292
Selected Messages Book 2
Now we read in the Bible of a good conscience; and there are not
only good but bad consciences. There is a conscientiousness that will
carry everything to extremes, and make Christian duties as burdensome
as the Jews made the observance of the Sabbath. The rebuke which
Jesus gave to the scribes and Pharisees applies to this class as well:
“Ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment
and the love of God” (
Luke 11:42
). One fanatic, with his strong spirit
and radical ideas, who will oppress the conscience of those who want
to be right, will do great harm. The church needs to be purified from
all such influences.
Pictures Used by God
The second commandment prohibits image worship; but God
Himself employed pictures and symbols to represent to His prophets
lessons which He would have them give to the people, and which could
thus be better understood than if given in any other way. He appealed
to the understanding through the sense of sight. Prophetic history
was presented to Daniel and John in symbols, and these were to be
[320]
represented plainly upon tables, that he who reads might understand.
It is true that altogether too much money is expended upon pictures;
not a little means which should flow into the treasury of God is paid to
the artist. But the evil that will result to the church from the course of
these extremists is far greater than that which they are trying to correct.
It is sometimes a difficult matter to tell just where the line is, where
picturemaking becomes a sin. But those who love God and desire with
all their hearts to keep His commandments, will be directed by Him.
God would not have them depend on any man to be conscience for
them. He who accepts all the ideas and impressions of unbalanced
minds will become confused and bewildered. It is Satan’s object to
divert the attention from the third angel’s message to side issues, that
minds and hearts that should be growing in grace and in the knowledge
of the truth, may be dwarfed and enfeebled, so that God may not be
glorified by them.—
Historical Sketches of the Foreign Missions of the
Seventh-day Adventists, 211, 212
.
[321]