who were blessed with its light were tempted and tried . The Lord gives a special truth for the people in an emergency . Who dare refuse to publish it ? He commands His servants to present the last invitation of mercy to the world . They cannot remain silent , except at the peril of their souls . Christ ' s ambassadors have nothing to do with consequences . They must perform their duty and leave results with God .
As the opposition rises to a fiercer height , the servants of God are again perplexed ; for it seems to them that they have brought the crisis . But conscience and the word of God assure them that their course is right ; and although the trials continue , they are strengthened to bear them . The contest grows closer and sharper , but their faith and courage rise with the emergency . Their testimony is : " We dare not tamper with God ' s word , dividing His holy law ; calling one portion essential and another nonessential , to gain the favour of the world . The Lord whom we serve is able to deliver us . Christ has conquered the powers of earth ; and shall we be afraid of a world already conquered ?"
Persecution in its varied forms is the development of a principle which will exist as long as Satan exists and Christianity has vital power . No man can serve God without enlisting against himself the opposition of the hosts of darkness . Evil angels will assail him , alarmed that his influence is taking the prey from their hands . Evil men , rebuked by his example , will unite with them in seeking to separate him from God by alluring temptations . When these do not succeed , then a compelling power is employed to force the conscience . But so long as Jesus remains man ' s intercessor in the sanctuary above , the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit is felt by rulers and people . It still controls to some extent the laws of the land . Were it not for these laws , the condition of the world would be much worse than it now is .
While many of our rulers are active agents of Satan , God also has His agents among the leading men of the nation . The enemy moves upon his servants to propose measures that would greatly impede the work of God ; but statesmen who fear the Lord are influenced by holy angels to oppose such propositions with unanswerable arguments . Thus a few men will hold in check a powerful current of evil . The opposition of the enemies of truth will be restrained that the third angel ' s message may do its work . When the final warning shall be given , it will arrest the attention of these leading men through whom the Lord is now working , and some of them will accept it , and will stand with the people of God through the time of trouble . The angel who unites in the proclamation of the third angel ' s message is to lighten the whole earth with his glory . A work of world-wide extent and unwonted power is here foretold . The advent movement of 1840-44 was a glorious manifestation of the power of God ; the first angel ' s message was carried to every missionary station in the world , and in some countries there was the greatest religious interest which has been witnessed in any land since the Reformation of the sixteenth century ; but these are to be exceeded by the mighty movement under the last warning of the third angel .
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