Solemn Dream
163
and exclaimed: “This is the wonderful power of God. He has made
the Testimonies a powerful means of reaching souls, and He will work
yet more mightily through them than He has hitherto done. Who will
be on the Lord’s side?”
I dreamed that quite a number instantly sprang to their feet, and
responded to the call. Others sat sullen, some manifested scorn and
derision, and a few seemed wholly unmoved. One stood by my side,
and said:
“God has raised you up, and has given you words to speak to the
people and to reach hearts, as He has given to no other one. He has
shaped your testimonies to meet cases that are in need of help. You
must be unmoved by scorn, derision, reproach, and censure. In order
to be God’s special instrument, you should lean to no one, but hang
upon Him alone, and, like the clinging vine, let your tendrils entwine
about Him. He will make you a means through which to communicate
His light to the people. You must daily gather strength from God, in
order to be fortified, that your surroundings may not dim or eclipse the
light that He has permitted to shine upon His people through you. It is
Satan’s special object to prevent this light from coming to the people
of God, who so greatly need it amid the perils of these last days.
[202]
“Your success is in your simplicity. As soon as you depart from
this, and fashion your testimony to meet the minds of any, your power
is gone. Almost everything in this age is glossed and unreal. The world
abounds in testimonies given to please and charm for the moment, and
to exalt self. Your testimony is of a different character. It is to come
down to the minutiae of life, keeping the feeble faith from dying, and
pressing home upon believers the necessity of shining as lights in the
world.
“God has given you your testimony to set before the backslider and
the sinner his true condition, and the immense loss he is sustaining by
continuing a life of sin. God has impressed this upon you by opening it
before your vision as He has to no other one now living; and according
to the light He has given you, will He hold you responsible. ‘Not by
might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.’ ‘Lift
up thy voice like a trumpet, and show My people their transgression,
and the house of Jacob their sins.’”
Zechariah 4:6
;
Isaiah 58:1
.
This dream had a powerful influence upon me. When I awoke, my
depression was gone, my spirits were cheerful, and I realized great