Many of you at Battle Creek are living without prayer, without thoughts of Christ, and without exalting Him before those around you. You have no words to exalt Christ; you do no deeds that honor Him. Many of you are as truly strangers to Christ as though you had never heard His name. You have not the peace of Christ; for you have no true ground for peace. You have no communion with God because you are not united to Christ. Said our Saviour: “No man cometh to the Father, but by Me.” John 14:6. You are not useful in the cause of Christ. Except ye abide in Me, says Jesus, ye can do nothing—nothing in God’s sight, nothing that Christ will accept at your hands. Without Christ you can have nothing but a delusive hope, for He Himself declares: “If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” John 15:6. (5T 49.1) MC VC

Advancement in Christian experience is characterized by increasing humility, as the result of increasing knowledge. Everyone who is united to Christ will depart from all iniquity. I tell you, in the fear of God, I have been shown that many of you will fail of everlasting life because you are building your hopes of heaven on a false foundation. God is leaving you to yourselves, “to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart.” Deuteronomy 8:2. You have neglected the Scriptures. You despise and reject the testimonies because they reprove your darling sins and disturb your self-complacency. When Christ is cherished in the heart, His likeness will be revealed in the life. Humility will reign where pride was once predominant. Submission, meekness, patience, will soften down the rugged features of a naturally perverse, impetuous disposition. Love to Jesus will be manifested in love to His people. It is not fitful, not spasmodic, but calm and deep and strong. The life of the Christian will be divested of all pretense, free from all affectation, artifice, and falsehood. It is earnest, true, sublime. Christ speaks in every word. He is seen in every deed. The life is radiant with the light of an indwelling Saviour. In converse with God and in happy contemplation of heavenly things the soul is preparing for heaven and laboring to gather other souls into the fold of Christ. Our Saviour is able and willing to do for us more than we can ask or even think. (5T 49.2) MC VC