210
Selected Messages Book 1
God would have every member of His creation understand the great
work of the infinite Son of God in giving His life for the salvation of
the world. “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed
upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world
knoweth us not, because it knew him not” (
1 John 3:1
).
When he sees in Christ the embodiment of infinite and disinterested
love and benevolence, there is awakened in the heart of the sinner a
thankful disposition to follow where Christ is drawing.—
Manuscript
87, 1900
.
Especially the Moral Law
“The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we
might be justified by faith” (
Galatians 3:24
). In this scripture, the Holy
Spirit through the apostle is speaking especially of the moral law. The
law reveals sin to us, and causes us to feel our need of Christ and to
flee unto Him for pardon and peace by exercising repentance toward
God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
An unwillingness to yield up preconceived opinions, and to accept
this truth, lay at the foundation of a large share of the opposition man-
ifested at Minneapolis against the Lord’s message through Brethren
[E.J.] Waggoner and [A.T.] Jones. By exciting that opposition Satan
succeeded in shutting away from our people, in a great measure, the
[235]
special power of the Holy Spirit that God longed to impart to them.
The enemy prevented them from obtaining that efficiency which might
have been theirs in carrying the truth to the world, as the apostles
proclaimed it after the day of Pentecost. The light that is to lighten the
whole earth with its glory was resisted, and by the action of our own
brethren has been in a great degree kept away from the world.
* * * * *
The law of ten commandments is not to be looked upon as much
from the prohibitory side, as from the mercy side. Its prohibitions are
the sure guarantee of happiness in obedience. As received in Christ,
it works in us the purity of character that will bring joy to us through
eternal ages. To the obedient it is a wall of protection. We behold
in it the goodness of God, who by revealing to men the immutable