul for some time, whether it would be a denial of our faith, and an evidence that our trust was not fully in God. But I call to mind many things God has shown me in the past in regard to things of a similar character, as the draft and other things. I can speak in the fear of God, it is right we should use every power we can to avert the pressure that is being brought to bear upon our people. I know that were our people spiritualized by the truth the greatest love would be maintained.

     [We are] not to provoke those who have accepted this spurious Sabbath, an institution of the Papacy, in the place of God's holy Sabbath. Their not having the Bible arguments in their favor makes them all the more angry and determined to supply the place of arguments that are wanting in the Word of God by the power of their might. The force of persecution follows the steps of the dragon. Therefore great care should be exercised to give no provocation. And again let us as a people, as far as possible, cleanse the camp of moral defilement and aggravating sins. When sin is making its march upon the people who claim to be elevating the moral standard of righteousness, how can we expect God to turn His power in our behalf and save us as a people that did righteousness?

     All the policy in the world cannot save us from a terrible sifting, and all the efforts made to high authorities will not lift from us the scourging of God just because sin is cherished. If as a people we do not keep ourselves in the faith and not only advocate with pen and voice the commandments of God, but keep them every one, not violating a single precept knowingly, then weakness and ruin will come upon us. It is a work that we must attend to in every one of our churches. Each man must be a Christian.

     Let the sin of pride be put away, let all superfluities of dress be overcome and repentance toward God be exercised, for the highhanded robbery toward Him which has withheld money which should flow into the treasury to sustain the work of God in its mission fields. Let the work of reformation, of true conversion, be set before and urged upon the people. Let our works, our deportment, correspond with the work for this time, that we may say, Follow me as I follow Christ. Let us humble our soul before God by humiliation, fasting, and prayer, repentance of sin, and putting it away.

     The voice of the true watchman needs now to be heard all along the line, "The morning cometh, and also the night" [Isaiah 21:12]. The trumpet must give a certain sound for we are in the great day of the Lord's preparation. All the struggles to carry our appeals to the highest authorities in our land will, however earnest and strong and eloquent may be the pleas in our favor, not bring about that which we desire, unless the Lord works by His Holy Spirit in the hearts of those who claim to believe the truth. We may struggle as a mighty man in swimming against the current of Niagara, but we shall fail unless the Lord pleads in our behalf. God will be honored among His people. They must be pure, they must be divested of self, steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. The Lord will elevate the humblest that trusts in Him. He will unite His power with human effort, if that man will honor Him as did Daniel. But as a people we need the beauty of righteousness, holiness, and truth. The most harmonious theory will not save us. The God that ruled in Babylon is the same God that rules now.

     There are many doctrines current in our world. There is many a religion current that numbers its thousands and tens of thousands, but there is but one that bears the superscription and the stamp of God. There is a religion of man and a religion of God. We must have our souls riveted to the eternal Rock. Everything in God's world, both men and doctrines and nature itself, is fulfilling God's sure word of prophecy and accomplishing His grand and closing work in this world's history.

     We are to be ready and waiting for the orders of God. Nations will be stirred to their very center. Support will be withdrawn from those who proclaim God's only standard of righteousness as the only sure test of character. And all who will not bow to the decree of the national councils, and obey the national laws to exalt the Sabbath instituted by the man of sin to the disregard of God's holy day, will feel, not the oppressive power of Popery alone, but of the Protestant world, the image of the beast.

     Satan will work his miracles to deceive; he will set up his power as supreme. The church may appear as about to fall, but it does not fall. It remains, while the sinners in Zion will be sifted out--the chaff separated from the precious wheat. This is a terrible ordeal, but nevertheless it must take place. None but those who have been overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony will be found with the loyal and true, without spot or stain of sin, without guile in their mouths. The remnant that purify their souls by obeying the truth gather strength from the trying process, exhibiting the beauty of holiness amid the surrounding apostasy. We must be divested of our self-righteousness and arrayed in the righteousness of Christ. All these, He says, "I have graven...upon the palms of my hands" [Isaiah 49:16]. They are held in everlasting, imperishable remembrance. We want faith now, living faith. We want to have a living testimony that shall cut to the heart of the sinner. There is too much sermonizing and too little ministering. We want the holy unction. We need the spirit and fervor of the truth. Many of the ministers are half paralyzed by their own defects of character. They need the converting power of God.

     That which God required of Adam before his fall was perfect obedience to His law. God requires now what He required of Adam, perfect obedience, righteousness without flaw, without shortcoming in His sight. God help us to render to Him all His law requires. We cannot do this without that faith that brings Christ's righteousness into daily practice.

     Dear Brethren, the Lord is coming. Lift up your thoughts and heads and rejoice. Oh, we would think that those who hear the joyful news, who claim to love Jesus, would be filled with joy unutterable and full of glory. This is the good, the joyful news which should electrify every soul, which should be repeated in our homes, and told to those whom we meet on the street. What more joyful news can be communicated! Caviling and contention with believers or unbelievers is not the work God has given us to do.

     If Christ is my Saviour, my sacrifice, my atonement, then I shall never perish. Believing in Him, I have life for evermore. Oh, that all who believe the truth would believe in Jesus as their own Savior. I do not mean that cheap faith unsupported by works, but that earnest, living, constant, abiding faith, that eats the flesh and drinks the blood of the Son of God. I want not only to be pardoned for the transgression of God's holy law, but I want to be lifted into the sunshine of God's countenance. Not simply to be admitted to heaven, but to have an abundant entrance.

     Are we so insensible as a peculiar people, a holy nation, to the inexpressible love that God has manifested for us? Salvation is not to be baptized, not to have our names upon the church books, not to preach the truth. But it is a living union with Jesus Christ, to be renewed in heart, doing the works of Christ in faith and labor of love, in patience, meekness, and hope. Every soul united to Christ will be a living missionary to all around him. He will labor for those near and those afar off. He will have no sectional feeling, to have the interest merely to build up one branch of the work over which he presides and there let his zeal end. God requires [that] all will work with interest to make every branch strong. There will be no self-love, no selfish interest. The cause is one, the truth a great whole.

     Well may the question be asked with earnest, anxious heart, Is envy cherished, is jealousy permitted to find a place in my heart? If so, Christ is not there. Do I love the law of God, is the love of Jesus Christ in my heart? If we love one another as Christ has loved us then we are getting ready for the blessed heaven of peace and rest. There is no struggling there to be first, to have the supremacy; all will love their neighbor as themselves. Oh, that God would open the understanding and speak to the hearts of our churches by arousing its individual members.

     The Lord appoints and sends forth ministers not only to preach, for this is a small part of His work, but to minister, to educate the people not to be fighters but to be examples of piety. There are workers in every department appointed to do their work. When Jesus ascended on high he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. Some have entered the work with a human commission rather than the divine. They have educated themselves as debaters and the churches under their care show the character of their work. They were not ready, they were not fitted for the work. Their hearts are not right with God. In short, they have a theory but not true conversion and sanctification through the truth. The great issue so near at hand will weed out those whom God has not appointed and He will have a pure, true, sanctified ministry prepared for the latter rain.

     Our prayer should ascend to the throne of grace with fervor for the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into His vineyard. My heart aches as I look around upon the mission fields and see so feeble efforts to get the truth before the people. No censure can be attached to our leading men. I believe, brethren, you are one with me in heart, in sentiment, in regard to our great need, and in the earnest desire and earnest efforts to meet the mind of the Spirit of God in these things.

     Those who are at ease in Zion need to be aroused. Great is their accountability who bear the truth and yet feel no weight or burden for souls. Oh, for men and women professing the truth to arouse, to take on the yoke of Christ, to lift His burdens. There are wanted those who will not have merely a nominal interest but a Christ-like interest, unselfish--an intense ardor that will not flag under difficulties or cool because iniquity abounds.

     I want to speak to the ears of our people in America in every church. Awake from the dead, and Christ will give you life. Souls are perishing for the light of truth as it is in Jesus. We are standing upon the very borders of the eternal world. Fair-weather Christians will not be wanted for this work. The sentimental and tasteful religion is not needed for this time. There must be intensity brought into our faith and in the proclamation of truth. I tell you, a new life is proceeding from satanic agencies to work with a power we have not hitherto realized. And shall not a new power from above take possession of God's people? The truth, sanctifying in its influence, must be urged upon the people. There must be earnest supplications offered to God, agonizing prayer to Him, that our hopes as a people may not be founded on suppositions, but on eternal realities. We must know, by the evidence of God's Word for ourselves, whether we are in the faith, going to heaven or not. The moral standard of character is God's law. Do we meet its requirements? Are the Lord's people bringing their property, their time, their talents and all their influence into the work for this time? Let us arouse. "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God" [Colossians 3:1].

     We are approaching stormy times, and we want to study the true foundation of our faith. We want to search the book of the law to see if our title to the immortal inheritance is without a flaw....

     The Christian world is now making movements which will necessarily bring the commandment-keeping people of God to notice. There is a daily suppression of God's truth for the theories and false doctrines of human origin. There are plans and movements being set on foot to enslave the consciences of those who would be loyal to God. The law-making powers will be against God's commandment-keeping people. Every soul will be tested. Oh, that we would as a people be wise for ourselves and by precept and example impart that wisdom to our children.

     Every position of our faith will be searched into, and, if we are not thorough Bible students, established, strengthened, settled, the wisdom of the world's great men will be too much for us. The world is busy, anxious, and devoted. All are in pursuit of some course that God has no part in. Evil is eagerly pursued as though it were righteousness, error as though it were truth, and sin as though it were holiness. Darkness is thickening, covering the earth, and gross darkness the people, and shall God's peculiar people at such a time as this be asleep? Shall those who hold the truth be silent as if paralyzed?

     I understand that Bro.______has, as it were, set time, stating that the Lord will come within five years. Now I hope the impression will not go abroad that we are time setters. Let no such remarks be made. They do no good. Seek not to obtain a revival upon such grounds, but let due caution be used in every word uttered, that fanatical ones not seize anything they can get to create an excitement and the Spirit of the Lord be grieved. We want not to move the people's passions to get up a stir, where feelings are moved and principle does not control. I feel that we need to be guarded on every side, because Satan is at work to do his uttermost to insinuate his arts and devices that shall be a power to do harm. Anything that will make a stir, create an excitement on a wrong basis is to be dreaded, for the reaction will surely come.

     There will be a shaking of the sieve. The chaff must in time be separated from the wheat. Because iniquity abounds, the love of many waxes cold. It is the very time when the genuine will be strongest. There will be a separating from us of those who have not appreciated the light nor walked in it.

     "Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one with another" [Leviticus 19:11]. This is done in nearly all transactions of real estate buying and selling, and many who are engaged in this business need to cut loose from it before they can be considered as healthful branches of the church....

     The message from the lips of Christ is, "Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in heaven that failest not" [Luke 12:23]. There will be many great failures in earthly banks, and speculations, including mining and real estate.

     How pleased Satan would be if, in the very time when men should be selling their possession to sustain the cause of God he can so deceive them that all their available means shall be invested in land speculation and other worldly enterprises, thus taking away from the cause of God means which should flow into the treasury to advance His work in the earth....

     Satan sets in operation schemes that will produce in the minds of our brethren a great desire to try their fortunes, as in a lottery. One and still another are flattered by strong representations of financial gain if they will only invest their money in lands...the device of Satan is successful...the spirit of greed is fostered, and the naturally penurious man begrudges every dollar that is called for to be used in the advancement of the cause of God in the earth.

     There were many proclaiming a new time after this [October 22, 1844], but I was shown that we should not have another definite time to proclaim to the people. All who are acquainted with me and my work will testify that I have borne but one testimony in regard to the setting of the time....I have been repeatedly urged to accept the different periods of time proclaimed for the Lord to come.

     I have ever had one testimony to bear: The Lord will not come at that period, and you are weakening the faith of even Adventists, and fastening the world in their unbelief....

     The time-setters have pronounced the curse of the Lord upon me as an unbeliever who said, My Lord delayeth His coming. But I have told them that the books of heaven would not make my record thus, for the Lord knows that I longed for the appearing of Christ. But their oftrepeated message of definite time was exactly what the enemy wanted....Ever since 1844 I have borne my testimony that we were now in a period of time in which we are to take heed to ourselves lest our hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon us unawares. Our position has been one of waiting and watching, with no time-proclamation to intervene between the close of the prophetic periods in 1844 and the time of our Lord's coming. We do not know the day nor the hour, or when the definite time is, and yet the prophetic reckoning shows us that Christ is at the door. We have not cast away our confidence, neither have we a message dependent upon definite time, but we are waiting and watching unto prayer, looking for and loving the appearing of our Saviour, and doing all in our power for the preparation of our fellowmen for that great event. We are not impatient.

     The end of all things is at hand, the Lord is at the door. What influence has it had to solemnize our minds, and arouse in us an earnestness to separate from us everything that is offensive to God....The day of the Lord is right at hand, and it is not safe for us to delay His coming. Do you think that any of us, when He comes, will be brought before the great Judge and will feel that we have devoted too much time to preparation? Will such thought come into our minds? Shall we think that we have been altogether too sympathetic, that we have devoted too much time in winning souls back to Christ and binding up the broken hearted?--No indeed! Our thoughts will be these, as we look back to those who stand before the Judge: "Why didn't I help them at such a time when I ought to have," or "Oh, I am glad I did deny myself and help them to stand on the solid Rock."

     These are the very thoughts that will come up to us in the judgement, when everyone is judged according to the deeds done in the body, and as many are weighed in the balances they will be found wanting. Then they will proclaim their sins upon the housetop. They will not be afraid to have everybody know their sins, if they could only make restitution for them to save one soul.

     The enemy has worked, and he is working still. He is come down in great power and the Spirit of God is being withdrawn from the earth. God has withdrawn His hand. We have only to look at the Johnstown [Pennsylvania flood]. He did not prevent the devil from wiping that whole city out of existence. And these very things will increase until the very close of this earth's history, because he has come down in great power, and he works with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish. What is he doing?--Going about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And when he sees those who are resisting the light, and that God does not shelter them, he will exercise his cruel power upon them. This is what we may expect....

     Just prior to the coming of the Son of Man, there is and has been for years a determination on the part of the enemy to cast his hellish shadow right between man and his Saviour.

     There is a perplexity that comes to us but the Lord will find deliverance for us. The Lord knows we are living amid the perils of the last days, when temptations and trials and conflicts will have to be met.

     To meet the trials, perplexities, and persecutions that are sure to come in various ways in regard to the Sabbath law, and to distinguish the path of duty clearly, will require intelligent knowledge of the Scriptures, much faith, and divine wisdom, for righteousness and truth will be darkened by error and false theories.

     We shall find that we must let loose of all hands except the hand of Jesus Christ. Friends will prove treacherous and will betray us. Relatives, deceived by the enemy, will think they do God service in opposing us and putting forth the utmost efforts to bring us into hard places, hoping we will deny our faith. But we may trust our hand in the hand of Christ amid darkness and peril....

     I thank the Lord that He is awaking His people, and that He is giving His messengers a message that will strengthen faith. But there are unclean spirits, "spirits of devils working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty" [Revelation 16:14].

     The children of God who have light on Bible truth must be wide awake to advance with the opening providences of God. "Behold, I come as a thief, Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame" [verse 15]. The righteousness of Christ is the only garment that will do.

     I know of men who have been warned and reproved...but in place of being doers of the word, in place of working with all their might in harmony with Heaven, they have hugged their sins to themselves, and then what?--the seal of God could not be upon them, and, when calamities came, when placed in perilous positions, those very ones have gone down into the grave, and they will not come up in the first resurrection. They will not see the king in His beauty. They were lost simply because they took their own way. They broke away from the Spirit of God and kept venturing, and testing and testing the wiles of the devils....

     Either evil angels or the angels of God are controlling the minds of men. Our minds are given to the control of God, or to the control of the powers of darkness; and it will be well for us to inquire where we are standing today--whether under the blood stained banner of Prince Emmanuel, or under the black banner of the powers of darkness....

     We are coming right upon the time when Satan is to work with all manner of bewitching influence, and those who are charmed with them now, or give them the least countenance now, will be all ready to be swept right in to act a part with the devil then. Evil angels are working all the time upon the hearts of men. Satan is working with everyone who is not under the control of the Spirit of God. It is the lying wonders of the devil that will take the world captive. He will cause fire to come down from heaven in the sight of men. He is to work miracles, and this wonderful, miracle-working power is to sweep the whole world. It is now just the beginning.

     I want to tell you another thing. The vials of God's wrath and the sprinkling of them are already coming....You hear of calamities by land and sea, and they are constantly increasing. What is the matter?--the spirit of God is taken away from those who have the lives of men in their hands, and Satan is coming in to control them, because they give themselves to his control. Those who profess to be the children of God do not place themselves under the guardianship of the heavenly angels, and as Satan is a destroyer, he works through those men and they make mistakes; and they will get drunk, and because of intemperance, many times bring these terrible calamities upon us.

     And see the storms and tempests! Satan is working in the atmosphere, and here we are dependent upon God for our lives--our present and eternal life....

     We need to be wide awake, wholly devoted, wholly converted, wholly consecrated to God. But we seem to sit as though we were paralyzed. God of Heaven, wake us up!

     God holds us responsible for all that we might be if we would improve our talents; and we shall be judged according to what we ought to have been but were not; what we might have done but did not accomplish, because we did not use our powers to glorify God. For all knowledge that we might have gained but did not, there will be an eternal loss, even if we do not lose our souls.

     I want you to see that it is not in the providence of God that any finite man shall, by any device or reckoning that he may make of figures, or of types, know with any definiteness in regard to the very period of the Lord's coming. What shall we know? We are to study the signs which show that He is at the door.

     God keeps a reckoning with nations as well as with individuals. He allows the nations a certain period of probation, and gives them evidences of His requirements, of His supremacy, and makes known to them His laws, which are to be the rule of His kingdom in the government of nations. All this He does that heathen nations may not be given up to destruction unwarned, and without light. But, after He has given light and evidence, and they still persist in insolence toward Him, then, when their iniquity is full...God takes the matter in hand, and His judgments are no longer withheld.

     Satan is an artful foe, and his work will be performed by many least expected....In these last days the false will take the field with the true, the spurious with the genuine....To men whom he desires to delude and ruin, Satan does not come as the outcast, apostate spirit, but he comes personating as an angel of light and truth....

     Satan will make the best use possible of his agents,--apostasy, uniting in a desperate companionship to oppose the law of God....Satan has stolen the livery of heaven in order to deceive the very elect. As he seduced Adam, he is seducing men to unite with him in rebellion against the law of God....

     Never was Satan so fiercely stirred as now. As never before he will inspire everyone who has apostatized from obedience to God's law. He will work to create rebellion at the very time when the proclamation of the third angel's message is going to the world. He will inspire members of his synagogue to make most desperate efforts to clothe in defiled garments all who take an active part in this message. Not a stone will be left unturned, not a plan or device but will be set in operation to deceive, to hold in error and strong delusion every mind that he can control....

     He will stir up the minds of the disobedient and rebellious, and all apostates will unite in a firm and desperate companionship against the law of God, to war against the government of God....As we proclaim the binding claims of the law of God upon every human being, those who will not be convinced, who turn away their ears from hearing the truth and are turned unto fables, choosing to feed upon a dish of maxims, customs, and commandments of men, will use the best weapons they have in warring against the truth. They will bear false witness, manufacturing lies to blacken the reputations of those who have proclaimed the message of truth....All who come out from the world and are separated, must count on meeting ridicule, sneers, and reviling. They must expect that their lives and mission will be misrepresented....

     We will bear in mind that "all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" [2 Timothy 3:12], and all who sneer at the truth and ridicule those who proclaim it, will weep and pray, "Lord, open to us," and He will answer, "I know you not."

     Alarmed that their prey is escaping from their grasp, Satan and his synagogue will make most desperate efforts to retain every soul on his side. He will present every possible objection and device to turn aside those who would walk in the path cast up for the ransomed of the Lord. A train of circumstances will be secretly set in operation by the serpent to deceive, to allure the sinner, to wrench from him his convictions that he must return to his allegiance to God....

     The conflict will be long and painful. At times there may appear to be partial defeat, but bear in mind that you counted the cost when Christ showed you the plan of battle. You are not the leaders in this conflict, for Christ is there; the armies of heaven are enlisted in the warfare....

     Jesus would have every individual understand that the confederacy of evil is strong, artful in planning, and will use every dishonest measure in order to obtain the victory. Yet, not one follower of Christ is to look at his own weakness and become discouraged. "Looking unto Jesus" [Hebrews 12:2] we shall receive His inspiration. We shall know that we are fighting in full view of God, of loyal, holy intelligences, with all the children of light as companions. More than angels are in the ranks in every conflict. At the head is the Great General of armies, who says, "Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" [John 16:33]. Jesus will surround His faithful ones with a heavenly, holy atmosphere. Their armor is invincible, their Leader never met with defeat, and they are to advance to victory....

     Satan will work with all deceivableness of unrighteousness to personate Christ. If it were possible, he would deceive the very elect.

     It is time for the message of God's forbearance to be proclaimed, to win men to repentance; and it is just as verily time for men to be warned that there are limits to God's forbearance. Men may advance, as did Belshazzar, in presumption and defiance, until they pass the boundary. Blasphemy may be so developed as to exhaust the patience of the longsuffering of God....

     In the midst of mirth, feasting, and forgetfulness of God, the command will go forth for the sword of the Lord to be unsheathed, that an end may be put to the insolence and disobedience of men. The prayers of God's people have ascended, "It is time, O' Lord, for thee to work; for they have made void thy law" [Psalms 119:126]. These prayers will ere long be answered. When men pass the limit of grace, God must let the world see that He is God.

     The time has nearly come when transgression will no longer be tolerated, when God will interfere to repress the overflowing tide of iniquity....

     God gives to all a period of probation, but men can reach a point where they can expect from God nothing but indignation and punishment. This time is not just now, but it is fast approaching. The nations will advance from one degree of sinfulness to another. The children, educated and trained in transgression, will add to the evil entailed by their parents who have no fear of God in their hearts.

     Already the judgments of God have begun to fall upon the world in various calamities, that men may repent, and be converted to truth and righteousness. But the candle of those who harden their hearts in iniquity will be put out by the Lord. They have lived only for themselves, and death must come to them. When the limit of grace is reached, God will give His command for the destruction of the transgressor. He will arise in His Almighty character as God above all gods, and those who have worked against Him in league with the great rebel will be treated in accordance with their works.

     In His vision of the last days, Daniel inquired, "O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand....Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days" [Daniel 12:8-10, 12-13]. Daniel has been standing in his lot since the seal was removed and the light of truth has been shining upon his visions. He stands in his lot, bearing the testimony which was to be understood at the end of the days.

     "And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament: and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased" [Daniel 12:1-5].

     When we consider that history is being made so fast, we can but be convinced that perils are fast crowding upon us, and we cannot deliver ourselves from that which we must meet. All we can do is to seek heavenly wisdom from our only source of help. If by constant contemplation of the Author and Finisher of our faith, we grow into the similitude of Christ in character, we shall have our life hid with Christ in God. We are not to fold our hands in idle expectancy of the Lord's soon coming, but we are to keep looking unto Jesus, hanging our helpless souls upon His merits, opening our hearts to the Holy Spirits moving, our petitions ascending to God for His fashioning hands to be upon us.

     Unholy ambitions will seek to secure a place in all our devising, but Oh, as never before, there is now the greatest necessity that in humility we sit at the feet of Jesus, and learn lessons from the greatest teacher the world ever knew....

     In messages that profess to be from Heaven, expressions will be made that are misleading, and, if the influence of these things are accepted, it will lead to exaggerated movements, plans, and devisings that will bring in the very things that Satan would have current--a strange spirit, an unclean spirit, under the garments of sanctification; a strong spirit to overbear everything. Fanaticism will come in, and will so mingle and interweave itself with the workings of the Spirit of God, that many will accept it all as from God, and will be deceived and misled thereby....

     Let not one word be expressed to stir up the spirit of retaliation in opposers of the truth. Let nothing be done to arouse the dragon-like spirit, for it will reveal itself soon enough in all its dragon character against those who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus....

     The time will come when we shall be called to stand before kings and rulers, magistrates, and powers, in vindication of the truth. Then it will be a surprise to those witnesses to learn that their positions, their words, the very expressions made in a careless manner or thoughtless way when attacking error or advancing truth--expressions that they had not thought would be remembered,--will be reproduced, and they will be confronted with them, and their enemies will have the advantage, putting their own construction on these words that were spoken unadvisedly....

     Many things intended to deceive will come bearing some marks of truth. Just as soon as these shall be set forth as the great power of God, Satan is all ready to weave in that which he has prepared to lead souls from the truth for this time.

     Some will accept and promulgate the error, and when the reproof comes that will place matters in the true light, those who have had little experience, and who are ignorant of the oftrepeated workings of Satan, will cast away with the rubbish of error that which has been set before them as truth. Thus the light and warnings which God has given for this time will be made of no effect....

     Every conceivable message is coming to counterfeit the work of God--and always bearing the inscription of truth upon its banner. And those who are prepared for anything new and sensational, will handle these in such a manner that our enemies will charge all that is inconsistent and overdone upon Mrs. E.G. White, the prophetess....

     It is no light matter to substitute for God's revealed will, opinions and assertions, dreams, symbols and figures from human, finite beings....

     There will be counterfeit messages coming from persons in all directions. One after another will rise up, appearing to be inspired, when they have not the inspiration of heaven, but are under the deception of the enemy. All who receive their messages will be led astray. Then let us walk carefully, and not open wide the door for the enemy to enter through impressions, dreams, and visions. God help us to look in faith to Jesus, and be guided by the words He has spoken.

     It is not human beings that are creating such intensity of feeling as now exists in the religious world. A power from Satan's spiritual synagogue is infusing the religious elements of the world, arousing men to decided action to press the advantages Satan has gained by leading the religious world in determined warfare against those who make the Word of God their guide and the sole foundation of doctrine. Satan's masterly efforts are now put forth to gather in every principle and every power that he can employ to controvert the binding claims of the law of Jehovah, especially the fourth commandment, which defines who is the Creator of the heavens and the earth....

     Here is the great issue. Here are the two great powers confronting each other--the Prince of God, Jesus Christ, and the prince of darkness, Satan. Here comes the open conflict. There are but two classes in the world, and every human being will range under one of the two banners, the banner of the prince of darkness, or the banner of Jesus Christ.

     God will inspire His loyal and true children with His Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the representative of God, and will be the mighty working agent in the world to bind the loyal and true into bundles for the Lord's garner. Satan is also with intense activity gathering together in bundles his tares from among the wheat....We are engaged in a warfare that will never cease until the final decision is made for all eternity.

     Let none cherish the idea that special providences or miraculous manifestations are to be proof of the genuineness of their work or of the ideas they advocate. If we keep those things before the people, they will produce an evil effect, an unhealthy emotion. The genuine working of the Holy Spirit on human hearts is promised, to give efficiency through the Word. Christ has declared the Word to be spirit and life. "The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" [Habakkuk 2:14].

     Satan will work in a most subtle manner to introduce human inventions clothed with angel garments. But the light from the Word is shining amid the moral darkness, and the Bible will never be superseded by miraculous manifestations. The truth must be studied; it must be searched for as hidden treasure. Wonderful illuminations will not be given aside from the Word, which will make men wise unto salvation. This is the meaning of the words of Christ in regard to eating His flesh and drinking His blood. And He says, "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" [John 17:3].

     We shall encounter false claims; false prophets will arise; there will be false dreams and false visions; but preach the Word. Be not drawn away from the voice of God in His Word. Let nothing divert the mind. The wonderful, the marvelous, will be presented and represented. Through satanic delusions, wonderful miracles, the claims of human agents, will be urged. Beware of all this....

     Christ has given warning, so that none need accept falsehood for truth. The only channel through which the Spirit operates is that of truth....Our faith and hope are founded, not in feeling, but in God....We must walk by faith, not be feeling, nor by sight. Stormy times are before us; severe tests will come, and, if we have not educated and trained ourselves to serve God through faith in Christ our righteousness, we shall begin to look to our imperfect lives, and lose all hope....

     We shall be tried sorely, for Satan will come in every conceivable form to distress, annoy, and delude every follower of Jesus. We must live by faith, not by feeling. We must advance step by step into a more experimental knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ whom He hath sent.

     Through Satan's deceptions a breach has been made in the law of God, but God has a loyal people, few in number, who will not trample upon the Sabbath....

     Beware that you be not ensnared. Read the warnings that have been given by the world's redeemer to His disciples to be given again by them to the world. The word of God is solid rock, and we may plant our feet securely upon it. Every soul must needs be tested, every faith and doctrine must needs be tried by the law and the testimony. Take heed that no man deceive you. The warnings of Christ on this matter are needed at this time; for delusions and deceptions will come in among us, and will multiply as we near the end.

     "Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember..." [Acts 20:30, 31]. Bear in mind that trials of this character are to come upon us, not only from without, but from within our own ranks. Our only safety is in entire consecration to God.

     We are in the very shadow of that time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation which is fast approaching. We are not safe now in indulging our own desires, in having our own way, in following the imagination of our own hearts. Those who have done this in times past have lessons to unlearn, and lessons to learn of Jesus our Pattern. The peril of believers is great. Unbelief in the soul will marshall her power while faith is striving to gain the mastery in the battle. Many battles will have to be fought in the heart of the believer.

     Wonderful is the struggle and great are the issues, although the contending elements make but little outward noise. All Heaven is looking on intensely interested to see what will be the result of these conflicts. The believer is fighting against a strong army.

     "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints..." [Ephesians 6:12-18].

     These are the marching orders that are to be followed out by every loyal soldier of Jesus Christ. If we obey orders, we shall then exercise faith and trust, knowing that there is One who is watching every soul in his fierce struggle with the powers of darkness. Satan will set in operation every satanic invention to hold the soul in his grasp, but help is laid upon One that is mighty, One who will come to the help of every soul in peril and turn back the forces of darkness, and make us more than conquerors over our enemies. Our part in the conflict is to obey orders, and He who hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day of the Lord Jesus.

     Already Satan is working with signs and lying wonders, and this will increase until the end. God will use His enemies as instruments to punish those who have followed their own pernicious ways whereby the truth of God has been misrepresented, misjudged, and dishonored.

     The stern conflict between light and darkness, between error and truth, is deepening in intensity. The synagogue of Satan is intensely active, and the deceiving power of the enemy is working in the most subtle way in this age. Every human mind that is not surrendered to God and is not under the control of the Spirit of God will be perverted through satanic agencies....

     All the vast, complicated machinery of evil agencies is put into action in these last days. Through generation after generation, from age to age, Satan has gathered human agencies through whom to work his diabolical purposes, and to bring about the enforcement of his plans and devices in the earth. The great putrid fountain of evil has been continually flowing through human society. Though unable to expel God from His throne, Satan has charged God with Satanic attributes, and has claimed the attributes of God as his own. He is a deceiver, and through his serpentine sharpness, through his crooked practices, he has drawn to himself the homage that man should have given to God, and has planted his satanic throne between the human worshiper and the divine Father....

     The conflict is not ended, and as we near the close of time, the battle waxes more and more intense. As the second appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ draws near, satanic agencies are moved from beneath. Satan will not only appear as a human being, but he will personate Jesus Christ, and the world that has rejected the truth will receive him as the Lord of Lords, and King of Kings. He will exercise his power and work upon the human imagination. He will corrupt both the minds and bodies of men, and work through the children of disobedience, fascinating and charming as does a serpent. What a spectacle for heavenly intelligences to look upon! What a spectacle for God the Creator of the world to behold!

     The form Satan assumed in Eden, when leading our first parents to transgress, was of a character to bewilder and confuse the mind. He will work in a subtle manner as we near the end of this earth's history. All his deceiving power will be brought to bear upon human subjects to complete the work of deluding the human family. So deceptive will be his working, that men will do as they did in the days of Christ, and when asked, "Whom will ye that I shall do unto Him whom ye call the king of the Jews?" the cry again will be, "Crucify Him."

     Christ will be represented in the person of those who accept the truth, and who identify their interest with that of their Lord. The world will be enraged at them in the same way as they were enraged at Christ, and the disciples of Christ will know that they are to be treated no better than was their Lord. But Christ will surely identify His interest with that of those who accept Him as their personal Saviour. Every insult, every reproach, every false accusation made against them by those who have turned their ears away from the truth, and are turned unto fables, will be charged upon the guilty one as done to Christ in the person of His saints.

     Those who love and keep the commandments of God are most obnoxious to the synagogue of Satan, and the powers of evil will manifest their hatred towards them to the fullest extent possible. John foresaw the conflict of the remnant church and the powers of evil, and said, "The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" [Revelation 12:17].

     The forces of the powers of darkness will unite with human agents who have given themselves into the control of Satan, and the same scenes that were exhibited at the trial, rejection, and crucifixion of Christ will be revived. Through yielding to satanic influence men will be merged into fiends, and those who were created in the image of God, who were formed to honor and glorify their Creator, will become the habitation of dragons, and Satan will see in an apostate race his masterpiece of evil--men who reflect his own image....

     Christ said, "If they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" [Luke 23:31]. "They shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for My sake, for a testimony against them....Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for My names's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved" [Mark 13:9, 12-13]. "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come" [Matthew 24:14].

     The agencies of Satan are having their last chance to develop before the world, before angels and men the true principles of their attributes. The people of God are now to stand as representatives of the attributes of the Father and the Son. "Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods" [Matthew 24:42-47].

     "Whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service" [John 16:2]. That is a terrible deception that comes on human minds. But here He has shown you the plan of the battle. He tells you what you are to meet: "we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" [Ephesians 6:12].

     This is what we have to meet. Then what does He say? "Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand...in the evil day, and having done all, to stand" [Verses 11, 13]. You are to fight as in the presence of the universe of heaven. You are to fight the battles of the Lord. Then He tells you that the angels that excel in strength are the warriors there. He tells you that as Captain of the Lord's host, He is there. They are to do the warring.

     You are to stand in the army of God, and they will gain for you the victory. They will give power to everyone that is fighting the battles of the Lord to the very gate. The power of God shall be upon every soldier who is true and who will bear hardness as a good soldier. But we cannot meet the evil angels and overcome them. It is the divine power; it is the partaking of the divine nature....

     When we are caught up to meet Him [Christ] and enter through the pearly gates into the city of God, He leads us by the living waters, and all the time He is educating and talking with us about the things that He would have opened to our understanding upon the earth, if we could have borne it.

     We are not to be bribed or to attain the world's favor by bowing to the laws of men and setting aside the law of God. We are not to be brought in bondage to the world. And yet, we are in the world, to live as long as God shall permit, and the Lord has given us a special work to do to save the world....

     In this, the closing period of the earth's history, let not men be careless in words or acts; let them not indulge a masterful spirit and provoke the wrath of their enemies. Let not any soul who claims to believe the truth give others occasion to conclude that he is not a Christian because he talks and acts like a sinner.

     There are many who have never had the light. They are deceived by their teachers, and they have not received the mark of the beast. The Lord is working with them. He has not left them to their own ways. Until they shall be convicted of the truth, and trample upon the evidence given to enlighten them, the Lord will not withdraw His grace from them....

     Let none who have received the truth cherish the spirit of the Pharisees and make it appear prominent that they want nothing from the power that be. God does not give any such burden. We may make a very hard time for ourselves, and bring reproach upon the cause of God, if we feel that we are to put on the armor and battle to arouse the combative spirit of our enemies, and to provoke them to fight and destroy. Our influence is to be of such a character that we shall not unnecessarily stir up angry feelings and arouse the enmity of those who do not believe as we do.

     It is the privilege and duty of every man to take God at his word, to believe in Jesus as his personal Saviour, and to respond eagerly, immediately to the gracious proposition which he makes. He is to study to believe and obey the divine instruction in the scriptures. He is to base his faith not on feeling, but upon the evidence and the word of God....Those who feel at liberty to question the Word of God, to doubt everything where there is any chance to be unbelieving, will find that it will require a tremendous struggle to have faith when trouble comes. It will be almost impossible to overcome the influence that binds the mind that has been educated in the line of unbelief, for by this course the soul is bound to Satan's snare, and becomes powerless to break the dreadful net that has been woven closer and closer about the soul.

     I thought of the day when the judgment of God would be poured out upon the world, when blackness and horrible darkness would clothe the heavens as sackcloth of hair....My imagination anticipated what it must be in that period when the Lord's mighty voice shall give commission to his angels, "Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth" [Revelation 16:1].

     "Thy right hand, O' God, shall dash in pieces thine enemies" [Exodus 15:6]. Revelation 6 and 7 are full of meaning. Terrible are the judgments of God revealed. The seven angels stood before God to receive their commission. To them were given seven trumpets the Lord was going forth to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth was to disclose her blood and no more cover her slain....

     But there are mercies mixed with judgment....The Lord has a people whom He will preserve. John beheld the "four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree" [Revelation 7:1] till the seal of the Living God shall be placed upon those who love God and keep His commandments. The elements of nature are to be placed in the power of angels of God, "He holdeth the winds in his fists; He gathereth the waters in the hollow of his hand, He maketh the clouds his chariots" [Psalms 29:10; Proverbs 30:4; Isaiah 40:12; Psalms 104:3].

     The Lord is ruler of nations. The sequence of nature is under God's jurisdiction....John's attention was called to another scene: "And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God" [Revelation 7:2]. Who is this?--the Angel of the covenant. He comes from the sunrising. He is the Dayspring from on high. He is the Light of the World....He cried as one who had superiority over the hosts of angels in heaven, "to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads" [verses 2, 3].

     Here is the divine and the human united. The command is given to the four angels to hold in check the four winds until they receive His summons....Judgment and wrath were to be repressed only for a little space until a certain work was done. The message, the last message of warning and mercy, has been retarded in doing its work by the selfish love of many, the selfish love of ease, and the unfitness of man to do a work that needs to be done. The angel that is to lighten the earth with his glory has waited for human instrumentalities through whom the light of heaven could shine, and they thus cooperate to give in its sacred, solemn importance the message which is to decide the destiny of the world.

     But the churches are not awake. New life must enter into the churches. The last work of warning and mercy for a fallen world is being done. None are to be deceived, thinking to lay their individual work on somebody else. When this probationary time shall close, there is no opportunity for those who have received the warning message, the proclamation of pardon and salvation, and have refused--have turned from light and truth, and accepted fables--to be justified. There is no second bidding to the marriage feast, no intermediate state when another call will be made to come to the heavenly feast....

     The work is before us individually. Our moral identity cannot be submerged in any human being. We shall be called of God to do our work according to our several ability....Everyone who will hear the message and believe the truth will no longer be confined, bound to creeds, but will take the bible as his guide, as the very creed of life, as the water of Salvation. The very intensity of the light shining from heaven makes men messengers of truth and salvation. They cannot hold their peace. They have accepted the truth and emerged into the light, the light shining in these last days.

     The message of warning is to be given with a deep sense of individual responsibility.... What is the condition of those who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus? If in families there are those who are refusing obedience to the Lord in keeping His Sabbath, then the seal cannot be placed upon them. The seal is a pledge from God of perfect security to His chosen ones. [See Exodus 31:13-17]. Sealing indicates you are God's chosen. He has appropriated you to Himself. As the sealed of God, we are Christ's purchased possession and no one shall pluck us out of His hands. The seal given in the forehead is: God, New Jerusalem--"I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God" [Revelation 3:12].

     You cannot keep yourself one moment. You are kept by the power of God through faith. Let your faith rest in His merits, rely upon His mercy, trust in the sufficiency of His grace to keep you every moment. Never allow the enemy to obtain an advantage over you because you do not think you are good enough to be called a child of God. By faith you are constantly to repose in the righteousness that God has provided you through His Substitute, Jesus Christ the Righteous. He forgiveth sins, and pardoneth iniquities and transgressions. He takes away our sin and in its place imputes His own righteousness. What a blessing this is for us! It is only as you take God at His Word, accept Jesus as your Redeemer, that you preserve the honor of God, that you show that you "are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" [1 Peter 1:5].

     Why this revelation of the power of faith in the last time? Why is it to be revealed in the very close of this world's history? Because iniquity abounds, and the love of many waxes cold through the deceptive workings of satanic agencies, who especially oppose the commandment-keeping people of God at this time, and bring trial and sorrow upon them. In these closing days of probation, days of great trial of faith, you cannot keep yourself. You are kept alone by the power of God, which is revealed in a special manner to offset the working of Satan through the children of disobedience. He would grieve and hurt the soul of everyone who would be loyal and true, who would keep the way of the Lord and do His commandments. Manifold temptations will come to all who believe in Jesus. Satan will seek to discourage those who manifest their love for God by keeping His commandments.

     The warfare against God's law commenced in heaven. Satan was determined to bring God to his ideas, his way, to force Him to change the law of His government. This was the cause of the war in heaven. Satan worked upon the sympathies of the angelic host by his deceptive attitude, but he was expelled from heaven, and now he is determined to carry out on this earth the plans he instituted in heaven. If he can persuade man to be disloyal to the laws of God, he will feel that he is revenged upon God. He strives to instill into the minds of men his masterly deception, thus perverting judgment and justice, and trampling down the law of God. This work--the conflict between truth and error--lies at the foundation of the trials and tribulations that the children of God will experience. This is the "trial of their faith" [1 Peter 1:7].

     By pressing upon the soul the idea that God is displeased with us, Satan tries to torture us into unbelief. But we are to "rejoice in the Lord always" [Philippians 4:4].

     [1 Peter 1:6-9 quoted]. The Lord Jesus is our only hope....Although God is so high and holy, and though His glory and majesty fills the heavens, yet He looks with pitying tenderness upon all that tremble at His word. These are the contrite ones. They may feel that they can scarcely hope in His mercy, yet they are the special objects of His care and love. [Isaiah 57:10 quoted]. When you have plain "thus saith the Lord" for your course of action, He will sustain you.

     Do we realize that not a trial shall come upon a saint...but it is in the providence of God who wants to work out for us individually an experience that is of the highest value for us to stand in this time. It is of the highest consequence to us that we are prepared for the manifold temptations that shall come upon us....

     Do you think that Satan will not oppose our way? Do you think he will not meet us with his hellish army? Why, he will work with all the forces that are beneath. Shall we stop because we see the whole world has chosen to be under his banner?--No. We have decided that the Captain of our salvation, who took down the walls of Jericho without the touch of a human hand, can be with His people. He will arm them with sufficiency, He will arm them with power. He will give them grace, that they can walk through the fiery trials that the enemy has prepared wherewith to tempt every soul upon the face of the earth....

     We see a retinue of angels on either side of the gate, and as we pass in, Jesus speaks, "Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" [Matthew 25:34]. Here He tells you to be a partaker of His joy; and what is that? It is the joy of seeing that your efforts, mothers, are rewarded. Here are your children. The crown of life is upon their heads, and the angels of God immortalize the name of the mother whose efforts have won their children to Jesus Christ.

     How carefully we should be in giving advice, lest our counsel should result in great evil and suffering. It is much better for the families to go out into other cities or some other country, but never encourage a spirit of defiance and resistance, even if they are placed in the chain gang. The bigotry that exists, the prejudice against truth to sustain religious error is firm, for the human agent is stirred with hellish power from beneath....

     Our work is to study to weed out of all our discourses everything that savors of retaliation and defiance...because this is not Christ's way and method. He did not pronounce scathing rebukes against those who knew not the truth, but against those whom God had made depositaries of sacred responsibilities, people chosen and favored with every temporal and spiritual advantage, and yet bearing no fruit.

     Truth and error are both in the field, striving for the master. The champions of truth will have a fierce conflict. "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." The warning comes and the directions are repeated. "Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand the evil day, and having done all to stand" [Ephesians 6:12, 13]. All that the Lord has told you it devolves on you to do. No one needs to be deceived if they will take the word of God their study. How little is the book of Revelation studied. It is a hidden mystery to the religious world; and why? Because the events not pleasant for their consideration, are so faithfully traced by the prophetic pen; and people who are in any way troubled about the matter are soothed with the statement from their shepherds that the Revelation cannot be understood. But it especially concerns us who are living in these last days. "Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things that are written therein; for the time is at hand" [Revelation 1:3]. Read the last chapter of Revelation carefully and prayerfully. What significance there is in the statements of this chapter. "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last....Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city....I Jesus have sent mine angels to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the off spring of David, and the bright and morning star" [Revelation 22:13-14, 16]....

     We are not to drift into world channels. Consider the cleansing of the temple at the beginning of Christ's ministry. He found the Jews intent on gain. They had made the court of the temple a scene of sacrilegious traffic; and had turned the ancient and sacred institution of the Passover into a means of vile profit. They bartered freely, turning the service instituted by Christ himself into the worship of mammon. But Christ came suddenly into the temple court, divinity flashed through humanity, and raising a whip of small cords in his hand with a voice that they will hear again in the execution of the judgment he said, "Take these things hence. It is written, My Father's house shall be called a house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves. The priests and rulers saw as it were an avenging angel, such as guards the way to the tree of life.

     Today this sacrilegious work is being more than repeated. There will be messages borne, and those who have rejected the messages God has sent, will hear most startling declarations. The Holy Spirit will invest the announcement with a sanctity and solemnity which will appear terrible in the ears of those who would not hear the pleading of Infinite Love, and who have not responded to the offers of pardon and forgiveness. Injured and insulted Deity will speak, proclaiming the sins that have been hidden. As the priests and rulers, full of indignation and terror, sought refuge in flight at the cleansing of the temple, so will it be in the work for these last days. The woes that will be pronounced upon those who had light from heaven, and did not heed it, they will feel, but they will have no power to act. This is represented in the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. They cannot obtain a character from the wise virgins, and they have no oil of grace to discern the clear light, or to accept it, that thy may join the procession going into the marriage supper of the Lamb....

     Study Revelation in connection with Daniel; for history will be repeated.

     The Lord has not concealed from His followers the plan of the battle. He has presented before His people the great conflict, and He has given them words of encouragement. He charges them not to enter into the battle without counting the cost, while He assures them that they do not fight alone, but that supernatural agencies will enable the weak, if they trust in Him, to become strong against the vast confederacy of evil arrayed against them. He points them to the universe of heaven, and assures them that holy beings are wrestling against principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual wickedness in high places.

     The children of God are cooperating with all the invisible hosts of light. And more than angels are in their ranks. The Holy Spirit, the representative of the Captain of the Lord's host, comers down to direct the battle. Our infirmities may be many, our mistakes and sins numerous, but forgiveness is for all who, with contrition of heart, will confess and forsake their sins. Angels of light are sent to render them all the help that is required.

     The Lord has a time appointed when He will bind off the work; but when is that time? When the truth to be proclaimed for these last days shall go forth as a witness to all nations, then shall the end come. If the power of Satan can come into the very temple of God, and manipulate things as he pleases, the time of preparation will be prolonged.

     There will be false and fanatical movements made by persons in the church who claim to be led of God,--those who run before they are sent--who will give day and date for the occurrence of unfulfilled prophecy. The enemy is pleased to have them do this, for their successive failures and leading into false lines [will] cause confusion and unbelief....

     We are nearing the great day of God. The signs are fulfilling, and yet, we have no message to tell us of the day and hour of Christ's appearing. The Lord has wisely concealed this from us, that we may always be in a state of expectancy and preparation for the second appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ in the clouds of heaven.

     We are to search the prophecies that point to the roll of fast fulfilling events...which Christ has plainly told us will take place prior to the end of this earth's history. We are to watch and pray, wait patiently and work faithfully to save the perishing....

     The day and hour of Christ's coming is pronounced, by lips that speak the truth and the truth only, to be beyond the ken of man. Even the angels, the heavenly intelligences, are not informed of this. "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but My Father only" (Matthew 24:36).

     In the interpretation of the king's dream [see Daniel 2:32-45], Daniel had told him, "Thou art this head of gold." The Dream was given the king to show him that earthly kingdoms were not enduring, but would pass away and be followed by the kingdom of the Prince of Heaven, which should fill the whole earth.

     Satan is constantly at work to make as forbidding as possible the establishment of God in our world. There will be difficulties to obstruct to work of God, for Satan through his masterly power will use unconsecrated hearts to present the characters of the professed people of God to the world as a stumbling block. The precious truths which they hold are not practiced in their lives. While there are those who will advance, there are others who think so much of their individual selves, that they cannot see that which needs to be done at the right time. There is no harmony of spirit of action. They magnify the difficulties. But as those who seek to carry out God's plans advance, the great mountain becomes a plain....

     All the powers of darkness, represented by the great mountain, will melt away as God's people move forward with the mind of Christ....The truth of the third angel's message is bound to triumph, and those who purify their souls from all defilement will triumph with it. When the human agent will give up his own important ideas in regard to himself, when he will bear in mind that he is working in sight of the universe of heaven, then his piety will be sweet and fragrant. It will not be that kind which tastes so strong of the dish--one's own human feelings and attributes....

     Here is the explanation of the olive trees: They take of the Holy Spirit of God and empty the holy oil out of themselves into the clean, pure, sanctified souls that are prepared to receive it. This is the kind of oil that the wise virgins had,--oil that one could not communicate to another. Each individual must prepare his soul for himself through humbleness of mind, by wearing Christ's yoke, and learn of Him.

     Great deception will come to the mind of men. They will acquiesce in the theory of the truth, but they do not apply the truth to the life. Therefore they do not become one with Christ....Our day is signalized by an intensity of action on the part of the powers of darkness, for the enemy sees that he has but a short time to work....The Lord would have us wide awake and gathering with Christ, preparing His truth to go from nation to nation, until it belts the world. The intensity of Satan is setting in operation every evil work to counteract the efforts of the heavenly universe. God's people are to cooperate with Him and no longer retard the final completion of His eternal plan....

     Each individual soul is on trial for his life. Has he given to God that which belongs to Him? Has he surrendered to God all that is His as his purchased possession? All who cherish Lord as their portion in this life will be under His control, and will receive the sign, the mark of God, which shows them to be God's special possession. Christ's righteousness will go before them, and the glory of the Lord will be their reward. The Lord protects every human being who bears His sign. [Exodus 31:12-17 quoted].

     The world is soon to be left by the angel of mercy and the seven last plagues are to be poured out....The storm is gathering. The bolts of God's wrath are soon to fall, and, when He shall begin to punish the transgressors, there will be no period of respite until the end. He shall come forth to punish the inhabitants of the world for their iniquity, and "the earth...shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain" [Isaiah 26:21]. Only those stand who are sanctified through the truth in the love of God. They will be hid with Christ in God until the desolation shall be overpast.

     The time is at hand when a fearful confederacy will be formed, a brotherhood inaugurated by Satan. Unholy human agencies will combine with demon forces, and the whole will be imbued with satanic impulses. Satan has come down with great power, and he is working with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish. He is now marshaling the hosts who will be ready to voice his words: "Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?" [Revelation 13:4].

     Man-made theories and suppositions are not to be allowed to enter the work....We must let the great principles of the third angel's message stand out clear and distinct. The great pillars of our faith will hold all the weight that can be placed upon them....

     All must be careful what they present to the people is truth. Do not present your own imaginations as Bible truth....The enemy tries to warp and twist human minds. To the one who will listen to him he presents ideas that are odd and peculiar, which create a sensation....These he leads him to present to others with a test which he has imagined....Those who present the idea that the blind, the deaf, the lame, the deformed, will not receive the seal of God, are not speaking words given them by the Holy Spirit....The Lord has afflicted ones, dearly beloved in His sight, who bear the suffering of bodily infirmities. To them special care and grace is promised. Their trials will not be greater than they can endure.

     Paul had a bodily affliction; his eyesight was bad. He thought that by earnest prayer the difficulty might be removed. But the Lord had His own purpose, and He said to Paul, "Speak to me on more of this matter. My grace is sufficient. I will enable you to bear the infirmity."...

     There are living upon our earth men who have passed the age of four score and ten. The natural results of old age are seen in their feebleness. But they believe God, and God loves them. The seal of God is upon them, and they will be among the number of whom the Lord has said, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord" [Revelation 14:12]. With Paul they can say, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not me only, but unto all them also which love His appearing" [2 Timothy 4:7-8]. There are many whose gray hairs God honors, because they have fought a good fight and kept the faith.

     There is no need of entering into controversy with the poor souls who think they are doing God's service when they are believing the Devil's fables....I have been shown that there are those to whom the words apply, [Hebrews 5:12-14 quoted].

     If ever anyone needed such instruction as this, it is those who, while claiming to labor in the ministry, are preaching the production of perverted imagination. Today, as in Christ's day, odd, strange ideas are springing up....

     There are those who need in their hearts the touch of the divine Spirit. Then the message for this time will be their burden. They will not search for human tests, for something new and strange. The Sabbath of the fourth commandment is the test for this time....

     Satan is well pleased when he can thus confuse the mind. Let not ministers preach their own suppositions. Let them search the scriptures earnestly, with a solemn realization that if they teach for doctrines the things that are not contained in God's word, they will be as those represented in the last chapter of Revelation...

     It is the white robe of Christ's righteousness that gives the sinner admittance into the presence of the heavenly angels. His perfect obedience to all God's commandments, open for him the gates of the Holy City....In the great day of God, all who are faithful and true will receive the healing touch of the divine Restorer. The Life-giver will remove every deformity and will give them eternal life.

     In God's Word, the question is not, "What is the color of the hair or the form of the body," but, "Has the heart been purified, made white, and tried?"

     The world will not do the work that God has committed to His people. He requires us to be wide awake in preparing the way for Christ's second coming. This work is included in the commission Christ gave to his disciples. He bids us, "Lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgressions, and the House of Jacob their sins" [Isaiah 58:1]....

     The time is soon coming when the work of God's judgments will begin at His sanctuary. God Himself is now drawing the separating line. He says, "As for Me also, Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their head" [Ezekiel 9:10].

     Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Bring into the work an earnest desire to learn how to bear responsibilities. With strong arms and brave hearts go forth into the conflict all must enter, a conflict that will grow more and more severe as we approach the closing struggle....

     The Lord has instructed me that the time will come, when men, women, and youth will be imbued with the spirit of the last message of mercy to be given to our world....Remember that the nearer we approach Christ's coming, the more earnestly and firmly we are to work, for the whole synagogue of Satan is opposed to us....

     When the religious denominations unite with the papacy to oppress, places where there is religious freedom will be opened by evangelistic canvassing. If in one place the oppression becomes severe, do as Christ has told you to do: When they persecute you in one place, go to another place, and if persecution comes there go to still another. God will lead His people, making them a blessing in many places. Were it not for persecution, God's people would not be scattered abroad to proclaim the truth. Christ declares, "Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of Man be come" [Matthew 10:23].

     It is now too late to cling to worldly treasures. Soon houses and lands will be of no benefit to anyone, for the curse of God will rest more and more heavily upon the earth. The call comes, "Sell that ye have, and give alms" [Luke 12:33]. This message should be faithfully borne--urged home to the hearts of the people, that God's own property may be passed on in offerings to advance His work in the world.

     We are not to think that we are to secure all the help from them (the world) that we can by conforming somewhat to their standard, and yet remain Seventh-day Adventists. Between God and mammon there can be no union.

     Unless we stand on the elevated platform of eternal truth, we shall be swept away by the tide of delusive error that is sweeping over the world. Satan is coming down with great power to work miracles, and unless we are abiding in Christ, we shall be deceived. God's people are not the only ones who will have miracle-working power in the last days. Satan and his agencies will work "with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish."

     It is not miracle-working power by which our faith is substantiated. We must rely upon the power of God. We must stand upon His platform of eternal truth. His word, the Bible, is the foundation of our faith. Unless we plant our feet upon this foundation, unless we substantiate our faith "By every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," we shall be deceived by Satan when he comes in glory, claiming to be Christ.

     The wicked are being bound up in bundles, bound up in trusts, in unions, in confederacies. Let us have nothing to do with these organizations. God is our Ruler, our Governor, and He calls us to come out from the world and be separate. "Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing" [2 Corinthians 6:17]. If we refuse to do this, if we continue to link up with the world, and to look at every matter from a worldly standpoint, we shall become like the world. When worldly policy and worldly ideas govern our transactions, we cannot stand on the high and holy platform of eternal truth.

     God promises that if we will separate ourselves from the world, He will receive us, and will be Father unto us, and we shall be His sons and daughters. Shall we not separate ourselves from the world, and claim this sacred relationship now, that when our Father comes He may acknowledge us as His children?

     The followers of Christ are to combine in a strong effort to call the attention of the world to the fast-fulfilling prophecies of the Word of God. Infidelity is gaining a strong hold in the churches. Shall those to whom great light has been given now be cold and faithless? A power from beneath is leading men to war against the truth. Church members have confederated with satanic agencies to make void the law of God.

     At this time--a time of overwhelming iniquity--a new life, coming from the Source of all life, is to take possession of those who have the love of God in their hearts, and they are to go forth to proclaim with power the message of a crucified and risen Saviour.

     The inhabitants of the world are fast becoming as the inhabitants of the world in Noah's day who were swept away by the flood, and as the inhabitants of Sodom who were consumed by fire from heaven. The powers of Satan are at work to keep minds diverted from eternal realities. The enemy has arranged matters to suit his purposes. Horse racing, gambling, games of every kind, the fashions of the day--these things occupy the minds of men and women. In the broad road that leads to eternal ruin, there walks a long procession. The world, filled with violence, reveling, and drunkenness, is converting the church. The law of God, the divine standard of righteousness, is declared to be of no consequence....

     Satan has come down with great power, knowing that his time is short. The controversy is being waged in full view of the heavenly universe; and angels stand ready to lift up for God's hard-pressed soldiers a standard against the enemy, and to put into their lips songs of victory and rejoicing.

     The end of all things is at hand. The signs foretold by Christ are fast fulfilling. The nations are angry, and time of the dead has come, that they should be judged. There are stormy times before us, but let us not utter one word of unbelief or discouragement. Let us remember that we bear a message of healing to a world filled with sin-sick souls.

     I have light from the Lord that at this time we must act with great caution; for the enemy is watching our every movement. At times I have been ready to take steps that would be called aggressive....The Lord has wrought in behalf of His people. But Satan is not dead or palsied, and he prepares minds by degrees to become imbued with his spirit, and to work after the same manner as he works against those who bear responsibilities in the work of God for these last days. In the future Satan's last exploits will be carried out with more power than ever before. He has learned much, and he is full of scientific scheming to make of no effect the work that is under the supervision of the One who came to the Isle of Patmos to educate John, and to give instruction to be given to the churches.

     The miracles that Christ wrought gave to the world evidence of the divinity of His mission. This powerful evidence the Jews would not receive, because Christ's teaching did not harmonize with their preconceived ideas, or exalt the human agencies who continually exalted themselves.

     The Lord has been giving me instruction that we are meeting the same unbelief today, and that we shall continue to meet it as we bear the last message of mercy to the world. Every ingenious device will be used, every possible method taken advantage of, to lead men to live a lie, that the truth shall not stand as God designed it to stand, to prepare a people through the sanctification of the Holy Spirit, to stand firm as a rock to principle.

     All who believe and practice the work of God will answer the prayer of Christ as given in the seventeenth chapter of John. Read this chapter from the first verse to the last. In it you have the plan of redemption. God's angels are preserving the world from destruction because there are some who have never yet heard the message of truth.

     The course of false science led the Jews to strong unbelief....Christ came to this world, and received at the hands of the unbelieving Jews that which prophecy declared he would receive. The Jews who were fulfilling the prophecies in the Old Testament Scriptures, did not realize what they were doing. They professed to believe these prophecies, and they did not know that they were working out the plan foretold....

     "Wherefore the Lord saith, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouths, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their hearts afar from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work, and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us, and who knoweth us? Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potters clay; for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not, or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?" [Isaiah 29:13-16].

     Every word of this will be fulfilled. There are those who do not humble their hearts before God, and who will not walk uprightly. They hide their true purposes, and keep in fellowship with the fallen angel, who loveth and maketh a lie. The enemy puts spirit upon the men whom he can use to deceive those who are partially in the dark. Some are becoming imbued with the darkness that prevails, and are setting the truth aside for error. The day pointed out by prophecy is come. Jesus Christ is not understood. Jesus Christ is to them a fable. At this stage of the earth's history, many act like drunken men. "Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry; they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes. The prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered" [Isaiah 29:9, 10]. A spiritual drunkenness is upon many who suppose they are the people who shall be exalted. Their religious faith is just as is represented in this Scripture. Under its influence, they cannot walk straight. They make crooked paths in their course of action. One and then another, they reel to and fro. They are looked upon by the Lord with great pity. The way of truth they have not known. They are scientific schemers, and those who could and should have helped, because of a clear spiritual eyesight, are themselves deceived, and are sustaining an evil work.

     The developments of these last days will soon become decided. When these spiritualistic deceptions are revealed to be what they really are,--the secret workings of evil spirits,--those who have acted a part in them will become as men who have lost their minds....

     It is presented to me that in our experience we have been and are meeting this very condition of things. Men who have had great light and wonderful privileges have taken the word of leaders who think themselves wise, who have been greatly favored and blessed by the Lord, but who have taken themselves out of the hands of God and placed themselves in the ranks of the enemy. The world is to be flooded with specious fallacies. One human mind, accepting these fallacies, will work upon other human minds, who have been turning the precious evidence of God's truth into a lie. These men will be deceived by fallen angels, when they should have stood as faithful guardians, watching for souls, as they that must give an account. They have laid down the weapons of their warfare, and have given heed to seducing spirits. They make of no effect the counsel of God and set aside his warnings and reproofs, and are positively on Satan's side, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.

     Spiritual drunkenness is now upon men who ought not to be staggering as men under the influence of strong drink. Crimes and irregularities, fraud, deceit, and unfair dealing fill the world, in accordance with the teaching of the leader who rebelled in the heavenly courts.

     History is to be repeated. I could specify what will be in the near future, but the time is not yet. The forms of the dead will appear, through the cunning device of Satan, and many will link up with the one who loveth and maketh a lie. I warn our people that right among us some will turn away from the faith, and give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, and by them the truth will be evil spoken of.

     A marvelous work shall take place. Ministers, lawyers, doctors, who have permitted these falsehoods to overmaster their spirit of discernment will be themselves deceivers, united with the deceived. A spiritual drunkenness will take possession of them. To the unfaithful stewards the Lord says, Take you pleasure and walk in blindness as drunken men; for after having many opportunities, and refusing to improve them, you will act at last as the drunkard acts, throwing away your hope of eternal life. Seeking deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and making lies their refuge, they will misinterpret the warnings and messages God has sent, placing on these warnings their false statements, to make God's word of no effect. Reports and suggestions are gathered up and kept in the memory, to be used when it is thought they can be used with the best effect. This has been going on for some time. Those who do this work seek deep to hide their counsel from those whom they would injure. But the Lord is acquainted with every movement, every performance. All the secret workings of men are open to the One who knows the heart.

     Some who have been deceived by men in responsible places will repent, and be converted. And in all our dealings with them, we must remember that none of those who are in the depth of Satan's snares know that they are there.

     [Isaiah 29:17-24 quoted].

     [Isaiah 35:1, 2 quoted].

     I was instructed to speak to you these words of cheer which were spoken to me. I am to call for every soul to be glad, as my heart has been made glad, and to speak this gladness in the congregation of the saints, and to tell of the goodness and power of God in every place where they shall carry the precious gospel of Jesus Christ to those who know not the truth for this time.

     Now, just now, we are to proclaim present truth, with assurance and with power. Do not strike one dolorous note; do not sing funeral hymns. The message to be proclaimed for this time is, "Strengthen ye the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees. Say unto them that are of a fearful heart. Be strong, fear not. Behold your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you.

     [Isaiah 35:3-10 quoted].

     O what a promise is this for those who will separate themselves from all cunning and scientific scheming, and will follow on to know the Lord identifying themselves with those who have received the truth and are sanctified through the truth. Every promise is for those who will learn the only true science, which is found in the prayer of Jesus Christ....

     The prayer of Christ lays open before the intelligent, understanding mind that not one taint of the science of Satan's practice can enter the holy city.

     Satan worked in every possible way to come out victorious in standing in the highest place in the heavenly courts. How artful were his contrivances to win the game! He employed every artful intrigue and device to carry his science against God and His son Jesus Christ.

     As I am shown special things of Satan's science, and how he deceived the holy angels, I am afraid of the men who have entered into the study of the science that Satan carried into the warfare in heaven....How my heart has been agonized as I have seen souls accepting the inducements held out to them to unite with those who were warring against God. When they once accept the bait it seems impossible to break the spell that Satan casts over them, because the enemy works out the science of deception as he worked it out in the heavenly courts. He has worked so diligently with men in our day that he has won the game again and again.

     What, I ask, can be the end? Again and again have I asked this, and I have always received the same instruction, Never leave a soul unwarned. Those who are bound in Satan's coils are the most confident and the most boastful. They will protest at the thought that they are ensnared, yet it is the truth.

     Satan is using his science in playing the game of life for human souls. His angels are mingling with men, and instructing them in the mysteries of evil. These fallen angels will draw away disciples after them, will talk with men, and will set forth principles that are as false as can be, leading souls into paths of deception. These angels are to be found all over the world, presenting the wonderful things that will soon appear in a more decided light.

     One error after another pressed in upon us, ministers and doctors brought in new doctrines. We would search the scriptures with much prayer, and the Holy Spirit would bring the truth to our minds....The power of God would come upon me, and I was enabled clearly to define what is truth and what is error....

     I would be taken off in vision, and explanations would be given me. I was given illustrations of heavenly things, and of the sanctuary, so that we were placed where light was shining on us in clear, distinct rays.

     All these truths are immortalized in my writings. The Lord never denies His word. Men may get up scheme after scheme, and the enemy will seek to seduce souls from the truth, but all who believe that the Lord has spoken through Sister White, and has given her a message, will be safe from the many delusions that will come in the last days.

     I know that the sanctuary question stands in righteousness and truth just as we have held it for so many years. It is the enemy that leads minds off on sidetracks. He is pleased when those who know the truth become engrossed in collecting scriptures to pile up around erroneous theories, which have no foundation in truth. The scriptures thus used are misapplied. They were not given to substantiate error, but to strengthen truth.

     I am thankful that the instruction contained in my books establishes present truth for this time. These books were written under the demonstration of the Holy Spirit.

     Evil angels are striving to obscure the clear vision of commandment-keepers, and so darken the understanding that they will not be able to discern between righteousness and unrighteousness....In some way or other the enemy will seek to deceive all, even the very elect....

     When we are guided by the Lord, we shall have clear discernment. We shall not call righteousness unrighteousness, nor think that things that the Lord has forbidden are right. We shall understand where the Lord is working.

     Many have not understood this. There are some who I know have been led astray by the enemy. But God wants to make you a partaker of the Divine nature. He wants no yoke of human authority on your neck, but that you shall look to him who is able to save to the uttermost every one that comes to him in righteousness and truth. We have no time to tamper with the enemy, for we are very weak near the close of this earth's history....

     Soon laws will be passed compelling all to observe the first day of the week instead of the seventh. We must meet this difficulty, and we shall find trouble enough, without stirring up contention among those who profess to be keeping God's commandments....

     The agencies of Satan will work with every mind that will allow itself to be worked by him. But there are also heavenly agencies waiting to communicate the bright rays of the glory of God to all who are willing to receive Him.

     Dear Brother and Sister Haskell,--

     I have read your letters, and I wish to speak to you words that I have pondered over the past night as I read the fifty-sixth chapter of Isaiah.

     "Thus saith the Lord, keep ye judgment, and do justice; for my salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold upon it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hands from doing any evil" [Verses 1, 2]. The truth that is found in the word of the Lord God is to be our constant assurance.

     "Cast ye up," the Lord declares through His prophet, "cast ye up, prepare the way; take up the stumbling-block out of the way of My people" [Isaiah 57:14]. Is not this the very work that the Lord has given us to do in connection with those who see and feel the importance of the work that must be done in the earth that the truth may triumph gloriously? Every man who undertakes to hedge up the way of the servants of God, binding them about by human restrictions, so that they cannot follow the leading of the Spirit of God, is hindering the advance of the work of God.

     The Lord sends the message, "Take up the stumbling-block out of the way of My people." Earnest effort is to be put forth to counterwork the influences that have kept back the message for this time. A solemn work is to be done in a short space of time. "Thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones" [Verse 15].

     A very strange work has for years been struggling for recognition. Here and there men have exalted themselves and revealed a strong desire for human power. And the Lord has declared that as His messenger I must bear my message and rebuke any work of placing of man-made yokes upon the necks of the disciples of Christ.

     "I will not contend forever," God declares, "neither will I be always wrath: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made. For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote; I hid me, and was wrath, and he went on forwardly in the way of his own heart. I have seen his ways, and will heal him; I will lead him also, and restore comfort to him and to his mourners. I create the fruit of the lips; peace, peace to him that is afar off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord, and I will heal him. But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked" [Verse 16-21].

     In the chapters that follow, the 58th to the 62nd of Isaiah, there is present truth for the people. Study these chapters carefully.

     In the seasons of the night I am declaring in earnest terms to our people the word of the Lord. I am pleading with the churches, telling them that the Lord requires us to heed every warning and reproof given by His prophets in the Old Testament and in the new. Both are written for our instruction. To every warning we should give careful heed.

     Eternal life is the highest value; it's worth cannot be weighed or measured. A life is offered to us that, once obtained, will measure with the life of God. O why are we as a people so dull of comprehension, why so inattentive? Why do we misapply the great treasures that God desires us to appreciate and grasp as our own! It is impossible to find language with which to describe the favor that is offered us in the Word for our acceptance.

     In the night season I seemed to be speaking to different congregations, making the application of the truth, and not without effect. I repeated these words to the Oakland church: The church is yet militant in a world that is apparently in midnight darkness, and growing worse and worse. Then I heard testimonies offered by different voices, and the question was asked, How long, O Lord, how long shall a stupor remain upon the church? Then I said, While the requirements of a plain Thus saith the Lord remain unheeded by the worldly element within the church, the voices of God's faithful people are to be strengthened to give the solemn messages of warning. The works that should characterize the church militant and the works of the church that has had the light of truth for this time do not correspond. The Lord calls upon church members to clothe themselves with the beautiful garments of Christ's righteousness. Praise and prayer and thanksgiving should now be heard coming daily from converted hearts and lips.

     We have a work before us in preparing for the constantly changing scenes of the world's population. Our church members need to pray more and more. There needs to be a living testimony borne from converted hearts. God is our sufficiency. The church needs to awake to an understanding of the subtle power of the Satanic agencies that must be met. If they will keep on the whole armor, they will be able to conquer all the foes they meet, some of which are not now developed.

     Confederacies will increase in number and power as we draw nearer to the end of time. These confederacies will create opposing influences to the truth, forming new parties of professed believers who will act out their own delusive theories. Then apostasy will increase, "Some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils" [1 Timothy 4:1]. Those who have started this warfare at their own charges will come more and more to practice the works of Satan.

     Satanic agencies in human form will take part in this last great conflict to oppose the building up of the kingdom of God. And heavenly angels in human guise will be on the field of action. Men and women have confederated to oppose the Lord God of heaven, and the church is only half awake to the situation. There needs to be much more of prayer, much more of earnest effort among professed believers.

     The two opposing parties will continue to exist till the closing up of the last great chapter in this world's history. Satanic agencies are in every city. We cannot afford to be off our guard for one moment. The true, staunch believers will pray more and more, and will talk less of matters of little consequence. More and more decided testimonies will come from their lips to encourage the weak and needy souls. This is no time for the people of God to be weaklings, neither one thing nor the other. Let all be diligent students of the word. We must be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. We cannot live haphazard lives and be true Christian.

     The Lord has made some remarkable revelations regarding the experiences that His people will pass through....I have been shown that evil angels in the form of believers will work in our ranks to bring in a strong spirit of unbelief. Let not even this discourage you, but bring a true heart to the help of the Lord against the powers of satanic agencies. These powers of evil will assemble in our meetings, not to receive a blessing, but to counterwork the influences of the Spirit of God. Take up no remark that they may make, but repeat the rich promises of God, which are yea and amen in Christ Jesus.

     We are never to catch up the words that human lips may speak to confirm the evil angels in their work, but we should repeat the words of Christ. Christ was the instructor in the assemblies of these angels before their fall from their high estate.

     Very soon the strife and oppression of foreign nations will break forth with an intensity that you do not now anticipate....

     Your opponents will make statements about your work that are false. Do not repeat their statements, but hold to your assertions of the living truth, and angels of God will open the way before you. We have a great work to carry forward, and we must carry it in a sensible way. Let us never get excited or allow evil feelings to arise....

     Those who have departed from the faith will come to our congregations to divert our attention from the work that God would have done. You cannot afford to turn your ears from the truth to fables. Do not stop to try to convert the one who is speaking words of reproach against your work, but let it be seen that you are inspired by the spirit of Jesus Christ, and angels of God will put into your lips words that will reach the hearts of opposers. If these men persist in pressing their way in, those who are of a sensible mind in the congregation will understand that yours is a higher standard. So speak that it will be known that Jesus is speaking through you.

     Time is passing. Satan is boasting to his evil agencies that he will take possession of the world, and he encourages them to work through every possible means for the accomplishment of this purpose....Let us not think that we can pass through this world doing just as we please and yet be accepted by God as followers of His son. The gates of the city of God will never be thrown open to those who have not lifted the cross and followed after Christ in self-denial and self-sacrifice....

     There is a world to be saved. What are you doing to cooperate with Christ?...Are you using your opportunities and advantages and means in winning souls to Christ? You may say, "I am not a minister, and therefore, cannot preach the truth." You may not be a minister in the generally accepted sense of the word, you may never be called to stand in the desk nevertheless, you can be a minister for Christ....

     Many of us have neglected to study the scriptures. We have failed to develop such characters as Christ can use....He calls upon us individually to take up our appointed work wherever we are....Put away the foolish reading matter and study the Word of God. Commit its precious promises to memory, so that, when we shall be deprived of our bibles we may still be in possession of the word of God.

     The perils of the last days are upon us, and at this time we are each determining what our destiny for eternity shall be. Individually we are to form characters that will stand the test of the judgment. Individually we are to give in the church where we are an example of faithfulness and consecration. The ministry of the word is designed to prepare a people to stand in the times of temptation in which we live; and church members are to cooperate with the work of ministry by revealing in the life the principles of the truth, that no word should be spoken or act performed that will lead into false paths or create a condition of things that God cannot approve.

     There has been revealed to me the grave dangers we shall meet in these last days of peril and temptation. Our only reliable light and guide for this time is the Word of God. We must take this Word as our counselor, and faithfully follow its instructions, or we shall find that we are being controlled by our own peculiar traits of character, and our lives will reveal a selfish work that will be hindrance and not a blessing to our fellow men. We need to go to the word of God for counsel for every step we take, for self is every ready to strive for the mastery.

     It is the duty of those who stand as leaders and teachers of the people to instruct church members how to labor in missionary lines, and then to see in operation the great, grand work of proclaiming widely this message which must arouse every unworked city before the crisis shall come, when, through the working of satanic agencies, the doors now open to the message of the third angel shall be closed....

     The judgments of God are being stayed, that the voice of truth may be heard in it simplicity. Let those who have a part in this sacred work be wide awake and each endeavor to labor in God appointed way. Let none set up as the Lord's way the way of human devisings....

     The righteous judgments of God, with their weight of final decision, are coming upon the land. Do not hover over the churches and repeat over and over again the same truths to the people, while the cities are left in ignorance and sin, unwarned, and unlabored for. Soon the way will be hedged up and these cities will be closed to the gospel message....

     We must expend less means in the few places where the message has been quite fully preached, that we may go out into other places where the warning has not been given, and where men and women are ignorant of the great crisis that is about to come to all who live upon the earth....

     The warning message for this time is not being given earnestly in the great business world. Day after day the centers of commerce and trade are thronged with men and women who need the truth for this time, but who gain no saving knowledge of its precious principles, because earnest, persevering efforts are not put forth to reach this class of people where they are....

     The world is preparing for the closing work of the third angel's message. The truth is now to go forth with a power that it has not known for years. The message of present truth is to be proclaimed everywhere. We must be aroused to give this message with a loud voice, as symbolized in the fourteenth chapter of Revelation. There is danger of our accepting the theory of the truth without accepting the great responsibility which it lays upon every recipient. My brethren, show your faith by your works. The world must be prepared for the loud cry of the third angel's message--a message which God declares shall be cut short in righteousness.