The Message of 1888 Re-examined  Part V

 

1895 May 1 (to H. Lindsay)

My brother, why do you cherish such bitterness

against Elder A.T. Jones and Elder Waggoner? It is for

the same reason Cain hated Abel. Cain refused to heed

the instruction of God, and because Abel sought God,

and followed His will, Cain killed him. God has given

Brother Jones and Brother Waggoner a message for the

people. You do not believe that God has upheld them,

but He has given them precious light, and their message

has fed the people of God. When you reject the message

borne by these men, you reject Christ, the Giver of the

message. (EGW 1888 Materials, p. 1353)

 

1895 June 19 (to O. A. Olsen)

When you are fully awake to these things, you

will see and know that the reproof of God has for years

been upon these responsible men, yet they have not humbled their hearts neither have they been converted,

nor have they confessed where they have resisted the

messages God has been giving his people. They have

shown contempt for both the messenger and the

message, from the time Eld. Jones and Waggoner were

given a special work to do for these last days…. (EGW

1888 Materials, p. 1395)

 

1895 September 25 (to J. E. White)

Those who, since the Minneapolis meeting, have had

the privilege of listening to the words spoken by the

messengers of God, Elder A.T. Jones, Prof. Prescott,

Brn. E. J. Waggoner, O. A. Olsen, and many others, at

the campmeetings and ministerial institutes, have had

the invitation, “Come, for all things are now ready.

Come to the supper prepared for you.” Light, heavenʼs

light, has been shining. The trumpet has given a certain

sound. Those who have made their various excuses for

neglecting to respond to the call, have lost much. The

light has been shining upon justification by faith and the

imputed righteousness of Christ. Those who receive and

act in the light given, will, in their teachings, give

evidence that the message of Christ crucified, a risen

Saviour ascended into the heavens to be our advocate, is

the wisdom and power of God in the conversion of

souls, bringing them back to their loyalty to Christ.

These are our themes,—Christ crucified for our sins,

Christ risen from the dead, Christ our intercessor before

God; and closely connected with these is the office-work

of the Holy Spirit, the representative of Christ, sent-forth

with divine power and gifts for men. (EGW 1888

Materials, p. 1455, 1456)

 

1895 November 13 (to F. E. Belden)

I have no smooth words of peace and safety to

speak to the hypocrites in Zion, whose business it is to

turn the truth of God into a lie. Words and works are on

Satanʼs side of the question. Men who have had

evidence piled upon evidence that the Lord has been at

work among his people and yet these men have hated

the messenger and the messages God has given him to

proclaim. There is no excuse for the course which they

have pursued and still planning to pursue…. (EGW

1888 Materials, p. 1473)

 

1896 January 16 (to Brethren Who Occupy

Responsible Positions in the Work)

Some have been and are still, refusing to put on

the wedding garment. They still wear their citizenʼs

dress, and despise the garment woven in the loom of

heaven, which is, “Christ our Righteousness.” “And he

saith unto me, write, Blessed are they which are called

unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.” Who are friends

of Christ to-day? Do you feel an intense desire for the

robe of Christʼs righteousness? Are you sensible of the

filthy rags of your own righteousness? Then let the truth

come into your practical life. If you are friends of

Christ, show it in words, in spirit; manifest love to

Jesus, and love for the souls for whom Christ hath died.

The sentiments of truth are the elements that constitute a

symmetrical Christian character. We are far, far from

being Christians, which is to be Christlike. We need the

Holy Spiritʼs efficiency. God lives and reigns. The very

reason that the Holy Spiritʼs manifestations were not

accepted as precious tokens from God, is that there was

not a receiving of the grace of God. The Spirit of the

Lord has been upon His messengers whom He hath sent

with light, precious light; but there were so many who

had turned their face away from the Sun of

Righteousness that they saw not its bright beams. The

Lord says of them, They have turned their backs to Me,

and not the face. There is need of seeking the Lord most

earnestly. (EGW 1888 Materials, p. 1484)

 

1896 May 22 (to O. A. Olsen)

Here is the secret of the movements made to oppose

the men whom God sent with a message of blessing for

his people. These men were hated, their message was

despised, as verily as Christ himself was despised at his

first advent. Men in responsible positions have

manifested the very attributes that Satan has revealed.

They have sought to rule minds, to bring their reason

and their talents under human jurisdiction. There has

been an effort to bring Godʼs servants under the control

of men who have not the knowledge and wisdom of

God, or an experience under the Holy Spiritʼs guidance.

Principles have been born that should never have seen

the light of day. The illegitimate child should have been

stifled as soon as it breathed the first breath of life.

Finite men have been warring against God and the truth

and the Lordʼs chosen messengers, counterworking

them by every means they dared to use. Please consider

what virtue there came in the wisdom and plans of those

who have slighted Godʼs messages, and, like the scribes

and Pharisees, have despised the very men whom God

has used to present light and truth which his people

needed. (EGW 1888 Materials, p. 1525, 1526)

 

1899 May 11 (Untitled)

Those who have been separating from Christ by

reason of false theories and maxims and customs hear

the truth sent from God as a strange thing and inquire,

“Doth he not speak in parables?” They lose sight of God

and his manner of working, which is often as

unexpected to the agent whom he uses as to the people

to whom the agent is sent. In some character a prejudice

is so strengthened by the first resistance of the truth that

they take false positions, and hold to them,

notwithstanding the most positive evidence from the

word. With many there is an apparent desire to be much

in prayer with God, and yet when the word comes from

the Lord, they are startled into resistance, and they

exclaim against it and the messenger as did the Jews,

saying, “He is tearing away the very pillars of our

faith.” In their blindness they do not comprehend what

constitute the pillars of faith.

This departure from God and his word has for a long

time been coming in; and it was God who called the

attention of several of our brethren to the Scriptures,

calling upon them to dig for the truth which had been

buried beneath customs and traditions, as for hidden

treasure. Truths which to many minds have been a great

mystery are to be unfolded. “The word was made flesh,

and dwelt among us.” This word is in a special sense to

be proclaimed, that those who believe in Christ as a

personal Saviour may have eternal life.

When the Israelites were dying from the sting of the

fiery serpents, a brazen serpent was uplifted in the midst

of them, that all might look and live. But there were

those who stopped to reason regarding the foolishness

of looking for relief to this means. That they should be

healed by looking at a piece of brass was absurd to their

minds, and they said, “We will not look.” This decision

was fatal, and all who would not accept the provision

made perished. The brazen serpent was uplifted in the

wilderness that those who looked in faith might be made

whole. In like manner God sends a restoring, healing

message to men, calling upon them to look away from

man and earthly things, and place their trust in God. He

has given his people the truth with power through the

Holy Spirit. He has opened his word to those who were

searching and praying for truth. But when these

messengers gave the truth they had received to the

people, they were as unbelieving as the Israelites. Many

are cavilling over the truth brought to them by humble

messengers. They question, How can this message be

truth? How is it possible that by looking to Jesus and

believing in his imputed righteousness, I may gain

eternal life? Those who have thus refused to see the

truth do not realize that it is God with whom they are in

controversy, that in refusing the message sent them,

they are refusing Christ.( p. 1687, 1888 )

End of Part V