Chapter 51—“Cannot Come Down”
“I am doing a great work,” says Nehemiah, “so that I cannot come
down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to
you?”
I was shown, January 3, 1875, [
It is a pleasure here to state relative
to the gracious manifestation of the Holy Spirit to Mrs. White on the
eve of January 3, 1875, that she had been sick with severe influenza,
and confined to her room and bed for one week, till the physicians at
the Health Institute had become anxious in her case. In this condition
she followed the directions given in the fifth chapter of the Epistle of
James, and after a great stretch of faith, like the man in the gospel who
stretched forth his withered hand, she reached the point of deliverance
from pain and sickness, and was soon in vision, which lasted ten
minutes. She then dressed for meeting, walked to the church, and
spoke to the crowded assembly twenty minutes, and walked home.
Since that time she has written very much, and has spoken to the
people with freedom. She is now preparing for the long journey to
the Pacific Coast. J. W., in first edition
] that God’s people should not
for one moment relax their watchfulness or their vigilance. Satan is
upon our track. He is determined to overcome God’s commandment-
keeping people with his temptations. If we give no place to him, but
resist his devices, steadfast in the faith, we shall have strength to depart
from all iniquity. Those who keep the commandments of God will be
a power in the land if they live up to their light and privileges. They
may be patterns of piety, holy in heart and in conversation. We shall
not have ease, that we may cease watchfulness and prayer. As the time
draws near for Christ to be revealed in the clouds of heaven, Satan’s
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temptations will be brought to bear with greater power upon those who
keep God’s commandments, for he knows that his time is short.
The work of Satan will be carried on through agents. Ministers
who hate the law of God will employ any means to lead souls from
their loyalty to God. Our bitterest foes will be among the first-day
Adventists. Their hearts are fully determined to make war against
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