Nature and Influence of the “Testimonies”
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for themselves; to impress upon all that the study of God’s word will
expand the mind and strengthen every faculty, fitting the intellect to
wrestle with problems of truth, deep and far-reaching; to assure all
that the clear knowledge of the Bible outdoes all other knowledge
in making man what God designed he should be. “The entrance
of Thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.”
With the light communicated through the study of His word, with the
special knowledge given of individual cases among His people under
all circumstances and in every phase of experience, can I now be in the
same ignorance, the same mental uncertainty and spiritual blindness,
as at the beginning of this experience? Will my brethren say that Sister
White has been so dull a scholar that her judgment in this direction
is no better than before she entered Christ’s school, to be trained and
disciplined for a special work? Am I no more intelligent in regard to
the duties and perils of God’s people than are those before whom these
things have never been presented? I would not dishonor my Maker by
admitting that all this light, all the display of His mighty power in my
work and experience, has been valueless, that it has not educated my
judgment or better fitted me for His work.
When I see men and women taking the very course, or cherishing
the very traits, which have imperiled other souls and wounded the
cause of God, and which the Lord has reproved again and again, how
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can I but be alarmed? When I see timid souls, burdened with a sense
of their imperfections, yet conscientiously striving to do what God has
said is right, and know that the Lord looks down and smiles on their
faithful efforts, shall I not speak a word of encouragement to these
poor trembling hearts? Shall I hold my peace because each individual
case has not been pointed out to me in direct vision?
“But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trum-
pet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any
person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his
blood will I require at the watchman’s hand. So thou, O son of man,
I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou
shalt hear the word at My mouth, and warn them from Me. When I say
unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not
speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in
his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if