Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 7 (1891-1892)

Ms 27, 1892

The Crisis Imminent

Preston, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

February 18, 1892

This manuscript is published in entirety in SpTA #1b 37-40.

Dear Brother Olsen:

This is the first opportunity we have had to get a copy of this matter. Marian thinks that Dr. Kellogg has had a copy of this; but through changes of workers I fear that this may not be; therefore, I have had Emily do her first practicing. It is well done. I send it to you, that you may take a copy of it, if you choose, and be ready at any time to lay your hand on it in an emergency. I want you should have a copy of it. This has cost me much labor in writing it out in this early morning hours, while others were asleep. 7LtMs, Ms 27, 1892, par. 1

I am deeply exercised in mind in reference to the low standard of piety among our people. And when I think of the woes passed on Capernaum, I think of how much heavier will come the condemnation upon those who know the truth and have not walked according to the truth, but in the sparks of their own kindling. In the night seasons I am addressing the people in a very solemn manner, beseeching them to ask their own consciences, What am I? Am I a Christian, or am I not? Is my heart renewed? Has the transforming grace of God molded my character? Are my sins repented of? Are they confessed? Are they forgiven? Am I one with Christ as He is one with the Father? Do I hate what I once loved? Do I now love what I once hated? Do I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus? Do I feel I am the purchased possession of Jesus Christ, and that every hour I must consecrate myself to His service? 7LtMs, Ms 27, 1892, par. 2

We are standing upon the threshold of great and solemn events. The whole earth is to be lightened with the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the channels of the great deep. Prophecies are being fulfilled, and stormy times are before us. Old controversies which have apparently been hushed for a long time will be revived, and new controversies will spring up; new and old will commingle, and this will take place right early. The angels are holding the four winds, that they shall not blow, until the specified work of warning is given to the world; but the storm is gathering, the clouds are loading, ready to burst upon the world, and to many it will be as a thief in the night. 7LtMs, Ms 27, 1892, par. 3

Many smiled and would not believe when we told them, twenty and thirty years ago, that the Sunday would be urged upon all the world, and a law be made to compel its observance, and force conscience. We see it being fulfilled. All that God has said of the future will surely come to pass; not one thing will fail of all that He has spoken. Protestantism is now reaching hands across the gulf to clasp hands with papacy, and a confederacy is being formed to trample out of sight the Sabbath of the fourth commandment; and the man of sin, who, at the instigation of Satan, instituted the spurious Sabbath, this child of the papacy, will be exalted to take the place of God. 7LtMs, Ms 27, 1892, par. 4

All heaven is represented to me as watching the unfolding of events. A crisis is to be revealed in the great and prolonged controversy in the government of God on earth. Something great and decisive is to take place, and that right early. If any delay, the character of God and His throne will be compromised. The armory of heaven is open; all the universe of God and its equipment is ready. One word has justice to speak, and there will be terrific representations upon the earth, of the wrath of God. There will be voices and thunderings and earthquakes and universal desolation. Every movement in the universe of heaven is to prepare the world for the great crisis. 7LtMs, Ms 27, 1892, par. 5

Intensity is taking possession of every earthly element; and as a people who have had great light and wonderful knowledge, many of them are represented by the five sleeping virgins with their lamps, but no oil in their vessels; cold, senseless, with a feeble, waning piety. While a new life is being diffused and is springing up from beneath and taking fast hold of all Satan’s agencies, preparatory to the last great conflict and struggle, a new light and life and power is descending from on high, and taking possession of God’s people who are not dead, as many now are, in trespasses and sins. The people who will now see what is soon to come upon us by what is being transacted before us, will no longer trust in human inventions, and will feel that the Holy Spirit must be recognized, received, presented before the people, that they may contend for the glory of God, and work everywhere in the byways and highways of life, for the saving of the souls of their fellow men. The only rock that is sure and steadfast is the Rock of Ages. Those only who build on this Rock are secure. 7LtMs, Ms 27, 1892, par. 6

Those who are carnally minded now, notwithstanding the warnings given of God in His Word and through the testimonies of His Spirit, will never unite with the family of the Redeemed. They are sensual, debased in thought, and abominable in the sight of God. They have never been sanctified through the truth. They are not partakers of the divine nature, have never overcome self and the world with its affections and lusts. These characters are all through our churches, and as the result the churches are weak and sickly and ready to die. There must be no indifferent testimony borne now, but a decided, pointed testimony, rebuking every impurity and exalting Jesus. We must as a people be in the attitude of expectation, working and waiting and watching and praying. 7LtMs, Ms 27, 1892, par. 7

This blessed hope of the second appearing of Christ needs to be presented often to the people, with its solemn realities; looking for the soon appearing of our Lord Jesus to come in His glory, will lead to the regarding of earthly things as emptiness and nothingness. All worldly honor or distinction is of no value, for the true believer lives above the world; his steps are advancing heavenward. He is a pilgrim and stranger. His citizenship is above. He is gathering the sunbeams of the righteousness of Christ into his soul, that he may be a burning and shining light to the moral darkness that has enshrouded the world. What vigorous faith, what lively hope, what fervent love, what holy, consecrated zeal for God is seen in him, and what a decided distinction between him and the world! “Watch ye therefore, and pray alway, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” [Luke 21:36.] “Watch ye therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.” “Therefore be ye ready also; for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.” [Matthew 24:42, 44.] “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments.” [Revelation 16:15.] 7LtMs, Ms 27, 1892, par. 8