I speak plainly. I do not think this will discourage a true Christian; and I do not want any of you to come up to the time of trouble without a well-grounded hope in your Redeemer. Determine to know the worst of your case. Ascertain if you have an inheritance on high. Deal truly with your own soul. Remember that a church without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, will Jesus present to His Father.
(1T 163.1)
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How are you to know that you are accepted of God? Study His word prayerfully. Lay it not aside for any other book. This Book convinces of sin. It plainly reveals the way of salvation. It brings to view a bright and glorious reward. It reveals to you a complete Saviour, and teaches you that through His boundless mercy alone can you expect salvation.
(1T 163.2)
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Do not neglect secret prayer, for it is the soul of religion. With earnest, fervent prayer, plead for purity of soul. Plead as earnestly, as eagerly, as you would for your mortal life, were it at stake. Remain before God until unutterable longings are begotten within you for salvation, and the sweet evidence is obtained of pardoned sin.
(1T 163.3)
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The hope of eternal life is not to be received upon slight grounds. It is a subject to be settled between God and your own soul—settled for eternity. A supposed hope, and nothing more, will prove your ruin. Since you are to stand or fall by the word of God, it is to that word you must look for testimony in your case. There you can see what is required of you to become a Christian. Do not lay off your armor, or leave the battlefield until you have obtained the victory, and triumph in your Redeemer.
(1T 163.4)
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The Sabbath was made for the benefit of man; and to knowingly transgress the holy commandment forbidding labor upon the seventh day is a crime in the sight of heaven which was of such magnitude under the Mosaic law as to require the death of the offender. But this was not all that the offender was to suffer, for God would not take a transgressor of His law to heaven. He must suffer the second death, which is the full and final penalty for the transgressor of the law of God.
(1T 533.1)
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At Rochester, New York, December 25, 1865, I was shown many things concerning the people of God in connection with His work for these last days. I saw that many professed Sabbathkeepers will come short of everlasting life. They fail to take warning from the course pursued by the children of Israel and fall into some of their evil ways. If they continue in these sins they will fall like the Israelites and never enter the heavenly Canaan. “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”1 Corinthians 10:11.
(1T 533.2)
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I saw that many would fall this side of the kingdom. God is testing and proving His people, and many will not endure the test of character, the measurement of God. Many will have close work to overcome their peculiar traits of character and be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, unrebukable before God and man. Many professed Sabbathkeepers will be no special benefit to the cause of God or the church without a thorough reformation on their part. Many Sabbathkeepers are not right before God in their political views. They are not in harmony with God’s word or in union with the body of Sabbathkeeping believers. Their views do not accord with the principles of our faith. Sufficient light has been given to correct all who wish to be corrected. All who still retain political sentiments which are not in accordance with the spirit of truth are living in violation of the principles of heaven. Therefore as long as they thus remain they cannot possess the spirit of freedom and holiness.
(1T 533.3)
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