Chapter 84—Our Ministers
In the vision given me in Rochester, New York, December 25,
1865, I was shown that a most solemn work is before us. Its importance
and magnitude are not realized. As I marked the indifference which
was everywhere apparent, I was alarmed for ministers and people.
There seemed to be a paralysis upon the cause of present truth. The
work of God seemed stayed. Ministers and people are unprepared
for the time in which they live, and nearly all who profess to believe
present truth are unprepared to understand the work of preparation for
this time. In their present state of worldly ambition, with their lack of
consecration to God, their devotion to self, they are wholly unfitted to
receive the latter rain and, having done all, to stand against the wrath
of Satan, who by his inventions would cause them to make shipwreck
of faith, fastening upon them some pleasing self-deception. They think
they are all right when they are all wrong.
Ministers and people must make greater advancement in the work
of reform. They should commence without delay to correct their wrong
habits of eating, drinking, dressing, and working. I saw that quite a
number of the ministers are not awake upon this important subject.
They are not all where God would have them. The result is, some can
show but little fruit of their labors. Ministers should be ensamples to
the flock of God. But they are not safe from Satan’s temptations. They
are the very ones whom he will seek to ensnare. If he can succeed in
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lulling one minister to carnal security, and by so doing divert his mind
from the work, or deceive him with regard to his own true condition
before God, he has accomplished much.
I saw that the cause of God was not progressing as it might and
as it should. Ministers fail to take hold of the work with that energy,
devotion, and decided perseverance which the importance of the work
demands. They have a vigilant adversary to contend with whose
diligence and perseverance are untiring. The feeble effort of ministers
and people can bear no comparison with those of their adversary, the
devil. On one side are the ministers who battle for the right and have
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