The Holiness of God
May 14th, 1851, I saw the beauty and loveliness of Jesus. As I
beheld his glory the thought did not occur to me that I should ever
be separated from his presence. I saw a light coming from the glory
that encircled the Father, and as it approached near to me, my body
trembled and shook like a leaf. I thought if it should come near to
me I should be struck out of existence; but the light past me. Then
could I have some sense of the great and terrible God that we have
to do with. Then I saw what faint views some have of the holiness
of God, and how much they take his holy and reverend name in vain,
without realizing that it was God, the great and terrible God, they were
speaking of. I have seen that many, while praying, used careless and
irreverent expressions which grieved the tender Spirit of the Lord and
caused their petitions to be shut out of heaven.
I also saw that many did not realize what they must be in order to
live in the sight of the Lord, without a High Priest in the Sanctuary,
through the time of trouble. Those who receive the seal of the living
God, and are protected in the time of trouble, must reflect the image
of Jesus fully.
I saw that many were neglecting the preparation so needful, and
were looking to the time of the “refreshing” and “latter rain” to fit
them to stand in the day of the Lord, and to live in his sight. O,
how many I saw in the time of trouble without a shelter! They had
neglected the needful preparation, therefore they could not receive the
refreshing that all must have to fit them to live in the sight of a holy
God. Those who refuse to be hewed by the prophets, and do not purify
their souls in obeying the whole truth, and are willing to believe that
their condition is far better than it really is, will come up to the time of
the falling of the plagues, and then see that they needed to be hewed
and squared for the building. But there will be no time then to do it;
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and no Mediator to plead their cause before the Father. Before this
time, the awfully solemn declaration has gone forth, “He that is unjust,
let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and
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