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Life Sketches of Ellen G. White
no longer on men or on their own judgment, but make God their trust,
it will be made manifest in every instance by meekness of spirit, by
less talking and much more praying, by the exercise of caution in
their plans and movements. Such men will reveal the fact that their
dependence is in God, that they have the mind of Christ.
“Again and again I have been shown that the people of God in
these last days could not be safe in trusting in men, and making flesh
their arm. The mighty cleaver of truth has taken them out of the world
as rough stones that are to be hewed and squared and polished for the
heavenly building. They must be hewed by the prophets with reproof,
warning, admonition, and advice, that they may be fashioned after the
divine Pattern; this is the specified work of the Comforter, to transform
heart and character, that men may keep the way of the Lord....
“Since 1845 the dangers of the people of God have from time to
time been laid open before me, and I have been shown the perils that
would thicken about the remnant in the last days. These perils have
been revealed to me down to the present time. Great scenes are soon to
open before us. The Lord is coming with power and great glory. And
Satan knows that his usurped authority will soon be forever at an end.
His last opportunity to gain control of the world is now before him,
and he will make most decided efforts to accomplish the destruction
of the inhabitants of the earth. Those who believe the truth must be
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as faithful sentinels on the watchtower, or Satan will suggest specious
reasonings to them, and they will give utterance to opinions that will
betray sacred, holy trusts. The enmity of Satan against good, will
be manifested more and more, as he brings his forces into activity in
his last work of rebellion; and every soul that is not fully surrendered
to God, and kept by divine power, will form an alliance with Satan
against heaven, and join in battle against the Ruler of the universe.
“In a vision in 1880 I asked, ‘Where is the security for the peo-
ple of God in these days of peril?’ The answer was, ‘Jesus maketh
intercession for His people, though Satan standeth at His right hand to
resist Him.’ ‘And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O
Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not
this a brand plucked out of the fire?’ As man’s Intercessor and Advo-
cate, Jesus will lead all who are willing to be led, saying, ‘Follow Me
upward, step by step, where the clear light of the Sun of Righteousness
shines.’