The great controversy between good and evil will increase in inten-
sity to the very close of time. In all ages the wrath of Satan has been
manifested against the church of Christ; and God has bestowed His
grace and Spirit upon His people to strengthen them to stand against
the power of the evil one. When the apostles of Christ were to bear
His gospel to the world and to record it for all future ages, they were
especially endowed with the enlightenment of the Spirit. But as the
[x]
church approaches her final deliverance, Satan is to work with greater
power. He comes down “having great wrath, because he knoweth
that he hath but a short time.”
Revelation 12:12
. He will work “with
all power and signs and lying wonders.”
2 Thessalonians 2:9
. For
six thousand years that mastermind that once was highest among the
angels of God has been wholly bent to the work of deception and ruin.
And all the depths of satanic skill and subtlety acquired, all the cruelty
developed, during these struggles of the ages, will be brought to bear
against God’s people in the final conflict. And in this time of peril the
followers of Christ are to bear to the world the warning of the Lord’s
second advent; and a people are to be prepared to stand before Him at
His coming, “without spot, and blameless.”
2 Peter 3:14
. At this time
the special endowment of divine grace and power is not less needful
to the church than in apostolic days.
Through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, the scenes of the long-
continued conflict between good and evil have been opened to the
writer of these pages. From time to time I have been permitted to
behold the working, in different ages, of the great controversy between
Christ, the Prince of life, the Author of our salvation, and Satan, the
prince of evil, the author of sin, the first transgressor of God’s holy
law. Satan’s enmity against Christ has been manifested against His
followers. The same hatred of the principles of God’s law, the same
policy of deception, by which error is made to appear as truth, by
which human laws are substituted for the law of God, and men are led
to worship the creature rather than the Creator, may be traced in all the
history of the past. Satan’s efforts to misrepresent the character of God,
to cause men to cherish a false conception of the Creator, and thus to
regard Him with fear and hate rather than with love; his endeavors to
set aside the divine law, leading the people to think themselves free
from its requirements; and his persecution of those who dare to resist
his deceptions, have been steadfastly pursued in all ages. They may be