Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. Hosea 6:3.

Let everyone now repent of his mistakes, and seek the Lord with all his heart. The converting power of God will come to everyone who will seek the peace of Jesus Christ. His words of instruction are for all who will listen and follow Him.

In mercy God seeks to lead the unrighteous to repentance. The obedient will delight in the law of the Lord. He puts His laws in their minds, and writes them in their hearts. Their speech will be such as is prompted by an indwelling Saviour. They have that faith that works by love and purifies the soul from all the defilement of Satan’s suggestions. Their heart yearns after God. In their conversation they love to dwell upon His mercy and goodness, for to them He is altogether lovely. They learn the language of heaven, the country of their adoption.

The promise is for us: “I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: that they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God” (Ezekiel 11:19, 20).

I am instructed to say that it is not because of lack of opportunity to know the will and way of God that sinners must perish, but because of their determination to carry out their own will. They refuse to become spiritually enlightened in the Word of God. Willingly they remain ignorant of the privileges of the Christian and of his duty day by day to inquire of God. The Lord desires to give to everyone a deep, intelligent experience in spiritual life. But many are contented with a haphazard experience….

The Lord calls for faithfulness in service. He desires servants who will be diligent to help those in error. The day of the Lord is right upon us…. Let not one stumbling block be laid before those who are seeking to know the will of the Lord. Do not make public the supposed errors you see in those who profess to believe the truth. What you have to say, say to them alone, with hearts filled with pity and tenderness….

The will of God is made so plain that the weakest intellect can understand it, if the heart is set to do the will of God. Those who follow on to know the Lord will know that His going forth is prepared as the morning (see Hosea 6:3). Step by step the Lord will unerringly lead those who put their trust in Him.—Letter 281, October 10, 1905, to Dr. and Mrs. D. H. Kress.

From The Upward Look – Page 297

Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord. Jeremiah 9:23, 24.

In … [our] work for the Master, self is [to be] hid. The language of the heart is, He must increase; I must decrease…. The love of self dies, the love of Jesus burns upon the altar of the soul. There is no spirit for low, common, self-seeking, or worldly ambition, because we are living in His presence, doing His work, and are in contact with Jesus Christ and His life. His character and His work are all-absorbing. The life imperceptibly becomes one with Christ as He was one with the Father. The truth and light and life are interwoven with life and character, and the aspirations are elevated, pure, unselfish, after the order of heaven….

If ever a people needed spiritual perception, vigor, and steadfast faith and power in prayer, it is the people who claim to be keeping the commandments of God and looking for the Lord Jesus Christ to come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory….

Love to Christ will always be seen in those who are laborers together with God. The common, earthly thoughts and motives are discarded as the love for Christ increases. None, however weak in faith and hope and courage, need to despair, for Christ has provided divine assistance to combine with man’s human effort. Christ works constantly to draw the soul into a pure and holy atmosphere. He is acquainted with our infirmities, and with the embarrassment we meet on every hand in the world. Assistance has been provided for every advanced step. When the earnest, struggling soul is compassed with infirmities and surrounded by foes to discourage, the Comforter draws near. The Holy Spirit helps our infirmities.

We must, if we overcome, use the means placed within our reach. We must put on the Lord Jesus Christ. By faith we must clothe ourselves with the righteousness of Christ and put no confidence in our own merits. Many are seeking to be present at the marriage supper of the Lamb in their own citizen’s dress, discarding the robe woven in the loom of heaven and prepared for all at infinite cost, as a free gift to His guests that shall eat of His supper. We must wear the livery of heaven. We must be clothed in Christ’s righteousness and go to warfare at His expense and under His bloodstained banner, or we are none of His.—Manuscript 41, October 9, 1890, “Diary: Labors at Adam’s Center.”

From The Upward Look – Page 296

That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 1 John 1:3.

Communion with God is the life of the soul. It is not something that we cannot interpret, something that we can clothe with beautiful words but which does not give us the genuine experience that makes our words of real value. Communion with God gives a daily experience that does indeed make our joy full.

Those who have this union with Christ will declare it in spirit and word and work. Profession is nothing unless in word and work good fruit is manifest. Unity, fellowship with one another and with Christ—this is the fruit borne on every branch of the living vine. The cleansed soul, born again, has a clear, distinct testimony to bear….

To know God is, in the scriptural sense of the term, to be one with Him in heart and mind, having an experimental knowledge of Him, holding reverential communion with Him as the Redeemer. Only through sincere obedience can this communion be obtained. Where this communion is lacking, the heart is not in any sense a temple of God, but is controlled by the foe, who is working out his own purposes through the human agency. Such a man, whatever his profession or claims, is not a temple of the Holy Spirit.

The experience is perfected by fruit bearing. He who does not bear good fruit in words and deeds, in the strength of elevated, ennobling principle, is a bad tree. The fruit that he bears is unpalatable to God. His professed knowledge of Christ is a falsehood, a deception….

In the light of the love of Christ, the gospel is an open book. This is the true light, which Christ came to bring to the world. The Saviour’s true disciples have received this love….

From the light that God has given me, I know that men’s great danger is in being self-deceived. Satan is watching his chance. He will come to men in human form, and will speak to them most entrancing words. He will bring against them the same temptations that he brought against Christ. Unless their minds and hearts are filled with the pure, unselfish, sanctified love that Christ revealed, they will fall under Satan’s power, and will do and say and write strange things, to deceive, if it were possible, the very elect….

Following Christ’s example of unselfish service, trusting like little children in His merits, and obeying His commands, we shall receive the approval of God.—Manuscript 120, October 8, 1903, “Lessons From the [First] Epistle of John.”

From The Upward Look – Page 295

The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. Psalm 19:7.

We may with profit study the record of the preparation made by the congregation of Israel for the hearing of the law….

The law of God is a transcript of His character. Its holy precepts were spoken from Sinai with God’s own voice, and written with His finger upon tables of stone. They stand forth alone, bearing the distinct, awful significance of their supreme importance. They mean life to the obedient and death to the disobedient. Through the ages God’s law has been preserved as the highest standard of morality. Not all the inventions of science or the imaginations of fruitful minds have been able to discover one essential duty not covered by this code.

God’s law is the security of life and property and peace and happiness. It was given to secure our present and eternal good. The antediluvians transgressed this law, and the earth was destroyed by a flood.

Let no man, by scientific presentations, lead minds away from the real to the imaginary. Let God be revealed in His true greatness. God calls for men who, in the midst of the idolatry offered to nature, will look from nature to nature’s God. God uses nature as one of His servants, to reveal His power. These things, the objects of His creation, show forth His handiwork. Of all that God has created, man, the crowning object of His creation, has the most greatly dishonored Him. In the judgment human beings will stand before God ashamed and condemned, because, though given intellect, reason, and power of speech, they would not obey God’s law….

Satan has his students, and he is teaching them his methods of secrecy; teaching them how to do underhanded work. His family is large. In his hands, crime has become a cruel science. To destroy is the motto of the archdeceiver. Satan has laid many snares for unwary souls. There are those who have so long responded to his ingenious plans that they now seem to have no power to break the spell that is upon them.

When the leaders of God’s people depart from principle, and bring dishonor on His cause, their sin is greater than the sin of those whose opportunities and privileges have been fewer….

A man is but a man. The words that fall from his lips are not to be regarded as coming from God. Unless God stands beside those in His service, and works with them, they are nothingness. For God’s people to put their trust in men and make flesh their arm is the height of folly.—Manuscript 119, October 7, 1903, “Lessons From Israel.”

From The Upward Look – Page 294

Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? 1 Corinthians 5:6.

I have had presented to me how the leaven of evil will work. Satan has come down in great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time in which to work. He will work with all deceivableness of unrighteousness. Those who in their past experience have had great light but have not cherished that light nor purified their souls by obeying the truth will meet with great loss….

The spirit of antichrist is developing rapidly. Soon there will be a time when those who follow their own human nature, who manifest a love for supremacy, will be found to be on the losing side. The Lord has abased kings, and He will say to all who, while professing to serve Him, … make a display and depart from His counsel: “What doest thou to declare My law, while thou thyself livest in transgression?” …

Let everyone who considers it is his privilege to do as he pleases remember that the Lord will allow him to have his way, but he will be brought through bitter experiences. It is the truth, my brethren, that we all need, the truth that works by love and purifies the soul….

Has God made the world, and then left it entirely to the jurisdiction of men? Has He retired from the scene of action, and left it to the domination of human agencies? How can it be that among those who profess to obey Him and to serve Him, there shall be strife and variance? What a terrible thing [it] is [for] sin to intrude itself, to manifest itself in apostasy, rebellion, and discord in God’s fair domain! …

The Lord created all the heavenly intelligences. Lucifer, exalted to be a beautiful, glorious being in the heavenly courts, brought in jealousy [and] evil surmising because he himself was not in the position of God. He declared that man was bound and fettered if he made God first and last and best in everything. God had not previously been obliged to speak of allegiance to His laws, for there had been no occasion for the least disaffection till it was introduced by Satan.

We still see the deceptive working of Satan on every side. God would have us plant our feet firmly upon the platform of His truth, that we may not be deceived by … [Satan’s] wonderful representations. In the rock Christ Jesus is our only safety.—Letter 310, October 6, 1906, to “Brother [W. D.] Salisbury and Those Connected With the Echo Publishing Company,” in Australia.

From The Upward Look – Page 293