Not Kingly, but Christlike Leadership
109
justify their own principles. They exalt themselves as men of superior
judgment, and they have stood as representatives of God. These are
false gods.—
Letter 55, 1895
.
Sinful man can find hope and righteousness only in God; and no
human being is righteous any longer than he has faith in God, and
maintains a vital connection with Him. A flower of the field must have
its root in the soil; it must have air, dew, showers, and sunshine. It will
flourish only as it receives these advantages, and all are from God. So
with men. We receive from God that which ministers to the life of the
soul. We are warned not to trust in man, nor to make flesh our arm. A
curse is pronounced upon all who do this.—
Letter 55, 1895
.
Dangers Foreseen in Vision at Salamanca—November 3, 1890,
while laboring at Salamanca, N.Y., as I was in communion with God
in the night season, I was taken out of and away from myself to as-
semblies in different States, where I bore decided testimony of reproof
and warning. In Battle Creek a council of ministers and responsible
men from the publishing house and other institutions was convened,
and I heard those assembled, in no gentle spirit, advance sentiments
and urge measures for adoption that filled me with apprehension and
distress. [
One such measure recommended that the Sentinel magazine,
a religious liberty journal, cease publication unless its pages were
limited to purely state-church issues with little or no space allowed
for presenting the distinctive Adventist message. Ellen White opposed
this scheme as of purely human devising: “We are not to make less
prominent the special truths that have separated us from the world
and made us what we are.... With pen and voice we are to proclaim
the truth to the world.”—
Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 329
. In
resolving the issue the Spirit of Prophecy counsel was followed by
publishing leaders.]
[129]
Years before, I had been called to pass through a similar experience,
and the Lord then revealed to me many things of vital importance,
and gave me warnings that must be delivered to those in peril. On the
night of November 3, these warnings were brought to my mind, and I
was commanded to present them before those in responsible offices of
trust, and to fail not nor be discouraged. There were laid out before
me some things which I could not comprehend; but the assurance was
given me that the Lord would not allow His people to be enshrouded in
the fogs of worldly skepticism and infidelity, bound up in bundles with