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The Spirit of Prophecy Volume 4
portion essential and another non-essential to gain the favor of the
world. The Lord whom we serve is able to deliver us. Christ has
conquered the powers of earth; and shall we be afraid of a world
already conquered?”
Persecution in its varied forms is the development of a principle
which will exist as long as Satan exists, and Christianity has vital
power. No man can serve God without enlisting against himself
the opposition of the hosts of darkness. Evil angels will assail him,
alarmed that his influence is taking the prey from their hands. Evil
men, rebuked by his example, will unite with them in seeking to
separate him from God by alluring temptations. When these do
not succeed, then a compelling power is employed to force the
conscience.
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But as long as Jesus remains man’s intercessor in the sanctuary
above, the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit is felt by rulers
and people. It still controls, to some extent, the laws of the land.
Were it not for these laws, the condition of the world would be much
worse than it now is. While many of our rulers are active agents
of Satan, God also has his agents among the leading men of the
nation. The enemy moves upon his servants to propose measures
that would greatly impede the work of God; but statesmen who fear
the Lord are influenced by holy angels to oppose such propositions
with unanswerable arguments. Thus a few men will hold in check
a powerful current of evil. The opposition of the enemies of truth
will be restrained that the third message may do its work. When the
loud cry shall be given, it will arrest the attention of these leading
men through whom the Lord is now working, and some of them will
accept it, and will stand with the people of God through the time of
trouble.
The angel who unites in the proclamation of the third message
is to lighten the whole earth with his glory. A work of world-wide
extent and unwonted power is here brought to view. The Advent
movement of 1840-44 was a glorious manifestation of the power of
God; the first message was carried to every missionary station in the
world, and in this country there was the greatest religious interest
which has been witnessed in any land since the Reformation of the
sixteenth century; but these are to be far exceeded by the mighty
movement under the loud cry of the third message. The work will be