Ellen White's Source of Inspiration: Henry Melville

 
Remark the expression, "I will put enmity." ...an enmity spernaturally put, and not naturally entertained. As soon as man transgressed, his nature became evil, and therefore he was at peace, and not at war with the devil. ... This lofty spirit must have calculated, that, if he could induce men, as he had induced angels, ...he should have them for allies in his every enterprise against heaven. There was in all nothing of enmity between himself and the spirits. ... Whatever feuds and jarrings which might disturb the rebels, they were linked, as with an iron band, in the one great object of opposing good. So that when he heard that there should be enmity between himself and the woman, he must have felt...that, though he had suceeded in depraving human nature, and thus assimilating it to his own, it should be renewed by some mysterious process, and wrought up to the lost power of resisting its conqueror.

Unless God pour his converting grace into the soul, there will be no attempt to oppose Satan but we shall continue to the end of our days his willing captives and servants. ... Introducing a new principle into the heart, he creates conflict where there had heretofore been peace, inclining and enabling man to rise against his tyrant... Whensoever you see an individual delivered from the love, and endowed with a hatred of sin, resisting those passions which held naturally sway within his breast...you are surveying the workings of a principle which is wholly from above.

Charged only with an embassage of mercy; sent by the Father--not to condemn the world, though rebellion overspread its provinces. ...but that the world through him might have life.

We are accustomed to think...the want of majesty and pomp, moved the Jews to reject their Messiah. ... He displayed the posession of a supernatural power, which, ...was more valuable...than earthly supremacy.

 
The serpent...evil angels conspired with evil men; and the whole energies of apostacy gathered themselves to the effort of destroying the champion of God and of truth. ... He should be buffeted with temptation, convulsed with agony, lacerated by stripes, pierced by nails, crowned with thorns. ...

There was no real advantage gained over the Mediator. On the contrary, whilst Satan was in the act of bruising Christ's heel, Christ was in the act of brusing Satan's head. ... For suffering, which is the attendant on sinfulness, was made to empty all its pangs into the bosom of innocence. There was not a pang...not a grief...which helped not on the acheivement of the human deliverance.

Making the Savior's life-time one dark series of afflictions weakened, at every step, his own hold upon humanity.

 
...in the garden and on the cross, received wounds which were but the trophies of victory.

 
Whilst left in the darkness and alienation of nature, he submits willingly to the domination of evil. ... But when the grace of God is introduced into his heart, he will discern quickly the danger and hatefulness of sin, and will yield himself, in a higher strength than his own, to the work of resisting the serpent. ... He will, assuredly, draw upon himself the dislike and opposition of the whole circle of wordly acquaintance, so that his...austerity will become subject of ridicule.

...if we suppose that opposition to religion can be limited to an age or a country. ... "the offense of the cross," Gal. 5:11, has not ceased... "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." ... No man can serve God without uniting against himself evil men and evil angels.

Evil angels will assualt him, alarmed that their prey is escaping from their grasp.
pp. 10-17

God declares, “I will put enmity.” This enmity is supernaturally put, and not naturally entertained. When man sinned, his nature became evil, and he was in harmony, and not at variance, with Satan. The lofty usurper, having succeeded in seducing our first parents as he had seduced angels, counted on securing their allegiance and co-operation in all his enterprises against the government of Heaven. There was no enmity between himself and the fallen angels. Whatever discord might exist between them, all were united, as by bands of steel, in their opposition and hatred against God. But when Satan heard that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head, he knew that though he had succeeded in depraving human nature, and assimilating it to his own, yet by some mysterious process, God would restore to man his lost power, and enable him to resist and overcome his conqueror.

It is the grace that Christ implants in the soul that creates the enmity against Satan. Without this grace, man would continue the captive of Satan, a servant ever ready to do his bidding. The new principle in the soul creates conflict where hitherto had been peace. The power which Christ imparts, enables man to resist the tyrant and usurper. Whenever a man is seen to abhor sin instead of loving it, when he resists and conquers those passions that have held sway within, there is seen the operation of a principle wholly from above.

The Son of God came to man with a message of mercy from the Father. He came not to condemn the world—though they were deserving of condemnation, for rebellion was almost universal—but that the world through him might have life.

It was not so much that Christ appeared without worldly wealth, pomp, or grandeur, that the Jews were led to reject him. They saw that he possessed powers which would more than compensate for the lack of these outward advantages.

Satan and evil angels join with evil men. All the energies of apostasy conspire against the champion of truth. He was fiercely buffeted by temptations, rent with anguish, lacerated with stripes, pierced by nails, and crowned with thorns.

But in all this, Satan gained no real advantage. He could but bruise the heel, while by every act of humiliation or suffering, Christ was bruising the head of his adversary. The anguish that sin has brought was poured into the bosom of the sinless...he was paying the debt for sinful man, and breaking the bondage in which he had been held. Every pang of anguish, every insult, was working out the deliverance of the race.

He made the life of Christ one long scene of conflict and trial, yet with every attack he was losing his hold upon humanity.

...in the garden of Gethsemane, and on the cross, our Saviour measured weapons with the prince of darkness. His wounds became the trophies of his victory in behalf of the race.

He who is under the control of Satan submits willingly to the dominion of evil. But where he has received the grace of Christ, he will see the repulsive character of sin, and in strength from above, will resist the serpent. ... In so doing he will assuredly arouse the wrath of Satan and his followers. He will draw upon himself the reproach, dislike, and opposition of a large class of worldly acquaintances, who will ridicule him as narrow, bigoted, and austere.

Opposition to religion is not limited to any age or to any country. ... The offense of the cross has not ceased. "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." No man can serve God and be in union with the world.

 
Evil angels are on the track of every Christian, redoubling their efforts to annoy and distress, as they see the prey escaping from their grasp.
Review and Herald, July 18, 1882

 
There is not won a single soul to Christ, and the gospel message makes not its way to a single heart, without...stamping on the head of the tempter; for a captive is delivered from the oppressor, and to deliver the slave is to defeat the tyrant. ... No man can serve God without uniting against himself evil men and evil angels.
pp. 16-17

The gospel message does not win a single soul to Christ, or make its way to a single heart, without wounding the head of Satan. Whenever a captive is wrenched from his grasp, delivered from his oppression, the tyrant is defeated. ... No man can serve God without uniting against himself evil men and evil angels.
Testimonies, vol. 4, pp. 594-595

He arose in the strength of that wondrous coalition of Deity and humanity of which his person was the subject; and he took into his grasp the globe over whose provinces Satan expatiated as his rightful territory; and, by one vast impulse, he threw it back into the galaxy of Jehovah's favor; and angel and archangel, cherubim and seraphim, sang the chorus of triumph at the stupendous acheivement.

...no sin can be committed for which the satisfaction made upon Calvary, proffers not an immediate and thorough expiation.

...Christ Jesus may be said to stand continually at the altar-side; and if he be momentarily offering up the sacrifice which is momentarily required by their fast recurring guilt; is he not most truly a minister of the tabernacle? If, though, the shadows of the Jewish worship have been swept aside, so that day by day, and year by year, a typical atonement is no longer to be made, the constant commission of sin demand, the constant pouring out of blood; and if, standing not indeed in an officiating in the presence of God, "a lamb as it had been slain," Rev. 5:6, the Redeemer present the oblation prescribed for every offense and every shortcoming...

The Spirit pleads not for us as Christ pleads, holding up a cross, and pointing to wounds. ... Real praise is the Spirit's throwing the heart into the tongue; or, rather, it is the sound produced, when the Spirit has swept the chords of the soul, and there is a correspondent vibration of the lip.

We may regard the prayers and praises of true believers as incense burnt in the true tabernacle, and rising in fragrant clouds...is so defiled by the corrupt channel of humanity through which it passes, that, unless purified and etherialized, it can never be accepted of God? ...they ascent not up in their purity...unless the Intercessor, who is at God's right hand, give it wings and gain it access. ...incense burnt in the earthly tabernacle, unless moist with that mysterious dew which was wrung by anguish from the Mediator. ...He holds in his hands the censer of his own merits, and, gathering into it the prayers and praises of his church, renders them a sweet savor acceptable to the Father. Perfumed with the odor of Christ's propitiation, the incense mounts; and God, in his condescension, accepts the offering and breathes benediction in return.

 
...the Intercessor who carries our prayers and praises within the veil, and, laying them on the glowing fire of his righteousness, causes a spicy cloud to ascend and cover the mercy seat...

 
It is Christ who sends, through John, the sermons to the churches, who holds in his right hand the seven stars which represent the ministers of these churches, and who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.
pp. 25-27

He arose from the tomb enshrouded with a cloud of angels in wondrous power and glory—the Deity and humanity combined. He took in His grasp the world over which Satan claimed to preside as his lawful territory...He restored the whole race of men to favor with God. The songs of triumph echoed and re-echoed through the worlds. Angel and archangel, cherubim and seraphim, sang the triumphant song at the amazing achievement.

No sin can be committed by man for which satisfaction has not been met on Calvary. Thus the cross, in earnest appeals, continually proffers to the sinner a thorough expiation.

...Christ Jesus is represented as continually standing at the altar, momentarily offering up the sacrifice for the sins of the world. He is a minister of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man. The typical shadows of the Jewish tabernacle no longer possess any virtue. A daily and yearly typical atonement is no longer to be made, but the atoning sacrifice through a mediator is essential because of the constant commission of sin. Jesus is officiating in the presence of God, offering up His shed blood, as it had been a lamb slain. Jesus presents the oblation offered for every offense and every shortcoming of the sinner.

...the Spirit pleads not for us as does Christ, who presents His blood, shed from the foundation of the world... The gratitude which flows from our lips is the result of the Spirit striking the cords of the soul in holy memories, awakening the music of the heart.

The religious services, the prayers, the praise, the penitent confession of sin, ascend from true believers as incense to the heavenly sanctuary, but passing through the corrupt channels of humanity, they are so defiled that unless purified by blood, they can never be of value with God. They ascend not in spotless purity, and unless the intercessor who is at God’s right hand presents and purifies all by His righteousness, it is not acceptable to God. All incense from earthly tabernacles must be moist with the cleansing drops of the blood of Christ. He holds before the Father the censor of His own merits, in which there is no taint of earthly corruption. He gathers into this censor the prayers, the praise, and the confessions of His people, and with these He puts His own spotless righteousness. Then, perfumed with the merits of Christ’s propitiation, the incense comes up before God wholly and entirely acceptable.

O, that all may see that everything in obedience, in penitence, in praise and thanksgiving, must be placed upon the glowing fire of the righteousness of Christ. The fragrance of this righteousness ascends like a cloud around the mercy seat.

Christ gives through John the words to be given to the churches. He holds in His right hand the seven stars which represent the angels of these churches, and He walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.
Manuscript 50, 1900 (later published in Selected Messages vol. 3, p. 343)

But then, by our rebellion and apostacy, there was a forfeiture, we say not of rights—for we deny that the creature can have right to any thing from the Creator—but of those privileges which God, in his mercy, conferred on the work of his hands.

And this was the position in which the human race stood, when, by the first transgression, God's service was renounced. ... He could not reckon, when he had broken the command, an a breath of air, or a ray of sunshine, or a particle of food. ... On the contrary, the probability must have been that he would be immediately annihilated, or left to consume away piece-meal. And since, in spite of this forfeiture, we are still in the enjoyment of all the means and mercies of existence, we must be bound ever far more than angels who never transgressed, to acknowledge that "all things come of God."

And now, whatsoever we possess, whether it have to do with our intellectual part, or our animal, or with the present life or the future, is delivered into our hands stamped, so to speak, with the sign of the cross; and we learn that "all things come from God," because all things, even the most common and insignificant...

 
Standing in the immediate presence of their glorious Creator; privileged to gaze, so far as it is possible for creatures to gaze without being withered, on his unveiled lustres...

You will find one man thinking, that, if he repents, he shall be pardoned. In other words, he supposes that there is a virtue in repentance which causes it to procure foregivenss. The tears? They are but the dew of an eye which is God's. The resolutions? They are but the workings of faculties which are God's. The amendment? It is but the better employment of a life which is God's. Where then is the merit? O, find something which is, at the same time, human and excellent in the offering, and you may speak of desert.

What is faith but such an assent of the understanding to God's word as bind the heart to God's service? And whose is the understanding, if it be not God's? Whose is the heart, if it be not God's? And if faith be nothing but the rendering to God that intellect, and that energy, which we have received from God, how can faith deserve God?

pp. 32, 34-38

By rebellion and apostasy man forfeited the favor of God; not his rights, for he could have no value except as it was invested in God’s dear Son. This point must be understood. He forfeited those privileges which God in His mercy presented him as a free gift...

This was the position of the human race after man divorced himself from God by transgression. Then he was no longer entitled to a breath of air, a ray of sunshine, or a particle of food. And the reason why man was not annihilated was because God so loved him that He made the gift of His dear Son that He should suffer the penalty of his transgression. ... And inasmuch as man enjoys the blessings of God in the gift of the sunshine and the gift of food, there must be on the part of man a bowing before God in thankful acknowledgement that all things come of God.

Now...whatever we possess—whether it is the gift of money, of houses, of lands, of reasoning powers, of physical strength, of intellectual talents—in this present life, and the blessings of the future life, are placed in our possession... Every gift is stamped with the cross and bears the image and superscription of Jesus Christ. All things come of God. From the smallest benefits up to the largest blessing...

Standing in the presence of their Creator and looking upon the unsurpassed glory which enshrouds His person, they are looking upon the Lamb of God...

Men are educated to think that if a man repents he shall be pardoned, supposing that repentance is the way...to buy for him forgiveness. ... Tears, sighs, resolutions, all these are but the proper exercise of the faculties God has given to man, and the turning from sin in the amendment of a life which is God’s. Where is the merit...to place before God something which is valuable and excellent? Can an offering of money, houses, lands, place yourself on the deserving list? Impossible!

What is faith? ... It is an assent of the understanding to God’s words which binds the heart in willing consecration and service to God, who gave the understanding, who moved on the heart, who first drew the mind to view Christ on the cross of Calvary. Faith is rendering to God the intellectual powers, abandonment of the mind and will to God...
Manuscript 36, 1890

...contrast this deep and desperate poverty with...wealth of the anthem peal of ecstasy from a million rich voices... As mere man, he was mortal. But then as God, the well-spring of life to the population of the universe, he would forever have withstood the advances of death, and have refused it dominion in his own person. ...that he might exhaust the penalties that rolled...and died, not through any pentalty but through the act of his own will...died voluntarily... And this was humility. ...he brought down into the fashion of man all the life-giving energies which appertained to him as God; and he stood on the earth, the wondrous combination of two natures in one person...

...wondrous combination of two natures in one person... And the one nature might have eternally kept up the other; and withstanding the inroads of disease, and pouring in fresh supplies of vitality, have given undecaying vigor to the mortal, perpetual youth to the corruptible. But how then could the Scriptures have been fulfilled; and where would have been the expiation for the sins of the burdened and growning creation? It was an act of humility--the tongue, we have told you, cannot express it--that, "for us men and for our salvation, the Eternal Word consented to "be made flesh." God became man. It was stupendous humility. But he was not yet low enough. The man must humble himself, humble himself even unto death...

Christ Jesus was not insensible to ignominy and disgrace. He submitted; but oh, he felt acutely and bitterly. ...the Son of God, holy and undefiled...

But to be suspended as a spectacle between heaven and earth; to die a lingering death, exposed to the tauntings and revilings of a profligate multitude, "all they that see me laught me to scorn; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head." Psalm 22:7; to be "numbered with the transgressors," Isaiah 53:12, and expire amid the derision and despite of his own kinsmen after the flesh. "He endured," says St. Paul, "the cross despising the shame" Hebrews 12:2. ...making it of no account...the glorious results which its endurance would effect.

He was to die as man's substitute; and man was a criminal, yes, the very worst. So that death by public sentence, death as a malefactor, may be said to have been from a surety who stood in the place of traitors, with all their treason on his shoulders. It was not enough that the substitute humbled himself to death; he must humble himself to a shameful death. And Christ Jesus did this. He could say in the prophetic words of prophecy, "I hid not my face from shame and spitting," Isa. 50:6.

"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." He died to make atonement but he died also to set a pattern. Shall selfishness find practice amongst you...? Shall pride be harbored after you have seen Deity humbling himself, and then as man debasing himself, till there was no lower point to which he could descend? And all this for us; for you, for me; for vile, for the reprobate, for the lost! And what return do we make? Alas, for the neglect, the contempt, the coldness, the formality, which he who humbled himself, and agonized, and died the death of shame on our behalf receives at our hands.

Which of us is faithfully taking pattern? Which of us, I do not say, has mastered and [?] pride, and is settling himself in good earnest and with all the energy which might be brought to the work, in the wrestling with pride, and [?] it from the [?]. I would in God that this [?] may have no more humble, more self-denying, more disposal to bear one another's burdens, than it finds us. Would to God that it may write, more deeply than ever upon our hearts. ... There must be Deity in the rock, which could bear up a [?] world. May none of you forget this.

 
May you all see that [?] a Mediator, more than human, had stood in the gap to stay the plague, the penalties of a broken law, unsatisfied through eternity, must have entered like fiery arrows and [?] and infected each descendent of Adam. ...as that none, at last, may occupy the strange and fearful position of man for whom a savior died, but died in vain.
pp. 42-51

Contrast this with the riches of glory, the wealth of praise pouring forth from immortal tongues, the millions of rich voices in the universe of God in anthems of adoration. ... As a member of the human family he was mortal, but as a God he was the fountain of life to the world. He could, in his divine person, ever have withstood the advances of death, and refused to come under its dominion; but he voluntarily laid down his life...and endured the penalty which rolled... He died, not through being compelled to die, but by his own free will. This was humility. ... He brought into his human nature all the life-giving energies that human beings will need and must receive.

Wondrous combination of man and God! He might have helped his human nature to withstand the inroads of disease by pouring from his divine nature vitality and undecaying vigor to the human. But he humbled himself to man's nature. He did this that the Scripture might be fulfilled; and the plan was entered into by the Son of God, knowing all the steps in his humiliation, that he must descend to make an expiation for the sins of a condemned, groaning world. What humility was this! It amazed angels. The tongue can never describe it; the imagination cannot take it in. The eternal Word consented to be made flesh! God became man! It was a wonderful humility! But he stepped still lower; the Man must humble himself... Step by step he humbled himself to die...

He was not insensible to this contempt and ignominy. He submitted, but, oh! he felt the bitterness as no other being could feel it. He was pure, holy, and undefiled, yet arraigned as a criminal!

He died as a condemned criminal, suspended between the heavens and the earth,—died a lingering death of shame, exposed to the tauntings and revilings of a debased, crime-loaded, profligate multitude! “All they that see me laugh me to scorn; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head.” Psalm 22:7. He was numbered with the transgressors, he expired amid derision, and his kinsmen according to the flesh disowned him. ... He endured the cross, despised the shame. He made it of small account in consideration of the results that he was working out...

Christ was to die as man's substitute. Man was a criminal under the sentence of death for transgression of the law of God as a traitor, a rebel; hence a substitute for man must die as a malefactor, because he stood in the place of the traitors, with all their treasured sins upon his divine soul. It was not enough that Jesus should die in order to fully meet the demands of the broken law, but he died a shameful death. The prophet gives to the world his words, “I hid not my face from shame and spitting.”

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” He died to make an atonement, and to become a pattern for every one who would be his disciple. Shall selfishness come into your hearts? ... Shall pride be harbored after you have seen Deity humbling himself, and then as man debasing himself, till there was no lower point to which he could descend? ...that such returns should be made to our Lord! What contempt! what wickedness! what formality! what pride! what efforts made to lift up man and glorify self, when the Lord of glory humbled himself, agonized, and died the shameful death upon the cross in our behalf!

Who is learning the meekness and lowliness of the Pattern? Who is striving earnestly to master self? Who is lifting his cross and following Jesus? Who is wrestling against self-conceit? Who is setting himself in good earnest and with all his energies to overcome... Would that these...would cultivate the grace of humility, be self-denying, more disposed to esteem others better than themselves...to bear one another's burdens! Oh that we might write deeply upon our hearts... The anchor of every soul is to be cast into the Rock cleft for us, that Rock which bears up a ruined world. Let us keep these things in our minds.

Deity and humanity combined had stood in the gap to stay the sentence of a broken law. Its penalties would have fallen, without abating a jot of its severity, upon the sinful. ... Make haste that none of us may occupy the fearful position of him for whom Christ died in vain.
Review and Herald, July 5, 1885

We greatly desire that you should rightly understand what the agency is through which the soul is destroyed. It is not that God hath sent out a decree against a man. It is not that he throws a darkness before his eyes which cannot be penetrated...you resist a motion of the Spirit. ... He who has resisted once will have less difficulty in resisting the second time, and less than that the third time, and less than that the fourth time. So that there comes a harvest of resistances. ... What is this but a harvest of sinful indulgences...

You omit some portion of spiritual exercises, of prayer, or of the study of the word. The omission will grow upon you. You will omit more tomorrow, and more the next day, and still more the next. And thus there will be a harvest of omissions, and all from the solitary grain of the first omission. ... If a man resist temptation, there will be a facility of reisting ever augmenting as he goes on with self-denial. Every new achievement of principle will smooth the way to future achievements of the like kind; ...for we may consider the victory as a seed that is sown

We are persuaded that the most experienced Christian cannot sit down with the neglected and grossly ignorant laborer--nay, not with the child in a Sunday or infant-school--and strive to explain and enforce the great truths of the Bible, without finding his own views of the Gospel emplified and cleared through this engagement in the business of tuition. The mere trying to make a point plain to another, will oftentimes make it far plainer than ever to ourselves. ... You will find that doctrine presenting itself to your own minds with a new power and unimagined beauty...
pp. 63-65

 
We want all to understand how the soul is destroyed. It is not that God sends out a decree that man shall not be saved. He does not throw a darkness before the eyes which cannot be penetrated. But man at first resists a motion of the Spirit of God, and, having once resisted, it is less difficult to do so the second time, less the third, and far less the fourth. Then comes the harvest to be reaped from the seed of unbelief and resistance. Oh what a harvest of sinful indulgences is preparing for the sickle!

When secret prayer and reading of the Scriptures are neglected today, tomorrow they can be omitted with less remonstrance of conscience. There will be a long list of omissions, all for a single grain sown in the soil of the heart. On the other hand, every ray of light cherished will yield a harvest of light. Temptation once resisted will give power to more firmly resist the second time; every new victory gained over self will smooth the way for higher and nobler triumphs. Every victory is a seed sown to eternal life.

There is great need of zealous, faithful, self-denying workers in our churches throughout the land. No one can labor in the Sabbath school or in the temperance work without reaping a bountiful harvest, not only in the end of the world, but in the present life. In the very effort to enlighten and bless others his own views will become clearer and broader. The more we endeavor to explain the truth to others, with a love for souls, the plainer will it become to ourselves. It ever opens with new beauty and force to the understanding of the expounder.
Testimonies vol. 5, pp. 120-121 (1882)

There never moved upon our earth a heartier, more unwearied, more energetic, disciple of Jesus. ...crossing seas, and exhausting continents, till a vast portion of the known world had heard from his lips the tidings of redemption, he proved...that the desire of bringing the perishing into aquaintance with a Savior was nothing less than the life blood of his system. ... Since the whole soul was wrapped up in the work of the ministry, it could not have been without a feeling, amounting almost to painfulness, that the apostle abastracted himself from the business of his embassage, and toiled at providing for his own bodily necessities. ...sitting down patiently to all the drudgery of the craftsman. ...when he refused to be maintained by the churches which he planted, it was through fear that the success of his preaching might be interfered with by suspicions of his disinterestedness. He chose to give the Gospel without cost, in order that his enemies might have no plea for misrepresenting him as an hireling, and thus depreciating his message.

Paul appeals to his Corinthian brethren to understand, that, had he chosen, he might have claimed the sustenance for which he was contented to toil. It was a right, and not a favor, which he waived. ...fearing lest their enforcement might possibly impede the progress of the Gospel. ...He would gladly devote the day to the service of others, and then toil through the night to make provision for himself. ...let us betake ourselves, for an instant, to the workshop of St. Paul; and there remembering, whilst this servant of Christ is fashioning the canvass, that he labors for bread, which, by an indisputable title, is already his own...
pp. 95-102

No man ever lived who was a more earnest, energetic, and self-sacrificing disciple of Christ than was Paul. He was one of the world's greatest teachers. He crossed the seas and traveled far and near, until a large portion of the world had learned from his lips the story of the cross of Christ. He possessed a burning desire to bring perishing man to a knowledge of the truth through a Saviour's love. His soul was wrapped up in the work of the ministry, and it was with feelings of pain that he withdrew from this work to toil for his own bodily necessities; but he seated himself to the drudgery of the craftsman that he might not be burdensome to the churches that were pressed with poverty. Although he had planted many churches he refused to be supported by them, fearing that his usefulness and success as a minister of the gospel might be interfered with by suspicions of his motives. He would remove all occasion for his enemies to misrepresent him and thus detract from the force of his message.

 
Paul appeals to his Corinthian brethren to understand that, as a laborer in the gospel, he might claim his support, instead of sustaining himself; but this right he was willing to forego, fearing that the acceptance of means for his support might possibly stand in the way of his usefulness. Although feeble in health, he labored during the day in serving the cause of Christ, and then toiled a large share of the night, and frequently all night, that he might make provision for his own and others’ necessities. ...let them in imagination visit the workshop of the apostle Paul, bearing in mind that while this chosen man of God is fashioning the canvas, he is working for bread which he has justly earned...
Testimonies vol. 4, pp. 409-410.

...rush on the bosses of the buckler of the Lord, and make trial for himself of the justice of the Almighty...prepared to deal out to him, unsparingly and unflinchingly, the fiery portion whose threatenings glare from the pages of Scripture? ... We ask him whether the agonies of the garden, and the terrors of the crucifixion, furnish not a sufficient and thrilling demonstration, that God's justice, when it takes in hand the exaction of the punishment, does the work thoroughly.

 
I learn the depths to which I have sunk, from the length of the chain let down to updraw me. I ascertain the mightiness of the ruin by examining the machinery of restoration. ...

We add that the law of God, which has been given for the regulation of our conduct, is a wonderful compendium of truth. There is not a single working of wickedness, though it be the lightest and most secret, which escapes the denouncements of this law; so that the statute-book proves itself truth by delineating, with an unvarying accuracy, the whole service of the father of lies.

Strive--for the grasp of a destroyer is upon you, and if ye be not wrenched away, it will palsy you, and crush you. Strive--for the foe is on the right hand, on the left hand, before you, behind you; and ye must be trampled under foot, if ye struggle not, and strike not, at those who feel themselves bound in a death-grapple. Strive--there is a crown to be won...
pp. 121-124

...rushing on the thick bosses of Jehovah's buckler? Why will they make trial for themselves? Why will they test the justice of God, whether he will venture to deal out to man, unsparingly and unflinchingly, the portion that is expressly declared in the Scriptures for all transgressors of the law? The agonies of the garden of Gethsemane, the insult, the mockery, the abuse, heaped upon God's dear Son, the horrors and ignominy of the crucifixion, furnish sufficient and thrilling demonstration that God's justice, when it punishes, does the work thoroughly.

Man can know the depths to which he has sunk only by beholding the wondrous chain of redemption employed to draw him up. The extent of our ruin can be discerned only in the light of the law of God...

God has given his law for the regulation of the conduct of nations, of families, and of individuals. There is not one worker of wickedness, though his sin is the least and the most secret, that escapes the denunciation of that law. The whole work of the father of lies is recorded in the statute-books of heaven...

It is worth lifelong, persevering, untiring effort. Satan is on your right hand and on your left; he is before you and behind. He supplies his falsehoods to every soul who is not cherishing the truth as it is in Jesus. He, the destroyer, is upon you to palsy your every effort. But there is a crown of life to be won, a life that measures with the life of God.
Review and Herald, Feb. 8, 1898.

 
The "unlearned and unstable" would have equally perished, had no difficulties whatsoever existed... They would have stumbled on the plain ground as well as on the rough.

We never infer, that, because there is no controversy in a church there must be the upholding of sound doctrine... And if there are no differences of opinion which set men on examining...their own belief, the probability is, that, like the Samaritans of old, they will worship they know not what...

 
Heresy...helps to sift a professing community, and to separate the chaff from the wheat.

Why is it that the poor peasant, whose understanding is weak and undiciplined, has clear insight into the meaning of verses, and find in them irresistaible power, an unexhaustible comfort, whilst the very same passages are given up as mysteries, or overlooked as unimportant, by the high and lettered champion of a scholastic theology.
p.129, 131, 133, 135

But the difficulties in the Bible do not reflect upon the wisdom of God; they will not cause the ruin of any who would not have been destroyed if no such difficulties had existed. ...the same minds would, through their own lack of spiritual discernment, have found cause of stumbling in the plainest utterances of God.

The fact that there is no controversy or agitation among God's people should not be regarded as conclusive evidence that they are holding fast to sound doctrine. ...when no difference of opinion arises which will set men to searching the Bible for themselves to make sure that they have the truth, there will be many now, as in ancient times, who will hold to tradition and worship they know not what.

...heresies will come in among them, which will sift them, separating the chaff from the wheat.

...men of intellectual ability, improved by education and culture, fail to comprehend certain passages of Scripture, while others who are uneducated, whose understanding seems weak and whose minds are undisciplined, will grasp the meaning, finding strength and comfort in that which the former declare to be mysterious or pass by as unimportant.
Testimonies vol. 5, 699, 702, 704, 707

There goes forth virtue from the Redeemer himself, strengthening us for that repentance which is alone genuine and acceptable. St. Peter sufficiently laid down this doctrine, when he said of Christ to the high priest and Sadducees, "him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins." Here repentance is stated to be as much the gift of the glorified Christ as forgiveness... We can no more repent without Christ than be pardoned without Christ.

And repentance such as this, seeing as it manifestly lies beyond the reach of our own strivings, is only to be obtained from Christ, who ascended up on high, and "received gifts for the rebellious," becoming, in his exaltation, the source and dispenser of those various assistances... Those whom he pardons he first makes penitent.
pp. 161-162

 
It is the virtue that goes forth from Christ that leads to genuine repentance. Peter makes the matter clear in his statement to the Israelites, when he says, “Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” Repentance is as much the gift of Christ as is forgiveness... We can no more repent without the Spirit of Christ to awaken the conscience, than we can be pardoned without Christ.

A repentance such as this lies beyond the reach of our own powers to accomplish; it is obtained only from Christ, who ascended up on high, and has given gifts unto men. ... He is the source of our power if we would be saved. ... Those whom God pardons are first made penitent.
Review and Herald, Apr. 1, 1890

If this be idleness, that man is an idler who is actuated by the consciousness, that he can no more repent then be pardoned without Christ. But if it be to task a man to the utmost of his energy, to prescribe that he go straightway for every thing which he needs to an invisible Mediator; go, in spite of the opposition of the flesh; go, though the path lies through resisting inclinations; go, though in going he must abase himself in the dust, and proclaim his own nothingness; then we are exhorting the impenitent to the mightiest of labors, when we exhort them to seek repentance as Christ's gift.

 
The Psalmist says, "I thought on my ways, and turned my feet to thy testimonies." ... The great evil with the mass of men is, that, so far at least as eternity is concerned, they never think at all...once make them anxious, and they will labor to be saved. When a man considers his ways, angels may be said to prepare their harps, as knowing that they shall soon have to sweep them in exultation at his repentance.
pp. 163-164

There can no such evil as idleness exist in the heart, mind, or character of the champion of faith who is actuated by the consciousness that he cannot repent or be pardoned without Christ. But the task, to the soul seeking for heaven, is prescribed, that he go under all and every circumstance to Christ for help. And though the path is obstructed through existing inclination, he must press, he must urge his way; he must abase his will, his desires; he must feel his helplessness, his nothingness, and look alone to the Author and finisher of his faith. It is noble to seek repentance and salvation through the merits of Jesus Christ.

“I thought on my ways, and turned my feet to Thy Testimonies.” The great danger with many of our youth is, they do not study the Scriptures and meditate, like David, upon His testimonies. So far as eternity is concerned, they seldom think of it. If they will make the Scriptures the subject of careful study, they will make it a subject of meditation. Once make them anxious for their souls, and they will labor to be saved; and when this point is reached, angels in heaven sweep their harps in exultation that a soul is saved.
Youth Instructor, Aug. 31, 1887

The poor man, just as well as the rich man, is the object of his watchfulness. ... Take away poverty, and a veil is thrown over the perfections of the Godhead; for we could not know our Maker in fulness of his compassions. ... One might almost have that [the Gospel] had been framed for the express purpose of ministering to the happiness of the poor.
pp. 174-175

The poor man as well as the rich man is the object of God’s special care and attention. Take away poverty, and we should have no way of understanding the mercy and love of God, no way of knowing the compassionate and sympathetic heavenly Father. ... One would think that the gospel was inspired in order to reach this class.
Letter 83, 1902 (17LTMS, released in 2014).

You know that the Author of our redemption was none other than the eternal Son of God, who had covenanted from the first to become the surety of the fallen. ...that God himself should become man, and sustain all the wrath which sin had provoked.

...invests it with a grandeur which increases as we gaze. In looking at the cross; and considering that our sins are laid upon the being who hangs there in weakness and ignominy...the greatness of salvation proves the peril of neglect.

 
He who undertook, and carried on, and completed that work, was "the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person."

The sins of the whole race were laid upon Christ; and the divinity gave such worth to the sufferings of humanity, that the whole race might be pardoned, if the whole race would put faith in the substitute.

And is not this a great salvation, great in its simplicity, great in its comprehensiveness...which, arranged for creatures whom it find in the lowest degredation, leaves them not till elevated to the very summit of dignity?
pp. 183-185

The Son of the infinite God was the author of our salvation. He covenanted from the first to be man's substitute, and he became man that he might take upon himself the wrath which sin had provoked.

 
The greatness, the breadth, of the plan of salvation invests it with incomparable grandeur; but it can only be spiritually discerned, and it increases in greatness as we contemplate it. Looking to Jesus dying upon the cross, and knowing that it was our sin that placed the innocent Sufferer there, we are bowed down before him in wonder and love. The greatness of this salvation proves the peril of its neglect.

...he who has undertaken the salvation of man was the brightness of the Father's glory, the express image of his person.

The sin of the whole world was laid upon Jesus, and divinity gave its highest value to the suffering of humanity in Jesus, that the whole world might be pardoned through faith in the Substitute.

Is not salvation great in its simplicity, and wonderful in its comprehensiveness? Christ takes the sinner from the lowest degradation, and purifies, refines, and ennobles him. By beholding Jesus as he is, the sinner is transformed, and elevated to the very summit of dignity...
Review and Herald, March 10, 1891

God himself should become man, and sustain all the wrath which sin had provoked... This problem, how God could be just and yet the justifier of sinners, baffled all finite intelligence, because a divine person alone could mediate between God and man...
p. 204

God himself became man, and bore all the wrath that sin had provoked. This problem, How could God be just and yet the justifier of sinners? baffled all finite intelligence. A divine person alone could mediate between God and man.
Youth Instructor, Aug. 31, 1887

 
Oh, we are sure that an abiding sense of God's presence would put such a restraint on the outgoings of wickedness... If every man went to his business, or his recreation, fraught with the consciousness that the Being, who will decide his destiny for eternity, accompanies him in his every step, observes all his doings, and scrutinizes all his motives, an apprehension of the dreadfulness of the Almighty, and of the utter peril of violating his precepts, would take possession of the whole mass of society; and there would be a confession from all ranks and all ages...
p. 194

Oh, that I could present before you, and before others of my brethren, the necessity of an ever-abiding sense of God's presence, which would put such restraint on your life that your moral and religious standing before the people would be far different. ... Every soul, in going out and coming in, in all business transactions, at all times and in all places, should act with the consciousness that he is moving under the inspection of God and heavenly angels, and that the Being who will judge every man's work for eternity accompanies him at every step, observing all his actions and scrutinizing all his motives. A consciousness of the presence of God and the peril of violating His precepts would take possession of his entire being. What a change would be seen in man, what a change in society, what evils would be left undone! There would be exclamations from all ranks and among all ages...
Testimonies vol. 5, pp. 627-628

 
...there seems all that can be needed to the encouragement and confidence of the righteous. The unchangableness of God assures us that he will do in our own days as he has done earlier ...The registered experience...instructs us as to the accuracy with which God has made good the declarations of Scripture and by contriving these two, the assurance and the instruction, we gain a witness which nothing should shake, that with the Bible for our guide, we shall have peace for our present portion, unbounded glory for our future.

The Bible...nerved them for victory over sorrow and death...encourages him to expect the same mercies from the same God.

The experiences of others...may be made his own. Through faith the same wonders are wrought. Through prayer the same mercies are obtained. The same promises are acoomplished, the same assistances communicated, the same victories acheived.
pp. 241-242

This should be an encouragement. It should give confidence to the righteous in all ages that the Lord is unchangeable. He will manifest for His people in this age His grace and His power as He has done in past ages. The declarations of God’s Word and the accuracy with which He has made them good in history combine to give us assurance and instruction of greatest value. Nothing can shake the pledge we have from God Himself, that with the Bible for our guide and present help, we shall have peace under all circumstances and an eternal weight of glory for our future reward.

...the Scriptures...will nerve them to suffer and to endure, gaining victories even in sorrow and in death. Those who follow John Huss’ example may expect the same mercies from the same God...

For the student of such history, the experience of others can become his experience through faith. The same wonders are wrought through prayer, the same mercies are obtained, the same promises realized, the same assistance from heaven communicated, the same victories achieved.
Manuscript 37, 1887 (5LtMs - released in 2014)

The Judge of men must arise and vindicate his insulted authority. But I know on whom the mark of deliverance will be set...

We know that it would not become them to sit in calm expectation of the ruin, comforting themselves with the belief that God would shelter his own people in the day of indignation.

The hearts of statesmen are in the hands of God, and the passions of the turbulent and disaffected are under his governance...

Prayer moves the arm which marshalls stars and calms the great deep, and directs the motions of disordered wills.
p. 264-265, 269

The Judge of all the earth is soon to arise and vindicate His insulted authority. The mark of deliverance will be set upon the men who keep God's commandments...

Those who have been warned of the events before them are not to sit in calm expectation of the coming storm, comforting themselves that the Lord will shelter His faithful ones in the day of trouble.

He can move upon the hearts of statesmen; the wrath of the turbulent and disaffected, the haters of God...

Prayer moves the arm of Omnipotence. He who marshals the stars in order in the heavens, whose word controls the waves of the great deep, the same infinite Creator will work in behalf of His people if they call upon Him in faith.
Testimonies vol. 5, p. 451-452

 
Days, in which the religion is most decried and derided are days in which our zeal should be warmest and profession most unflinching. To adhere boldly to the cause of righteousness when almost solitary in adherence is to fight the battle when champions are most needed, and when victory will be most triumphant. I must gather warmth from the coldness of others, courage from their cowardice, loyalty from their treason.
p. 266

When the religion of Christ is most held in contempt, when His law is most despised, then should our zeal be the warmest and our courage and firmness the most unflinching. To stand in defense of truth and righteousness when the majority forsake us, to fight the battles of the Lord when champions are few—this will be our test. At this time we must gather warmth from the coldness of others, courage from their cowardice, and loyalty from their treason.
Testimonies vol. 5, p. 136

He no longer needs to appeal to the experience of others. He has the witness in himself, and he can use the language which the Samaritans used to the woman who first told them of Christ as the prophet,--We have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.
pp. 270-271

We no longer depend upon the experience of others, for we have the witness in ourselves. Like the Samaritans of old, we can say, “We have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world” (John 4:42).
The Sanctified Life, pp. 82-83

 
He used fraud where he should have exercised faith. ... God had promised him the birthright, he would have equally gained it had he left God to secure the fulfillment. ... But he was impatient...a fugitive.

Above this ladder, the Lord is seen to stand, and he addresses Jacob in most encouraging words. He declares...that he should be under the guardianship of God in his absence from home, and that the land whereon he lay a fugitive and an exile, should be given to himself and his posterity... The promise made to Abraham is then solemnly renewed: “In thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”

 
Jacob awakes, and expresses a kind of awful conviction that the Lord was in that place, and he knew it not...the Spirit of God the plan of God's dealings...such portions as it most concerned him to know. ... The time of the Redeemer's appearance was yet far removed, but neither would it have consisted with divine mercy that the patriarchs should have been left wholly ignorant of the deliverance to be wrought.

Up to the moment of rebellion there had been free communion: earth and heaven seemed connected by a path which the very Deity loved to traverse... But in rebelling, man broke up, as it were, this path... Who...can...climb the battlements of the sky and achieve entrance into the city, into which is to enter nothing that defileth?

The ladder marks the appointed channel of communication. ... the angels, who are seen ascending and descending on the ladder...would have no communication with our race had it remained unredeemed.

In his conversation with Nathaniel [the Savior] used language which seems undoubtedly to refer to the mystic ladder on which the patriarch gazed, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see Heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.”

There must be...a holding fast to Christ and a climbing up by Christ; to look back is to grow dizzy, to let go is to perish.

...we are...to ascend by successive stages... Stretching the hand to one line after another...and the foot on one step after another...

...the necessity for our own striving, and yet the uselessness of that striving if not exerted in the right manner...
pp. 281-288

Jacob obtained by fraud the blessing... God had promised him the birthright, and the promise would have been fulfilled in good time had he been willing to wait... As a result, he was a fugitive...

He beheld a ladder...and above it was the Lord of glory, who addressed Jacob in words of wonderful encouragement. He assured Jacob that he was under divine guardianship in his absence from home, and that the land whereon he lay as an exile and a fugitive should be given to him and his posterity. The promise given to Abraham was solemnly renewed, “In thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”

Jacob awoke with a solemn sense of the presence of God. “The Lord is in this place,” said he, “and I knew it not.” Through the Spirit of God, the plan of redemption was revealed to him, not fully, but such parts as it was essential for him to know. The time of Christ's first advent was yet far in the future; but God would not let his servant remain in ignorance of the fact that sinful man had been provided an Advocate...

Up to the time of man's rebellion against the government of God, there had been free communion between God and man. Heaven and earth had been connected by a path that the Lord loved to traverse. But the sin of Adam and Eve separated earth from Heaven. ... He could not climb the battlements of Heaven and enter the city of God; for there entereth into it nothing that defileth.

The ladder represents Jesus, the appointed medium of communication. ... the ministering angels, ascending and descending on that ladder, would have held no communication with fallen man.

In his conversation with Nathanael, Jesus referred to this mystic ladder on which Jacob gazed with pleased wonder. Said he, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see Heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.”

But we must have a firm hold on Christ, and keep on climbing. To look back is to become dizzy; to let go is to perish.

We ascend by successive steps. ... Thus the hand is constantly reaching upward for successive degrees of grace, and the feet are planted on one round after another...

There is necessity for striving, and yet it will be of no avail unless we strive lawfully.
Signs of the Times, July 31, 1884

What is that nature...but the Almighty perpetually at work? What are these laws of matter...but so many manifestations of infinite power and intelligence, proofs of the presence and activity of a being who produces, according to his own will... I count it not owing to inherent powers, originally impressed, that year by year this globe walks its orbit, repeating its mysterious march around the sun in the firmament; I rather reckon that the hand of the Almighty perpetually guides this planet, and that it is through his energies, momentarily applied, that the ponderous mass effects its rotations. ...it is through His immediate agency that every leaf opens, and every flower blooms. I count it not the...effect of a curious mechanism, which, once set in motion, continues to work, that pulse succeeds to pulse, and breath follows breath...

...in God "we live and move, and have our being," that each pulse is but the throb, each breath the inspiration of the ever-present, all actuating Divinity... He it is...who maketh the sun to arise, and the rain to descend. He it is, saith the Psalmist, "who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains." "He giveth snow like wool; he scattereth the hoar-frost like ashes."

“When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.” ...but that the Divine Being, though he have ceased from creating, is momentarily engaged in actuating and upholding the vast system which he originally constructed ...the declaration of Christ, "Hitherto my Father worketh?"

pp. 295-296

 
God is perpetually at work in nature. She is His servant, directed as He pleases. Nature in her work testifies of the intelligent presence and active agency of a Being who moves in all His works according to His will. It is not by an original power inherent in nature that year by year the earth produces its bounties and the world keeps up its continual march around the sun. The hand of infinite power is perpetually at work guiding this planet. It is God’s power momentarily exercised that keeps it in position in its rotations. ... It is by His power that vegetation is caused to flourish, that every leaf appears and every flower blooms. It is not as the result of a mechanism, that, once set in motion, continues its work, that the pulse beats and breath follows breath.

In God we live and move and have our being. Every breath, every throb of the heart, is the continual evidence of the power of an ever-present God. It is God that maketh the sun to rise in the heavens. He openeth the windows of heaven and giveth rain. He maketh the grass to grow upon the mountains. “He giveth snow like wool; and scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.” [Psalm 147:16.]

“When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.” [Jeremiah 10:13.] Although the Lord has ceased His work in creating, He is constantly employed in upholding and using as His servants the things which He has made. Said Christ, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” [John 5:17.]
Manuscript 4, 1882 (Released in 2014). Published in General Conference Bulletin, Feb. 18, 1897; Signs of the Times, Mar. 20, 1884; Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 113-115; Review and Herald, Nov. 8, 1898; Selected Messages vol. 1, pp. 293-295; Education, pp. 99, 130-131; Testimonies vol. 8, pp. 259-261; Ministry of Healing, pp. 413, 416-417.

...then shall be known till all secrets are laid bare at the great day of judgment, that, when the minister of Christ is launching the thunders of the word...as close appeals are made to the long torpid consience...

Whatever advances which may be made towards the symmetry and features of a new creature, there is nothing that can be called life, until the Holy Ghost come and breathe upon the slain.

* ...it is not membership with an apostolical church, it is not his diligent performance of a certain set of duties, which can assure us that he lives--we read in the book of Revelation of some who had a name that they lived, and yet were dead.
pp. 304-305

In the judgment, when all secrets are laid bare, it will be known that the voice of God spoke through the human agent, and aroused the torpid conscience...

...for it is not enough that there is symmetry of limb and feature. The breath of life must vivify the bodies...

They may be joined to the church, but they are not united to the Lord. They may be diligent in the performance of a certain set of duties, and may be regarded as living men; but many are among those who “have a name that thou livest, and art dead.”
Review and Herald, Jan. 17, 1893

...an excess of false charity is blinding them to the facts... They make it a point of honor to believe good of all evil, and perhaps evil of all good... Rather than thinking of measures to resist her advances...they are rather covering her with apologies for their inconsiderate bigotry.

 
Men would indeed persuade you that the enlarged intelligence of the times, the diffusion of knowledge, and the increase of liberality are ample security against the revival...of a system so absurd...

Too wise to seek God prayerfully and humbly in the Bible, they will be open to delusion... The...generation will feel the need of some specific for quieting their conscience. But they will perfer the least spiritual and the least humiliating... They will not want God, but a method of forgetting him, which shall pass...for a method of remembering him...popery [is] constructed for two mighty divisions of humankind, the men who would be saved by their merits, and men who should be saved in theirs sins.

 
Hence a day of great intellectual darkness be favorable for popery, so may a day of great intellectual light. We may as well fall into the pit with our eyes dazzled, as with our eyes blindfolded...
pp. 313-325

...science may scale new heights, and explore new depths; but she shall bring back nothing from her daring and successful excursions, which will not, when rightly understood, yield a fresh tribute to the testimony of the Bible.
pp. 358-359

Science opens new wonders to our view; she soars high, and explores new depths; but she brings nothing from her research that conflicts with divine revelation.
Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 115

...in this well-known address of Solomon to the indolent man? "Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise; which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest."

When Joshua, knowing the time of his death to be near, had gathered the Israelites, and caused them solemnly to renew their covenant with God, he "took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord." And then he proceeded to address the congregation in these remarkable words: "Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the Lord which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God."
p. 378-379

The wise man addressesthe indolent in these words: “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise; which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her fruit in the harvest.”

Joshua, knowing that the time of his service as the visible leader of the children of Israel was about to end, gathered the people together, and caused them to renew their covenant with their Maker. Then he “wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord.” “Behold,” he said, “this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the Lord, which He spake unto us. It shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God.”
Bible Echo, Aug. 7, 1899

The ways of Providence shall be made clear; the mysteries of grace shall be unfolded; the "things hard to be understood" shall be explained; we shall discover order in what has seemed intricate, wisdom in what we have thought unaccountable, and good where we have seen only injury. ... I behold the page of universal truth spread before him, no obscurity on a single line, and the brightness not dazzling the vision. ...controversies are ended, difficulties are solved...
pp. 394, 398

The ways of Providence will be made clear; the mysteries of grace through Christ will be unfolded. That which the mind can not now grasp, which is hard to be understood, will be explained. We shall see order in that which has seemed unexplainable; wisdom in everything withheld; goodness and gracious mercy in everything imparted. Truth will be unfolded to the mind free from obscurity, in a single line, and its brightness will be endurable. ... Controversies will be forever ended, and all difficulties will be solved.
Signs of the Times, Mar. 25, 1897

But this is not to say there are no degrees of sin, as though God regarded all crimes as of equal enormity. One sin may be greater than another in the Divine estimate, as well as in the human; and yet God may account no sin small, however ready we may be to think this or that inconsiderable. And what we are disposed to reckon trifling, may be precisly that to which God would attach the greater criminality; ... The drunkard is unreservedly told that his sin shall exclude him from...heaven... Pride incurs but slight reproof... There is nothing of which God speaks with greater loathing than of pride: the proud man is represented as the object of his special aversion. "God resisteth the proud." ...the covetuous man is identified with the idolater. No one who remembers what idolatry is...will hesitate to admit that such a representation places covetousness at the very top of the things offensive to our Maker.
pp. 429-430

...the evidence thus given of the sacredness of Christ's name and of the peril of employing it to any but those who believed in his mission...
pp. 449-450

Unmistakable proof had been given of the sacredness of that name, and the peril which they incurred who should invoke it while they had no faith in Christ's divine mission.
Sketches from the Life of Paul, pp. 135-136 (Most of this section was plagiarized from Conybeare and Howson's Life and Epistles of the Apostle Paul, but this section was taken from Melville. See also Acts of the Apostles, pp. 287-288)

...in less than two years he was able to declare "my bonds are manifest in all the palace."

You will remember with what noble intrepidity he rose up before the sages of Greece, won over even proud philosphy by his reasoning and eloquence... When he spoke unflinchingly to Felix...the haughty Roman trembled as though the judgment had already been upon him with its terrors.

He could not go...like Moses and Aaron, and compel by his miracles the attention of a profligate king, and there deliver in the name of the living God, the message of rebuke... And yet it was at this very time, when the chief instrument in the diffusion of Christianity seemed comparatively disabled, that the great triumph was won, and the imperial household gave members to the church.

Certainly, if there was an atmosphere uncongenial to Christianity, it may be supposed to have been that of the court and palace of this blood debauchee. Where, then, on all human calculation, was there less likelihood of the Gospel gaining a footing then in the court and household of Nero?

Yet so true was St. Paul's assertion, that the weapons of his warfare were "mighty through God to the casting down of strongholds," and that there were men of Caesar's household worthy of the high title of saints; men not secretly, but openly Christians; not ashamed of their profession...

And our first inquiry will naturally be, as to the agency which brought...an entrance...and a firm footing gained for Christianity, where there might have seemed a moral impossibility against its admission? ... If you refer to the...Epistle to the Philippians, you will find the Apostle ascribing to his imprisonment the very result of which we are now seeking the cause. He expresses himself fearful lest the Philippians should have thought that the afflictions...had impeded the progress of the gospel, he assures them "I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel."

The great champion of Christianity may succeed where there is most to discourage... My hopes are destroyed. I hear that St. Paul comes as a prisoner.

It was not by his sermons, it was literally by his bonds, that the attention of the court had been attracted to Christianity; it was as a captive that he mastered rulers, and with his chains struck off their fetters. In the following verse he adds...: "Many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear."

The patience and meekness with which he submitted to his long and unjust confinement, drew public attention... And...taught other Christians...and...nerved them to greater energy in the work from which Paul had temporarily been withdrawn. In these ways were the Apostle's bonds influential; so that when...his power and usefulness seemed most limited...and to all appearance he was able to do least, then it was that he won admission for Christianity into the circle from which you would have thought it most surely excluded.

In less than two years, Paul is able to declare, "My bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places," and to enumerate amongst the saints who sent greetings to the Philippians he mentions "chiefly them that are of Caesar's household."

Resignation has its victories as well as intrepidity: converts are made through meekness in trial, as well as through boldness in enterprise.

Oh, let no one ever think, that because he is unable to exert himself openly and actively...for God, he has no duties to perform, no services to render, no rewards to secure. A true Christian is never...laid by; God makes use of him in sickness and in health, in life and death...

The saints...not only belonged to Caesar's household at the time of their conversion, but remained in that household after their conversion ... They did not feel it their duty to abandon the stations in which providence had placed them.

The excuse will not bear investigation...

Be his difficulties what they may...they would rapidly disappear before the earnest resolve of seeking...first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
pp. 466-476

And yet in less than two years the gospel found its way from the prisoner's lowly home into the imperial halls.

With noble firmness he had risen up before the sages of Greece and by his knowledge and eloquence had put to silence the arguments of proud philosophy. With undaunted courage he had stood before kings and governors...the haughty rulers trembled as if already beholding the terrors of the day of God.

He had not, like Moses and Aaron, a divine command to go before the profligate king and in the name of the great I AM rebuke his cruelty and oppression. Yet it was at this very time, when its chief advocate was apparently cut off from public labor, that a great victory was won for the gospel; for from the very household of the king, members were added to the church.

Nowhere could there exist an atmosphere more uncongenial to Christianity than in the Roman court. ... To all appearance it would be impossible for Christianity to gain a foothold in the court and palace of Nero.

 
Yet in this case...was proved the truth of Paul's assertion that the weapons of his warfare were “mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds,” 2 Corinthians 10:4. Even in Nero's household, trophies of the cross were won. ... These were not Christians secretly, but openly. They were not ashamed of their faith.

And by what means was an entrance achieved and a firm footing gained for Christianity where even its admission seemed impossible? In his epistle to the Philippians, Paul ascribed to his own imprisonment his success in winning converts to the faith from Nero's household. Fearful lest it might be thought that his afflictions had impeded the progress of the gospel, he assured them: “I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel.”

 
Might not this champion of the faith succeed in winning souls to Christ even in the metropolis of the world? But their hopes were crushed by the tidings that Paul had gone to Rome as a prisoner.

Not by Paul's sermons, but by his bonds, was the attention of the court attracted to Christianity. It was as a captive that he broke from so many souls the bonds that held them in the slavery of sin. Nor was this all. He declared: “Many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.” Philippians 1:14.

Paul's patience and cheerfulness during his long and unjust imprisonment, his courage and faith, were a continual sermon. ... And by his example, Christians were impelled to greater energy as advocates of the cause from the public labors of which Paul had been withdrawn. In these ways were the apostle's bonds influential, so that when his power and usefulness seemed cut off, and to all appearance he could do the least, then it was that he gathered sheaves for Christ in fields from which he seemed wholly excluded.

Before the close of that two years’ imprisonment, Paul was able to say, “My bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places,” and among those who sent greetings to the Philippians he mentions chiefly them “that are of Caesar's household.”

Patience as well as courage has its victories. By meekness under trial, no less than by boldness in enterprise, souls may be won to Christ.

Let not the follower of Christ think, when he is no longer able to labor openly and actively for God and His truth, that he has no service to render, no reward to secure. Christ's true witnesses are never laid aside. In health and sickness, in life and death, God uses them still.

Not only were converts won to the truth in Caesar's household, but after their conversion they remained in that household. They did not feel at liberty to abandon their post of duty because their surroundings were no longer congenial.

...but he can offer no excuse that will bear investigation.

Difficulties will be powerless to hinder him who is determined to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
Acts of the Aposltes, pp. 461-468