Coming Crisis
      
      
         433
      
      
        controversy between truth and error. And we are not left in doubt as
      
      
        to the issue. Now, as in the days of Mordecai, the Lord will vindicate
      
      
        His truth and His people
      
      
      
      
        Prepare for the Tempest
      
      
        God has revealed what is to take place in the last days, that His
      
      
        people may be prepared to stand against the tempest of opposition and
      
      
        wrath. Those who have been warned of the events before them are not
      
      
        to sit in calm expectation of the coming storm, comforting themselves
      
      
        that the Lord will shelter His faithful ones in the day of trouble. We
      
      
        are to be as men waiting for their Lord, not in idle expectancy, but
      
      
        in earnest work, with unwavering faith. It is no time now to allow
      
      
        our minds to be engrossed with things of minor importance. While
      
      
        men are sleeping, Satan is actively arranging matters so that the Lord’s
      
      
        people may not have mercy or justice. The Sunday movement is now
      
      
        making its way in darkness. The leaders are concealing the true issue,
      
      
        and many who unite in the movement do not themselves see whither
      
      
        the undercurrent is tending. Its professions are mild and apparently
      
      
        Christian, but when it shall speak it will reveal the spirit of the dragon.
      
      
        “The wrath of man shall praise Thee,” says the psalmist; “the
      
      
        remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain.” God means that testing truth
      
      
        shall be brought to the front and become a subject of examination
      
      
        and discussion, even if it is through the contempt placed upon it.
      
      
        The minds of the people must be agitated. Every controversy, every
      
      
        reproach, every slander, will be God’s means of provoking inquiry and
      
      
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        awakening minds that otherwise would slumber
      
      
      
      
        We as a people have not accomplished the work which God has
      
      
        committed to us. We are not ready for the issue to which the enforce-
      
      
        ment of the Sunday law will bring us. It is our duty, as we see the
      
      
        signs of approaching peril, to arouse to action. Let none sit in calm
      
      
        expectation of the evil, comforting themselves with the belief that this
      
      
        work must go on because prophecy has foretold it, and that the Lord
      
      
        will shelter His people. We are not doing the will of God if we sit in
      
      
        quietude, doing nothing to preserve liberty of conscience. Fervent,
      
      
        effectual prayer should be ascending to heaven that this calamity may
      
      
        596
      
      
         Testimonies for the Church 5:450, 451
      
      
        597
      
      
         Testimonies for the Church 5:452, 453