- 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 onl