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01 - Introduction - The Great Controversy · Sacred Texts Archive

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  Introduction. Before the entrance of sin Adam enjoyed open communion with his Maker.
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  But since man separated himself from God by transgression, the human race has been
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  cut off from this high privilege by the plan of Redemption. However, a
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  way has been opened whereby the inhabitants of the earth may still have connection with
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  Heaven. God has communicated with men by his spirit, and divine light has
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  been imparted to the world by revelations to his chosen servants. Holy men of
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  God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost second Peter one, twenty
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  one. During the first twenty five hundred years of human history, there was
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  no written revelation. Those who had been taught of God communicated their knowledge to
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  others, and it was handed down from father to son to successive generations.
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  The preparation of the written word began in the time of Moses. Inspired revelations
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  were then embodied in an inspired book. This work continued during the long period
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  of sixteen hundred years, from Moses, the historian of Creation and the Law,
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  to John, the recorder of the most sublime truths of the Gospel.
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  The Bible points to God as its author, yet it was written by human
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  hands, and in the varied style of its different books. It presents the
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  characteristics of the several writers. The truths revealed are all given by inspiration of
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  God Tewo Timothy three sixteen. Yet they are expressed in the words of men.
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  The Infinite One, by his Holy Spirit, has shed light into the
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  minds and hearts of his servants. He has given dreams and visions, symbols
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  and figures. And those to whom the truth was thus revealed have themselves embodied
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  the thought in human language. The Ten Commandments were spoken by God himself and
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  were written by his own hand. They are of divine and not of human
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  composition. But the Bible, with its God given truths expressed in the language
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  of men, presents a union of the divine and the human. Such a
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  union existed in the nature of Christ, who was the son of God and
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  the son of Man. Thus it is true of the Bible, as it
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  was of Christ, that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us John
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  one fourteen. Written in different ages by men who differed widely in rank and
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  occupation, and in mental and spiritual endowments, the books of the Bible present
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  a wide contrast in style, as well as a diversity in the nature of
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  the subjects unfolded. Different forms of expression are employed by different writers. Often
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  the same truth is more strikingly presented by one than by another. And as
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  several writers present a subject under varied aspects and relations, there may appear to
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  the superficial, careless, or prejudiced reader to be discrepancy or contradiction, where
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  the thoughtful reference student with clearer insight discerns the underlying harmony as presented through different
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  individuals, The truth is brought out in its varied aspects. One writer is
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  more ste strongly impressed with one phase of the subject. He grasps those points
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  that harmonize with his experience or with his power of perception and appreciation. Another
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  seizes upon a different phase, And each, under the guidance of the Holy
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  Spirit, presents what is most forcibly impressed upon his own mind, a different
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  aspect of the truth in each, but a perfect harmony through all, and
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  the truths thus revealed unite to form a perfect whole adapted to meet the wants
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  of men. In all the circumstances and experiences of life, God has been
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  pleased to communicate his truth to the world by human agencies, and He himself,
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  by his Holy Spirit, qualified men and enabled them to do this work.
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  He guided the mind in the selection of what to speak and what to
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  write. The treasure was entrusted to earth and vessels, yet it is nonetheless
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  from Heaven. The testimony is conveyed through the imperfect expression of human language.
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  Yet it is the testimony of God, and the obedient believe leaving child of
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  God beholds in it the glory of a divine power, full of grace and
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  truth. In his word, God has committed to men the knowledge necessary for
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  salvation. The Holy Scriptures are to be accepted as an authoritative, infallible revelation
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  of His will. They are the standard of character, the revealer of doctrines,
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  and the test of experience. Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable
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  for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction, which is in
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  righteousness, that the Man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every
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  good work. Two Timothy three, sixteen and seventeen revised version. Yet the
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  fact that God has revealed his will to men through his word has not rendered
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  needless the continued presence and guiding of the Holy Spirit. On the contrary,
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  the Spirit was promised by our Savior to open the Word to his servants to
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  illuminate and apply its teachings. And since it was the Spirit of God that
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  inspired the Bible, it is it is impossible that the teaching of the Spirit
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  should ever be contrary to that of the Word. The Spirit was not given,
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  nor can it ever be bestowed to supersede the Bible, For the scriptures
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  explicitly state that the Word of God is the standard by which all teaching and
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  experience must be tested. Since the apostle John believe not every spirit, but
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  try the spirits whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone
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  out into the world First John four one. And Isaiah declares to the law
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  and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it
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  is because there is no light in them Isaiah eight twenty. Great reproach has
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  been cast upon the work of the Holy Spirit by the errors of a class
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  that, claiming its enlightenment, profess to have no further need of guidance from
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  the Word of God. They are governed by impressions which they regard as the
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  voice of God, and the soul, but the spirit that controls them is
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  not the Spirit of God. This following of impressions to the neglect of the
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  scriptures can lead only to confusion, to deception and ruin. It serves only
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  to further the designs of the evil One. Since the ministry of the Holy
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  Spirit is of vital importance to the Church of Christ, it is one of
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  the devices of Satan, through the errors of extremists and fanatics, to cast
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  contempt upon the work of the Spirit and cause the people of God to neglect
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  this source of strength, which our Lord himself has provided in harmony with the
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  Word of God. His Spirit was to continue its work through the period of
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  the Gospel dispensation. During the ages, while the scriptures of both the Old
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  and the New Testament were being given, the Holy Spirit did not cease to
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  communicate light to individual minds. Apart from the revelations to be embodied in the
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  Sacred Canon. The Bible itself relates how through the Holy Spirit men received warning,
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  reproof, counsel, and instruction in matters no way relating to the giving
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  of the scriptures, and mention is made of prophets in different ages, of
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  whose utterances nothing is recorded in like manner. After the close of the canon
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  of Scripture, the Holy Spirit was still to continue its work to enlighten,
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  warn and comfort the children of God. Jesus promised his disciples the comforter,
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  which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name.
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  He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever
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  I have said unto you. When he the Spirit of Truth, is come,
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  he will guide you into all truth, and he will show you things
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  to come. John fourteen twenty six sixteen thirteen Scripture plainly teaches that these promises,
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  so far from being limited to apostolic days, extend to the Church of
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  Christ in all ages. The Savior assures his followers, I am with you
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  always, even unto the end of the world. Matthew twenty eight twenty and
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  Paul declares that the gifts and manifestations of the Spirit were set in the Church
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  for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for
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  the edifying of the Body of Christ, till we all come in the unity
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  of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a
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  perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ Ephesians
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  four, twelve and thirteen. For the believers at Ephesus, the apostle prayed
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  that the God of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory,
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  may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,
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  the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may know what is
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  the hope of His calling, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power
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  to usward who believe Ephesians one seventeen through nineteen. The ministry of the Divine
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  Spirit in enlightening the understanding and opening to the mind the deep things of God's
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  Holy Word was the blessing which Paul thus besought for the Ephesian Church. After
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  the wonderful manifestation of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, Peter exhorted
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  the people to repentance and baptism in the name of Christ for the rest of
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  their sins. And he said, ye shall receive the gift of the Holy
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  Ghost, for the promise is unto you and to your children, and to
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  all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall
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  call Act two thirty eight and thirty nine, in immediate connection with the scenes
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  of the Great Day of God, the Lord, by the prophet Joel,
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  has promised a special manifestation of his Spirit Joel two twenty eight. This prophecy
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  received a partial fulfillment in the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost,
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  but it will reach its full accomplishment in the manifestation of divine grace,
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  which will attend the closing work of the Gospel. The great controversy between good
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  and evil will increase in intensity to the very close of time. In all
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  ages, the wrath of Satan has been manifested against the Church of Christ,
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  and God has bestowed his grace and spirit upon his people to strengthen them to
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  stand against the power of the evil One. When the apostles of Christ were
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  to bear his Gospel to the world and to record it for all future ages,
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  they were especially endowed with the enlightenment of the spirit. But as the
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  Church approaches her final deliverance, Satan is to work with greater power. He
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  comes down having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short
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  time Revelation twelve twelve. He will work with all power and signs and lying
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  wonders second Thessalonians two nine. For six thousand years, that master mind that
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  once was highest among the angels of God has been wholly bent to the work
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  of deception and ruin, and all the depths of satanic skill and subtlety acquired.
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  All the cruelty developed during these struggles of the ages, will be brought
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  to bear against God's people in the final conflict, and in this time of
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  peril. The followers of Christ are to bear to the world the warning of
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  the Lord's second advent, and a people are to be prepared to stand before
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  him at his coming without spot and blameless second Peter three fourteen. At this
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  time the special endowment of divine grace and power is not less needful to the
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  Church than in Apostolic days. Through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, the
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  scenes of the long continued conflict between good and evil have been open to the
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  writer of these pages. From time to time I have been permitted to behold
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  the working in different ages of the great controversy between Christ, the Prince of
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  Life, the author of our salvation, and Satan, the Prince of evil,
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  the author of sin. The first transgressor of God's holy law. Satan's
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  enmity against Christ has been manifested against his followers. The same hatred of the
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  principles of God's law. The same policy of deception, by which error is
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  made to appear as truth, by which human laws are substituted for the law
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  of God, and men are led to worship the creature rather than the Creator,
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  may be traced in all the history of the past. Satan's efforts to
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  misrepresent the character of God, to cause men to cherish a false conception of
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  the Creator, and thus to regard him with fear and hate rather than with
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  love. His endeavors to set aside the divine Law, leading the people to
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  think themselves free from its requirements, and his persecution of those who dare to
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  resist his deceptions, have been steadfastly pursued in all ages. They may be
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  traced in the history of patriarchs, prophets, and apostles of martyrs and reformers.
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  In the great Final conflict, Satan will employ the same policy, manifest
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  the same spirit, and work for the same end as in all preceding ages.
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  That which has been will be, except that the coming struggle will be
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  marked with a terrible intensity, such as the world has never witnessed. Satan's
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  deceptions will be more subtle, his assaults more determined. If it were possible,
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  he would lead astray the elect Mark thirteen twenty two revised version. As
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  the Spirit of God has opened to my mind the great truths of His word
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  and the scenes of the past and the future, I have been bidden to
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  make known to others that which has thus been revealed, to trace the history
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  of the controversy in pastages, and especially so to present it as to shed
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  a light on the fast approaching struggle of the future. In pursuance of this
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  purpose, I have endeavored to select and group together events in the history of
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  the Church in such a manner as to trace the unfolding of the great testing
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  truths that, at different periods have been given to the world, that have
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  excited the wrath of Satan and the enmity of a world loving Church, and
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  that have been maintained by the witness of those who love not their lives unto
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  the death. In these records we may see a foreshadowing of the conflict before
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  us. Regarding them in the light of God's word and by the illumination of
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  his spirit, we may see unveiled the devices of the wicked one, and
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  the dangers which they must shun, who would be found without fault before the
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  Lord at his coming. The great events which have marked the progress of reform
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  and pastages are matters of history, well known and universally acknowledged by the Protestant
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  world. They are facts which none can gain say. This history I have
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  presented briefly, in accordance with the scope of the book and the brevity which
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  must necessarily be observed, the facts having been condensed into as little space as
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  seemed consistent with a proper understanding of their application. In some cases, where
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  a historian has so grouped together events as to afford in brief a comprehensive view
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  of the subject, or has summarized details in a convenient manner, his words
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  have been quoted, But in some instances no specific credit has been given,
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  since the quotations are not given for the purpose of citing that writer as authority,
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  but because his statement affords a ready and forcible presentation of the subject.
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  In narrating the experience and views of those carrying forward the work of reform in
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  our own time, similar use has been made of their published works. It
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  is not so much the object of this book to present new truths concerning the
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  struggles of former times, as to bring out facts and principles which have a
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  bearing on coming events. Yet viewed as part of the controversy between the forces
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  of light and darkness. All these records of the past are seen to have
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  a new significance, and through them a light is cast upon the future,
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  illumining the pathway of those who, like the reformers of pastages, will be
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  called, even at the peril of all earthly good, to witness for the
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  word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. To unfold the scenes
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  of the great controversy between truth and error, to reveal the wiles of Satan
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  and the means by which he may be successfully resisted, To present a satisfactory
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  solution of the great problem of evil, shedding such a light upon the origin
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  and the final disposition of sin, as to make fully manifest the justice and
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  benevolence of God in all his dealings with his creatures, and to show the
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  wholy, unchanging nature of His law. Is the object of this book,
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  that, through its influenced souls may be delivered from the power of darkness and
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  become partakers of the inheritance of the saints and light. To the praise of
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  Him who loved us and gave himself for us is the earnest prayer of the
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  writer e. G. W End of Introduction,