The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son. Matthew 22:2.

The Lord God has provided a banquet for the whole human race. It is represented in the parable as a great supper where there is provided a festival for every soul. All connected with this supper may enjoy the heavenly feast, which is the gospel. This feast is open to all who will receive it. All are invited and urged to come….

All who are partakers of the wedding feast, the gospel feast, by this act say that they have accepted Christ as their personal Saviour. They wear His distinguishing dress. They have accepted the truth as it is in Jesus, which is the robe of Christ’s righteousness. Only those do honor to Christ who accept the invitation, “Come, for all things are now ready; come to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” These put on the white linen, the clean, pure character, showing that they no longer live their old citizen life that they lived in their ignorance. Their speech is changed. Their conversation is in altogether another line….

All who have the light of the Word presented to them are highly favored. That Word is the bread of life to those who eat of it. “In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.” (Luke 10:21).

The priests and scribes and rulers were so self-sufficient that they would not heed the words of Christ. They were convicted, their understanding was convinced, but they would not receive the Sent of God. They had been privileged with every temporal and spiritual advantage, but Christ looked upon them as rejecters of all the mercy and compassion and tenderness and love that He had come to the world to bring them. They turned away from the light and evidence that Christ had given them, and scorned His mercy. He looked upon them with yearning desire, and said, “Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight” (verse 21). He was grieved that the people most favored upon the face of the earth should be the very ones to deny Him and refuse His offer of everlasting life.

There is to be a constant advancement on our part. The revelation of the Father to the human agent will be such a revelation that the mind can take hold of and comprehend. All who follow on steadfastly to know the truth as it is in Jesus will know that there is still more to be learned. Expansion, development, an increase of faith and holiness, will give us an experience in the religious life, and this is the law of the Christian life.—Manuscript 143, October 17, 1898, “The Parable of the Wedding Feast.”

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Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. John 15:4.

Christ suffers trial to come upon His followers that they may be led to seek the Lord more earnestly. Then when trials come, do not think that the Lord is your enemy. He purges for a reason. He does not want you to be discouraged; but He would prove you, to see if you will be true to Him and will conduct yourselves circumspectly under every circumstance. He does not want to drive you away, but to drive you nearer to the Lord. In God is the Christian’s only hope in time of perplexity.

Do not talk to others about your trials, for they have enough of their own to bear, and our human friends cannot always understand. It is your privilege to go to One who will always understand, because His life on earth was one of constant trial and perplexity, borne without failure and sin….

It is not enough that now and then you offer a prayer, and now and then deal righteously. You are to have the attributes of an abiding Christ working out in your life constantly. How many of us have this experience? Yet we may have it, and having it, we will be the happiest people on the face of the earth. With Christ’s Word abiding in us, we shall give evidence that we have wholly received Him who in His humanity lived a sinless life. In the strength of divinity we shall overcome every tendency to evil….

The difference between the character of Christ and the character of other men of His day was everywhere apparent; and because of this difference the world hated Him. It hated Him for His goodness and His strict integrity. And Christ declared that those who manifest the same attributes would be likewise hated. As we near the end of time this hatred for the followers of Christ will be more and more manifest.

Christ took humanity and bore the hatred of the world that He might show men and women that they could live without sin, that their words, their actions, their spirit, might be sanctified to God. We can be perfect Christians if we will manifest this power in our lives. When the light of heaven rests upon us continually, we shall represent Christ. It was the righteousness revealed in His life that distinguished Him from the world and called forth its hatred….

The words of Christ are spoken for His people in all ages—for us, upon whom the ends of the world are come.—Manuscript 97, October 16, 1909, “I Am the True Vine,” a sermon preached at San Jose, California.

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Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruits of the womb is his reward. Psalm 127:3.

I have a special message to parents. I am charged to bring to parents the strict requirement of God in each family. Fathers and mothers need to be daily reconverted in the line of bringing light into their own families. Cultivate Christian politeness in your training of your children. Guard yourselves. Never allow your hand to strike a child in anger. Your children are the Lord’s property and they must be treated kindly, but not vindicated in their disrespect of righteousness and truth by your own careless irreverence. Give them righteousness. Christ is truth, the complete perfect sample of what every soul must be if he enters the heavenly courts. All the great facts are set forth. You can never cure an evil spirit by doing irreligious work….

Be kind in your speech to your children. No loud, tempestuous scolding will cure your children of any evil action. No taking your children in a passion and shaking them will convert them from the error of their ways to do God’s will. They are God’s property. As a people professing to be reformers the very best lesson that you can give your children in this age of corruption is not to indulge them to become fashionable after the worldly style. Sons and daughters are to be instructed as to what it means to be obedient to God’s requirements, what will fit you and them for a position in the heavenly kingdom.

Watch and pray, fathers and mothers, lest ye enter into temptation. Give your hearts and minds and souls to God’s service. You are not to be severe, but kneel before the Lord with your own hearts softened by the grace of God. Be converted that you may have the earnest of the Holy Spirit. What a comfort to know that the Lord will help you in every emergency, for you are laborers together with God….

Fathers and mothers, you take the responsibility of bringing children into the world. Will you consider it is not for you to work in vain? “We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.” … Now this takes in Christian experience. Here is large encouragement. Here are the graces we are to receive, if we comply with the conditions. Fathers, mothers, if you are not converted, will you measure your advantages if you will comply with the conditions? … Your children are the Lord’s property with which you have been entrusted, to bring up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.—Manuscript 61, October 15, 1911, “Individual Responsibility of Fathers and Mothers.”

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Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Matthew 25:41.

It is possible for men to offer the Saviour outward homage, to be Christians in profession, to have a form of godliness, while the heart, whose loyalty He prizes above all else, is estranged from Him. Such ones have a name to live, but they are dead….

To the marriage supper of the Lamb will come many who have not on the wedding garment—the robe [Christ] purchased for them with His lifeblood. From lips that never make a mistake come the words, “Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?” (Matthew 22:12). Those [thus] addressed are speechless. They know that words would be useless. The truth, with its sanctifying power, has not been brought into the soul, and the tongue that once spoke so readily of the truth is now silent. The words are then spoken, “Take them out of My presence. They are not worthy to taste of My supper” (cf. Luke 14:24).

As they are separated from the loyal ones, Christ looks upon them with deep sorrow. They occupied high positions of trust in God’s work, but they have not the life insurance policy that would have entitled them to eternal life. From the quivering lips of Christ come the mournful words of regret, “I loved them; I gave My life for them; but they persisted in rejecting My pleadings, and continued in sin. O that thou hadst known, even thou, in this thy day, the things which belong to thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes.”

Today Christ is looking with sadness upon those whose characters He must at last refuse to acknowledge. Inflated with self-sufficiency, they hope that it will be well with their souls. But at the last great day, the mirror of detection reveals to them the evil that their hearts have practiced, and shows them at the same time the impossibility of reform. Every effort was made to bring them to repentance. But they refused to humble their hearts. Now the bitter lamentation is heard, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and my soul is not saved” (cf. Jeremiah 8:20)….

What a scene is this! I pass over the ground again and again, bowed down in an agony that no tongue can express, as I see the end of the many, many who have refused to receive their Saviour. Justice will take the throne, and the arm strong to save will show itself strong to smite and destroy the enemies of the kingdom of God. Christ will lay bare the motives and deeds of everyone. Every hidden action will stand out as clearly before the doer as if proclaimed before the universe.—Manuscript 121, October 14, 1903, “A Solemn Warning.”

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And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. John 10:16.

Dear Sister Mary: While I have been writing out what has been shown me in vision while at Roosevelt [New York] in regard to individual cases, your case has come in order, and I will try to write you how you were presented before me. I was shown that you are not standing in the light and favor of God, but are too mixed up with the world; that your love for your Sabbathkeeping brethren and sisters … is growing cold….

Your influence of late has not been in union with the Spirit and work of God, and you are not going forward but backward. The opinions of unbelievers are having too great an influence upon your mind…. There is a work to be accomplished for you. You must possess deep humility of soul, and war against self and an unyielding will, or you will certainly be ensnared by the enemy.

Some who love to hear and tell some new thing have grieved you, have injured you, and you have in your mind censured those who did not deserve censure, and [have] been suspicious of those whom you could safely trust. When you take the position you should, then your heart will be strongly knit with your brethren and sisters, and their hearts will be knit with yours, but you have been weaning yourself from your brethren and the cause exists in yourself. You are not willing to be led and instructed. Darkness and clouds are gathering over you. Satan desires you that he may sift you as wheat….

God calls His church to be more separate from the world in their dress than you have thought. God is constantly instructing His people to flee from pride of appearance, from love of self, but you are working directly against the Spirit of God in this matter, hence you are walking in darkness and place yourself upon the battlefield of the enemy.

I saw that God loves you. The Good Shepherd has tenderly cared for you and preserved you amid your afflictions and sufferings of mind; yet you must yield your will and judgment, and be willing to be taught. None—no, not one—can go alone to heaven. God has a people whom He is leading, guiding, and instructing. They must be subject one to another. If one undertakes to go alone, independently, to heaven he will find he has chosen the … path that will not lead him to life.

Dear Mary, I love you. I have tried to write this matter as it was presented to me. May you see it as it is, is my prayer, and make sure and thorough work for eternity. From your sister, (signed) Ellen G. White—Letter 19, October 13, 1861, to a young Christian.

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