给巴特尔克里克教会的特别证言
1
1882年11月30日在帐幕礼拜堂宣读
加利福尼亚州奥克兰
1882年8月3日
在巴特尔克里克的亲爱的弟兄姐妹们：
今晚我的心情非常沉重。我无法入睡，许多个夜晚都是这样，因为我为上帝的圣工和巴特尔克里克教会感到非常悲痛。我原以为写出证言第31辑我的工作完成时，我就会得自由;然而昨天夜里，在梦里，我在你们的聚会上。我听到了你们的见证;感受到了你们的精神。一些人正在上帝面前谦卑己心。他们藉着忏悔和谦卑走出了黑暗，然而史密斯长老、麦克勒恩弟兄和威廉·盖奇却似乎感觉不到忏悔的精神;这些已把教会带入困境的人并没有用自己的行动方针把教会带出困境。我听到有人作了对百姓有抚慰影响的见证。{PH155 1.1}
麦克勒恩弟兄和威廉·盖奇的见证直接反对了上帝的灵。他们似乎不明白，上天的亮光正照在他们身上，是叫他们这班人悔改。他们把上帝之灵的警告当作无所谓的事，——好像那是人的声音而不是神的声音似的。他们看不出就他们而言有什么要做出示范的。要是他们做错了，何必多说?只要继续;把它全放下，尽量少说。这正是众生之敌想要他们做的事;麦克勒恩弟兄在此教会危急之际，在上帝正设法唤醒他们之时，显出了他的真精神，显明他不是在教会危机中的可靠顾问。上帝正在呼召他们悔改，麦克勒恩弟兄和威廉·盖奇在与上帝的灵和谐一致地作工吗?这二人在认自己的罪，承认自己偏离了上帝，给教会带来了灾难且使上帝不悦吗?他们说了花言巧语为要误导那些愿意来就光的人。这二人非但不跌在磐石上并且跌碎，反而在用自己的发明能力使自己显得不该受责备，使他们的做法显得与主的灵所描绘的完全不同。他们愿意将证言带回家并且遵之而行吗?不;他们没有这么做，也不打算这么做。他们心中起意为自己辩护而不是谦卑认罪。{PH155 1.2}
我现在明说，麦克勒恩弟兄已被尊崇、赞美、神化了。为什么呢?因为他无私地操劳为要把上帝的工作和事业带到应有的地步吗?因为他自我牺牲，为上帝的圣工不懈地努力吗?不;而是因为他取悦了某一等人，那等人是盲目的，看不见工作的精神和上帝对祂现代子民的要求，无论是对父母还是对儿女。这些教师不理解在上帝子民目前的状态中，在他们与世界同化、缺乏爱也缺乏对弟兄们的宽容忍耐的状态中，有什么特别的原因感到恐慌。这些人一般认为教会处于繁荣兴旺的状态。因此他们说柔和的话，喊叫说：“平安了，平安了;”而那些希望这样的人就也开始喊叫说：“平安了，平安了。”他们相信他们的报告，非但不惊慌，反而在锡安很自在。他们虽然没有寻求偶像或雕刻的形像去敬拜并在它们面前下拜，但他们却把彼此当作偶像崇拜了。可怜、脆弱、犯错的人受到了宠爱、赞美、尊崇，上帝说：“尊敬我的在哪里呢”(玛1:6)?他们会通过言传身教带领百姓走一条上帝并没有吩咐他们去走的路。他们提倡与上帝之灵近三十六年来一直在呼吁百姓遵守的教导截然相反的原则和习惯。上帝就是光，在祂毫无黑暗。祂的儿女是光明之子。历代以来，上帝儿女的义务与工作都与世人不同。他们的使命，他们的品格，他们的前途，都是特别的;正是这些特性使他们与世界区别开来，并使他们在精神和实践上与世人有别。对比是极其明显的。灵感之言指明了光明之子和黑暗之子之间的区别。而当我们接近时间的结束时，光明之子和黑暗之子之间的分界会越来越明确，他们会越来越不一致。这种不同用基督的话来表达就是：“重生，”“在基督里新造的人，”“向世界死向上帝活。”这些是将属天的与属地的分开的隔墙，描绘了那些属世界的和那些蒙拣选出离世界的、上帝所看为宝贵的选民之间的区别。这个身子的肢体藉着圣灵同被建造为上帝的居所。耶稣住在他们里面，他们也住在耶稣里面。没有空间给偶像，没有地方与彼列相和，也没有地方与世俗为友。{PH155 2.1}
那将构成属灵建筑中的活石的，不是敬虔的外貌，而是在知识和真圣洁上得到更新，向世界被钉死在十字架上，并且在基督里面活过来。这些人本着爱心行事，并且作为亲爱的儿女跟随基督。爱心的劳苦唤起情感激发祈祷。当他们惟独倚赖上帝时，他们就受到真理之灵的神圣帮助。他们不蒙允许去寻求世界的友谊或与恶人合作。当我们遵守上帝的道所指定的条件——从他们中间出来，与他们分别，不沾不洁净的物——时，我们就被承认为上帝的儿女。祂公义、道德政权的原则永远不会改变;因此，同等数量的罪过将受到同等数量的惩罚。{PH155 3.1}
祂的子民若不顺从祂的要求，就必按他们的过失受谴责。那么，所要求于巴特尔克里克教会的是什么呢?谦卑、认罪，并在上帝面前真实、诚恳地悔改。在巴特尔克里克许多人表现的精神是：我们不要下认真、彻底的工夫，这么麻烦是没必要的。我告诉你们吧，上帝要求祂的子民悔改认罪;那些积极参与使教会陷于如今地步的人，若不藉着谦卑认罪并在上帝面前真诚悔改，努力使教会来就光，就决不会来就光了。主所亲自建立的在属世界的事和祂已从世界拣选出来并分别为圣归祂自己的事之间的分隔的墙，已被那些自称敬虔并且担任百姓教师之人拆毁了。他们没有言传身教地承认这一立场，反而用自己的行为消灭了圣与俗之间的差别。但分隔依然存在，尽管那么多人实际上使它无效了，而且似乎决心要保持基督与彼列相和。“耶和华已经分别虔诚人归祂自己”(诗4:3);而且这种分别为圣归于上帝且与世人分别的事，是耶和华永远喜爱，也永远要求于祂子民的事;因为这是新旧约圣经中所清楚宣布并明确命令的。许多人认为他们可以通过认同世界来给世人留下深刻印象，但就他们自己的得救和不信之人的得救来说，他们是犯了一个可怕的错误。效法世界的风俗和习惯并不能光照他们并使他们感到非常需要拯救的恩典;反而是从世界出来并与他们分别，脱离并且超越世界，并在品格上表现基督，给世人一种圣洁、独立生活的印象，才能做到这一点。这会使真正的基督徒对他们有影响力。他们会看到有一种比他们所过的更好的生活。{PH155 4.1}
上帝呼吁这些人悔改并谦卑己心，要撕裂心肠而不是撕裂衣裳。许多人在撕裂自己的衣裳时却没有撕裂心肠。我知道巴特尔克里克许多人都处在这种状况。威廉·盖奇完全不适合从事主的工作。他没有看到或感觉到他的真实状况。他对内心的圣洁和与上帝交流没有经验上的认识。他口若悬河，鹦鹉学舌，但他对恩典在人心上的真实作为却知之甚少。唉，他多么经常地上了撒但的钩啊，撒但的诱饵是以多种形式呈现的。他没有靠上帝的灵保持平衡。他没有看守欲望的初升，使每一情绪和情欲都平静地顺服理性与良知。他没有小心地抑制所有不圣洁的想像，将所有思想都掳来，使之顺从基督。威廉·盖奇无论在哪里积极参与，都会证明是上帝子民的一个网罗;因为他必引人离开正确的原则，使人在虔诚的事上粗心大意、漠不关心。他没有工作的重压和负担。他很肤浅。他一直是巴特尔克里克教会的咒诅，而且永远会这样，除非他彻底回转。他会和世俗的人混在一起，充满机智和欢乐，然后站在讲台上讲一堂直截了当的道。“在光明中行”(约壹1:7)。这样的人弊大于利十倍，因为他们的日常生活与他们的教导相矛盾。他们没有真理的灵，未圣化，不圣洁。我警告上帝的子民不要以这种人为模范。我提出这种人是作为警告的灯塔，而不是可资效法的榜样。{PH155 5.1}
我希望所有这样的人都能看到、承认并离弃他们罪，得以归正。极大的盲目已经临到人心，因为他们疏于相信和遵从上帝在证言中所赐的亮光。麦克勒恩弟兄已经来到，并且引起了只应给予上帝的关注和景仰。这是偶像崇拜。他讲了柔和的话(赛30:10)。他的花言巧语使那些喜爱称赞的人受宠若惊;但上帝却不在其中。{PH155 6.1}
那些最有过错的人在教会里所作的见证，表明他们没有意识到他们对上帝或人做了什么特别的错事;要是同样的情况再次发生，他们就会带着目前的黑暗感觉再次做同样的事情。受这等人影响的上帝羊群是没有安全保障的。上帝看到了你们的危险，并在第30辑证言中和私人证言中给你们指出来了;但你们没能听从上帝之灵的警告。你们自信地继续走下去，好像是在跟随上帝之灵的带领似的。我恳劝你们改正错误，在上帝面前承认你们的罪，并向教会认罪，为永恒下彻底的工夫。不要因为别人犯了错而原谅自己的错误，从而在这件事上妥协。工作是在上帝和你们自己的灵魂之间。不要让那些已经影响你们去犯错的人现在为你们用未泡透的灰抹墙。上帝呼吁你们悔改，承认并永远离弃你们的错误，你们的错误已经使祂对教会不悦。祂不会接受半心半意的工作。我请求你们从犹太民族学习一个教训。他们的骄傲、自以为义和顽梗拒绝亮光与真理使他们陷入了悲惨的境地。他们的历史被赐给你们，不是要你们去效法，而是作为一个警告的灯塔，使你们不至于在罪恶、不知悔改和拒绝亮光上效法他们的榜样。不要随从你们自己未成圣之心的鼓动，而要随从亮光;听从上帝之灵的警告;被祂的责备告诫;为自己聪明起来，免得你们被上帝撇下，像犹太人一样，你们肯定会这样，除非你们认真悔改，向你们的专爱自己和自我放纵死。{PH155 6.2}
教会已背道离开上帝。他们说：“我接受证言。”但他们这么说是没用的，因为他们最近这些年一直这么说，却不听从证言的教导。一些人甚至在心里藐视证言。巴特尔克里克的领袖们没有行在上帝所赐的亮光中。百姓的教师们犯了错。主已见证他们的背道。他们没有保守自己的衣服洁白，也没有在真理里保持他们起初信心和起初爱心的纯正与单纯。这班自称遵守上帝全部诫命的百姓已经向下倾斜，在世俗的吸引之下弯曲了。他们一开始接受世人的宠爱和友谊，他们与上帝的联系就被削弱了;他们的力量开始减弱，信心和热情开始消失，取而代之的是死板的走形式。他们的枝条伸延甚远，却结果甚少。多给谁，就必向谁多要。{PH155 7.1}
人们可能很熟悉圣经的道理，并且能用恰当的论据来捍卫之。他们的头脑和记忆中可能会存储许多经文，他们可能会给人留下他们已预备好从事伟大善工的印象;但年复一年，他们的基督徒品格缺陷会愈加明显。他们不前进。他们重蹈覆辙，不在神圣的生活上长进，就像木头雕刻成树的形状，却没有自然生长的生命产物。没有新鲜的嫩芽，也看不到新叶子。只有同样肤浅的工作，和在大多数问题上同样有限的想法和观点。他们没有在基督徒的知识上前进。难道你们在巴特尔克里克的人要用你们轻率的评论、你们肤浅的应用和你们的解释，设法消除上帝计划证言在彻底改革教会上应有的效果吗?你们愿意藉着在上帝面前谦卑己心来表明你们尊重证言吗?“放下这事吧，”有人说。“别再说了。既然我们尽了最大努力，为什么还要悔改呢?”罪人对于自己违背上帝律法的事也可能这样推论。但是保罗却说：“诫命来到，罪又活了，我就死了”(罗7:9)。亮光已经来到，告诉你们危险，澄清你们的错误，界定你们的恶行。自我会死吗?你们是要跌在磐石上并且跌碎呢?还是要更加坚定地把自己捆绑在一起，不肯谦卑，拒绝悔改，不肯清理王的道路呢?难道你们要为自己过去的错误行径辩护，给自己招致上帝的忿怒吗?主呼吁你们采取最认真的行动。祂不会接受你们似是而非的借口。祂鄙视威廉·盖奇弟兄那种轻率、空洞的精神;因为他使上帝的子民犯错，消除了神圣事物的神圣性，使之降到凡俗事物的水平。许多人都认为他潇洒、精明、得体，但我忍住不说上帝如何看待所有这种人。{PH155 8.1}
上帝说：“你们要撕裂心肠，不要撕裂衣服”(珥2:13)。要开始对你们自己个人的自我下这种工夫，然后，当你们被上帝的灵充满时，再去为你们可怜的儿女下工夫。要为时代工作;为永恒工作。不要让任何事情成为一团乱麻要解决。在我那个似乎是一个现实的异梦中，我听到这些人的话，而且主曾指示我看到他们要做的事也在会议上通过了。威廉·盖奇会用他那狡猾的言辞把证言的锐气去掉;然后，带着满意的微笑环顾四周，好像他做了一件值得庆祝的聪明的事。{PH155 9.1}
他在表情和言语上表达的正是撒但的精神，要使上帝之灵的证言无效。与我在一起的向导说：“这就是上天的任何信息将会受到对待的方式。”上帝和天使正在作工，要将他们的错误展现在百姓面前，那些错误已使上帝对百姓不悦。自称教师的人，走进他们和上帝所赐的亮光之间，使亮光在百姓的心上没有分量或影响。上帝呼吁他们悔改，然而未献身、未归正的人们作为黑暗的团体，却叫他们不注意悔改的必要性，而去注意自我辩白。这些狡猾的言论是为撒但的目的服务的。自我膨胀、自我欺骗的灵魂正在欺骗别人。史密斯长老有一些可怜的伙伴和支持者。他默不作声地坐着。愿上帝可怜这些瞎眼受欺骗的人。本应该是认罪和谦卑的聚会，成了自我辩白的聚会。许多人都有一种冷淡、不敬、轻松的精神。总要趁着还有今日，你们若听祂的话，就不可硬着心，像在旷野惹祂发怒的日子一样。{PH155 9.2}
上帝并没有颁布法令叫人们的心变得刚硬而不易受感动。正是拒绝亮光，拒绝听从警告和督责的声音才使人心加强了抵抗的立场。他是在撒播抵抗的种子，必定收获内心的刚硬。人们因不知悔改而加重自己内心的负担。他们既撒下了恶种，就必收获自己所撒的。本来可以唤醒教会并使他们意识到自己的真实状况的宝贵机会，因不愿在上帝面前谦卑己心之人的不圣洁影响而丧失了。上帝所任命并接受为祂所拣选的工人的传道人必是正直的人。他们中的一些人或许是没有学问而且无知的人;但恩典会在他们心中作王，使他们生出信心，净化那些支配外在行为的动机。他们会成为基督的心志和精神的活榜样，为众人所知道，所念诵。{PH155 9.3}
与上帝没有联系，内心和生活没有成圣的人，只有真理的理论，就像基督时代犹太的祭司长和长老们一样。有一次，基督论到一些以研究旧约圣经为要务的人说：“你们不明白圣经，也不晓得上帝的大能”(太22:29)。如果不以圣灵的明证和上帝的大能传讲圣道，世人一般就会接受所讲的道并承认真理。人心自然不反对这种教导。只有基督的灵和香气才令未更新的心恨恶。世人并不反对敬虔的外貌。他们不会拒绝通俗的传道事工。在那种传道事工中没有什么东西叫罪人意识到自己的罪并叫他悔改。正是上帝快速有力的道，在祂使者们的心中运行，使人认识上帝的荣耀，才能取得胜利。被带到人们面前的能拯救灵魂的真理，必须不仅来自上帝，而且祂的灵必须作积极的交流媒介;否则就会只是人的言语和行为。就字面意义而言，这些人可能有基督教的形式，及至现在已经很近了的危机来临，这些人就会站立不住了。当逼迫和羞辱因真理而来到时，这些人就会另找平台。当上帝的子民中间有活泼的见证，说真理的话，被高天的能力充满的时候，反对和逼迫就会很快来到。{PH155 10.1}
当耶稣里的真理本着其简明和能力得到传讲时，它就会定世人的罪，于是基督和彼列就会显然不相和了。于是跟从基督的人就会体验到祂的话：“只因你们不属世界，……所以世界就恨你们。”“他们若逼迫了我，也要逼迫你们;若遵守了我的话，也要遵守你们的话”(约15:19,20)。那些在基督耶稣里敬虔度日的人，在世上如明灯发光。黑暗之君和黑暗的权势并没有归正。他们决不会受到以马内利大君的忠心仆人们的攻击而不起来防御。当跟从主的人为一次交付圣徒的真道竭力争辩时(不仅在教义上，而且在敬虔的精神和能力上)，抵抗的精神和势力就必迅速出现，像在殉道者的日子一样。撒但恨恶真理和圣洁。自称与装假与他是十分和谐的。他采取敬虔的外貌来欺骗人。这是他最成功的盔甲。真理和圣洁从来没有比今天更令未重生的心厌恶。正是实际的纯正，正是基督的生活和行为上表现出来的认真的圣洁生命，才引起了犹太人对祂的敌意。基督祈祷说：“公义的父啊，世人未曾认识祢”(约17:25)。甚至现在也是如此。世人不肯本着爱真理的心接受真理。体贴肉体的心是与上帝为敌的。我恳劝巴特尔克里克的教会听从上帝之灵的证言。不要说：“我相信证言，”然后在你们的日常生活上否认证言，不肯依照证言而行。{PH155 11.1}
怀爱伦
PH155 - Special Testimony to the Battle Creek Church (Read in the Tabernacle, Nov. 30, 1882.)
(Oakland, Cal.,August 3, 1882.)
Dear Brethren and Sisters in Battle Creek,My soul has been sadly burdened tonight. I have been unable to sleep, as I have been many nights, because of great distress for the cause of God and the church at Battle Creek. I thought when my work was done in writing out Testimony No. 31, I should then be free; but last night I was, in my dreams, in your meetings. I heard your testimonies; I felt your spirit. Some were humbling their souls before God. With confession and humiliation, they made their way out of the darkness, while Eld. Smith, Bro. McLearn, and Wm. Gage seemed to feel no spirit of confession; and these very men who had brought the church into difficulty, were not by their own course of action leading them out. I heard testimonies borne to have a soothing influence upon the people.?{PH155 1.1}[1]
Bro. McLearn and Wm. Gage in their testimonies worked directly against the Spirit of God. They did not seem to understand that Heaven’s light was shining in upon them to call them as a people to repentance. They treated the warnings of the Spirit of God as a matter of indifference,—as though that voice were human in place of divine. What there was to make any demonstration of on their part they?could not see. If they had done wrong, why dwell upon it so much? Just go on; let it all drop, and say as little about it as possible. This is the very thing the enemy of souls wants them to do; and Bro. McLearn, here in this peril of the church, while God is seeking to arouse them, has revealed his true spirit, and that he was not a safe man to counsel and advise the church in a crisis. God is calling them to repentance, and do Bro. McLearn and Wm. Gage work in harmony with the Spirit of God? Are these men confessing their own sins, acknowledging their departure from God, which has brought calamity upon the church and the frown of God? Smooth words and fair speeches are uttered to mislead those who would come to the light. Instead of these men falling upon the Rock and being broken, they are using their inventive powers to make it appear that they were not deserving of reproof, that their course had been altogether different than the Spirit of the Lord had represented. Will they take the Testimonies home and act upon them? No; they have not done it, and do not intend to do it. A spirit of vindication is aroused in them rather than of humiliation and confession.?{PH155 1.2}[2]
I now state plainly, Bro. McLearn has been exalted, praised, deified. Why? Because of his unselfish labors to bring the work and cause of God up where it is? Is it because of his sacrifice of self, his untiring efforts for the cause of God? No; but because he pleased a certain class who were blinded as to the spirit of the work and what God requires of his people, both parents and children, for this time. These teachers apprehend no special cause of alarm in the present condition of the professed people of God, in their assimilating to the world, and in their lack of love and lack of exercising forbearance toward their brethren. These consider the character of the church generally in a flourishing condition. Therefore they prophesy smooth things, and cry, Peace, peace; and those who want to have it so take up the cry, Peace,?peace. They believe their report, and in the place of being alarmed, are at ease in Zion. They have not sought after idols or graven images to worship and bow down before them, but they have idolized one another. Poor, frail, erring man has been petted, praised, exalted, and, saith God, “Where is my honor?” These men are seeking to bring in a different order of things. They would, by their precept and example, lead the people in a path that God has not bid them to travel. They advocate principles and customs directly contrary to the teaching of the Spirit of God, which has been appealing to the people for the last thirty-six years. God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. His children are children of the light. In all ages the obligations and works of the children of God have been at variance with the world. Their calling, their character, their prospects, are peculiar; and it is these peculiarities that distinguish them from the world, and separate them in spirit and practice from the people of the world. The contrast is most decided. The words of inspiration specify the difference between the?children of the light?and the?children of darkness. And as we near the close of time, the demarkation between the children of light and the children of darkness will be more and more decided, they will be more and more at variance. This difference is expressed in the words of Christ, “Born again,” “created anew in Christ,” “dead to the world and alive unto God.” These are the walls of separation that divide the heavenly from the earthly, and describe the difference between those who belong to the world and those who are chosen out of it, who are elect, precious in the sight of God. The members of this body are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit. Jesus abides in them, and they abide in Jesus. There is no room for idols, no place for concord with Belial, no place for friendship with the world.?{PH155 2.1}[3]
It is not a form of godliness that will constitute a?living stone in the spiritual building. It is being renewed in knowledge and true holiness, being crucified to the world and made alive in Christ. These walk in love and follow Christ as dear children. The labor of love engages the affections and inspires the prayers. When they trust alone in God, they are divinely assisted by the Spirit of Truth. They are not permitted to seek the friendship of the world, or to co-operate with wicked men. When we comply with the conditions specified in the word of God,—come out from among them and be separate, and touch not the unclean,—then we are acknowledged as sons and daughters of God. The principles of his righteous, moral government never change; therefore the same measure of guilt will receive the same measure of punishment.?{PH155 3.1}[4]
If his people have not obeyed his requirements, they stand condemned according to their delinquencies. What, then, is required of the church at Battle Creek? Humiliation, confession, and true, genuine repentance before God. The spirit manifested by many at Battle Creek is, Let us not make earnest, thorough work; such a great ado is uncalled for. I tell you, God calls for repentance and confessions from his people; and those who have taken an active part in bringing the church into her present position, will never come to the light only by humble confessions and a sincere repentance before God, and working to bring them to the light. The wall of separation which the Lord himself has established between the things of the world and the things he has chosen out of the world and sanctified unto himself, has been broken down by those who profess godliness and occupy the position of teachers of the people. They have not, in precept and practice, acknowledged this position, but rather by their practice annihilated the difference between the holy and the profane. But the separation exists, notwithstanding so many have in practice made it void, and seem determined to maintain?concord between Christ and Belial. “The Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself;” and this consecration to God and separation from the world, the Lord always loves, and will always require of his people; for it is plainly declared and positively enjoined in the Old and New Testaments. Many who think they can impress the world by agreeing with it make a terrible mistake as far as their own salvation is concerned and the salvation of unbelievers. It is not conformity to the customs and practices of the world that will enlighten them and make them feel their great need of saving grace; but it is to come out from the world and be separate, stand apart and above it, and in character represent Christ and give the impression to the world of a holy, separate life. This will give a true Christian a power of influence over them. They will see there is a better life than that which they are living.?{PH155 4.1}[5]
God calls upon these men to repent and humble their hearts, to rend their hearts and not their garments. Many are rending their garments while their hearts are unbroken. This I know is the state of many in Battle Creek. Wm. Gage is wholly unfitted to engage in the work of God. He does not see or sense his true condition. He has not an experimental knowledge of heart holiness, of communion with God. He talks glibly, poll-parrot like, but the genuine work of grace upon the heart he knows but little about. Oh, how often he catches at Satan’s bait, which is presented in various forms. He has not been balanced by the Spirit of God. He has not guarded the first risings of desire to hold every emotion and passion in calm subjection to reason and conscience. He has not been careful to suppress all unsanctified imaginings, and bring into captivity every thought to obedience to Christ. Wm. Gage will prove a snare to the people of God wherever he shall take an active part; for he will lead away from right principles to carelessness and indifference in religious?things. He has not the weight and burden of the work. He is superficial. He has ever been a curse to the church in Battle Creek, and ever will be unless he is a thoroughly converted man. He will mingle in the company of worldlings, full of wit and mirth, and then rise in the desk and preach a straight-forward discourse. “Walk in the light.” Such men will do tenfold more harm than good; because their daily life contradicts their teachings. They are destitute of the spirit of truth, unsanctified, unholy. I warn the people of God not to take this man as their pattern. I present such as beacons to warn, and not examples to imitate.?{PH155 5.1}[6]
I hope all such ones may see and confess and forsake their sins and be converted. Great blindness has come upon minds through the neglect to believe, and follow the light God has given in the Testimonies. Bro. Mc Learn has come, and has called forth attention and admiration which should be given only to God. This is idolatry. He has spoken smooth words. His fair speeches have flattered those who love praise; but God is not in this.?{PH155 6.1}[7]
In the testimonies given in the church by those who have been most at fault, there was not a realizing sense that they had done any special wrong to God or to man; and should the same circumstances occur again, they would, with their present feelings of darkness, do the same over again. There is no safety for the flock of God who are influenced by this class of minds. God saw your dangers, and pointed them out to you in Testimony No. 30, also in private testimony; but you failed to heed the warnings of the Spirit of God. You went on as confidently as though you were following the leadings of the Spirit of God. I entreat you to make your wrongs right, confess your sins before God and to the church, and make thorough work for eternity. Do not compromise the matter with yourself by excusing your wrongs because somebody else committed errors. The work is?between God and your own souls. Do not let those who have influenced you to commit wrongs, now daub you with untempered mortar. God calls upon you?to repent, to acknowledge your wrongs which have brought his frown upon the church, and to forsake them forever. He will accept no half-hearted work. I beg of you to learn a lesson from the Jewish nation. Their pride, self-righteousness, and stubborn resistance of light and truth brought them into their deplorable condition. Their history is given you, not for you to imitate, but as a beacon of warning, that you should not follow their example in sin, and impenitence, and rejection of light. Gather up the rays of light you have neglected and despised. Follow not the promptings of your own unsanctified hearts, but follow the light; heed the warnings of the Spirit of God; be admonished by the reproofs he has given; be wise for yourselves lest you be left of God as were the Jews, which you surely will be, unless you repent with earnestness and die to your self-love and self-indulgence.?{PH155 6.2}[8]
The church has backslidden from God. It is of no avail for them to say, “I accept of the Testimonies,” as they have said the last years of their experience, and pay no heed to their teachings. Some even despise them in their hearts. The leading men in Battle Creek have not walked in the light God has given. The teachers of the people have erred. The Lord has witnessed their backsliding. They have not kept their garments white, nor retained the purity and simplicity of their first faith and first love in the truth. This people who profess to keep all the commandments of God, have inclined downward, bending under the influence of the world’s attractions. As soon as they began to receive favor and friendship of the world, their connection with God was weakened; their strength began to diminish, faith and zeal began to expire, and dead formality to take their place. The branches have extended far and wide, yet they?bear but little fruit. Where much is given, much will be required.{PH155 7.1}[9]
Men may be well acquainted with the doctrines of the Bible, and be able to defend them by apt arguments. Their minds and memories may be stored with texts, and they may give the impression that they are prepared to do a good and great work; but year after year their deficiencies of Christian character will be more apparent. They do not advance. They go over the same ground, making no growth in the divine life, like wood carved in the form of a tree, but having no living production of natural growth. There are no fresh shoots, no new foliage to be seen. There is the same superficial work, the same limited ideas and sentiments upon most points. They have not advanced in Christian knowledge. Will you at Battle Creek, by your flippant remarks, your superficial applications, and your explanations, seek to do away with the effect God designs the Testimonies should have in thoroughly reforming the church? Will you show that you regard them by humbling your hearts before God? “Drop the matter,” some say. “Say no more about it. Why call for repentance when we did the best we knew how?” So might the sinner reason in regard to his transgressing God’s law. But Paul says, “When the commandment came, sin revived and I died.” Light has come, telling you your dangers, making clear your errors, and defining your wrongs. Will self die? will you fall on the Rock and be broken? or will you bind yourselves together more firmly, refusing to be humbled, refusing to repent, refusing to clear the King’s highway? Will you justify yourselves in your past course of wrong, and bring upon yourselves the wrath of God? The Lord calls for most earnest action on your part. He will not accept your plausible excuses. He despises the flippant, chaffy spirit of Bro. Wm. Gage; for he makes God’s people to err, he removes the sacredness of divine things, and brings them on a level?with common things. Smart, sharp, and apt he is regarded by many; but I forbear to tell how the Lord regards all such ones.?{PH155 8.1}[10]
“Rend the heart and not the garment,” saith God. Commence the work with your own individual selves, and then, when imbued with the Spirit of God, go to work for your poor children. Work for time; work for eternity. Leave nothing at loose ends to ravel out. In my dream, which seemed a reality, I was listening to these men, and that which the Lord had shown me they would do was enacted in the meeting. Wm. Gage would, with his cunning speeches, take off the edge of the Testimonies; and then, with a smile of satisfaction, look around as though he had done a smart thing for which he should be congratulated.?{PH155 9.1}[11]
It was the spirit of Satan expressed in looks and words to make of none effect the Testimonies of the Spirit of God. “This,” said the guide with me, “is the way any message of Heaven will be treated.” God and angels are at work to open before the people their wrongs which have brought the frown of God upon the people. Men professing to be teachers, step in between them and the light God has given, that it shall have no weight or effect upon the hearts of the people. God calls them to repentance, while unconsecrated, unconverted men, as bodies of darkness, call their attention from the necessity of repentance to self-justification. These cunning speeches serve the purpose of Satan. Self-inflated, self-deceived souls are deceiving others. Eld. Smith has had poor companions and supporters. He sat in silence. God pity these men who are blinded and deceived. Meetings that should have been meetings of confession and humiliation, have been meetings of self-justification. A spirit of coldness, of irreverence, of lightness was with many. And while it is called today, if you hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation in the wilderness.?{PH155 9.2}[12]
God does not make a decree that men’s hearts shall?become hard and unimpressible. It is the resistance of light, a refusal to hear the voice of warning and reproof which strengthens the soul in a position of resistance. He is sowing the seed of resistance, which he must reap in a harvest of hardness of heart. Men burden their own hearts in their impenitence. They have sown the seed; they reap what they have sown. The precious opportunity that might have aroused the church and brought them to a sense of their true state, is lost by the unconsecrated influence of men who will not humble their hearts before God. The ministers whom God ordains and accepts as his chosen laborers will be men of integrity. They may, some of them, be unlearned and ignorant men; but grace will reign in their hearts, inspiring them with faith and purifying the motives that govern the outward conduct. They will be living examples of the mind and spirit of Christ, known and read of all men.?{PH155 9.3}[13]
Men not connected with God, not sanctified in heart and life, have a theory of the truth, as had the Jewish chief priests and elders in Christ’s day. On one occasion Christ said of the men who made the study of the Old Testament their business, “Ye know not the Scriptures nor the power of God.” The world generally will receive the ministry of the word, and admit the truth if it is not proclaimed in the demonstration of the Spirit and of the power of God. The natural heart finds no opposition to such teaching. It is only the spirit and savor of Christ that is hateful to the unrenewed heart. The form of godliness is not opposed by the world. The popular ministry they will not reject. There is nothing in it that calls the sinner to a sense of his guilt, calls him to repentance. It is nothing less than the quick and powerful word of God, working in the hearts of his messengers to give the knowledge of the glory of God, that can give the victory. The truth brought before the people, which can save the soul, must not only come from God, but his Spirit must be the active agent in?communication; else it will be only as the sayings and doings of men. These may have the form of Christianity as far as the letter is concerned, and when the crisis shall come that is now very near, these men will be unable to stand. When persecution and reproach come because of the truth, these men will find another platform. The opposition and persecution will not be slow to take their stand when God’s people have the living testimony among them, and speak the words of truth, being imbued with power from on high.?{PH155 10.1}[14]
When the truth is preached in its simplicity and power, as it is in Jesus, it will condemn the world, and then it will be evidenced that between Christ and Belial there is no concord. Then will Christ’s followers realize his words: “Because ye are not of the world, therefore the world hateth you;” “If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you;” “If they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.” Those who live godly in Christ Jesus, shine as lights in the world. The prince and powers of darkness have not become converted. They will never suffer an assault from the faithful servants of Prince Immanuel without raising a defense. As his followers contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints (not merely in doctrine, but in the spirit and power of godliness), the spirit and power of resistance quickly arise, as in the days of the martyrs. Truth and holiness Satan hates. Profession and pretense he is in perfect harmony with. The form of godliness he assumes to deceive the children of men. This is his most successful armor. Truth and holiness were never more odious to the unregenerated heart than today. It was practical purity, it was the earnest life of holiness manifested in the life and conduct of Christ, that awakened the enmity of the Jews against him. Christ prayed, “O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee.” Even so it is now. The world refuses to receive the?truth in the love of it. The carnal mind is at enmity with God. I entreat the church at Battle Creek to heed the Testimonies of the Spirit of God. Do not say, “I believe them,” and then contradict them in your daily life, refusing to walk in accordance with them.---Ellen G. White?{PH155 11.1}[15]
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