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Life Sketches of Ellen G. White
At the commencement of the holy Sabbath, January 5, 1849, we
engaged in prayer with Brother Belden’s family at Rocky Hill, Conn.,
and the Holy Ghost fell upon us. I was taken off in vision to the most
holy place, where I saw Jesus still interceding for Israel. On the bottom
of His garment was a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate.
Then I saw that Jesus would not leave the most holy place until every
case was decided either for salvation or destruction, and that the wrath
of God could not come until Jesus had finished His work in the most
holy place, laid off His priestly attire, and clothed Himself with the
garments of vengeance. Then Jesus will step out from between the
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Father and men, and God will keep silence no longer, but pour out His
wrath on those who have rejected His truth. I saw that the anger of
the nations, the wrath of God, and the time to judge the dead, were
separate and distinct, one following the other; also that Michael had
not stood up, and that the time of trouble, such as never was, had not
yet commenced. The nations are now getting angry, but when our
High Priest has finished His work in the sanctuary, He will stand up,
put on the garments of vengeance, and then the seven last plagues will
be poured out.
I saw that the four angels would hold the four winds until Jesus’
work was done in the sanctuary, and then will come the seven last
plagues. These plagues enraged the wicked against the righteous; they
thought that we had brought the judgments of God upon them, and
that if they could rid the earth of us, the plagues would then be stayed.
A decree went forth to slay the saints, which caused them to cry day
and night for deliverance. This was the time of Jacob’s trouble. Then
all the saints cried out with anguish of spirit, and were delivered by
the voice of God. The one hundred and forty-four thousand triumphed.
Their faces were lighted up with the glory of God.
Then I was shown a company who were howling in agony. On
their garments was written in large characters. “Thou art weighed
in the balance, and found wanting.” I asked who this company were.
The angel said, “These are they who have once kept the Sabbath,
and have given it up.” I heard them cry with a loud voice, “We have
believed in Thy coming, and taught it with energy.” And while they
were speaking, their eyes would fall upon their garments and see the
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writing, and then they would wail aloud. I saw that they had drunk
of the deep waters, and fouled the residue with their feet,—trodden