The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 466

And by the rule which Christ Himself has given, “Ye shall know them
by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16), it is evident that these movements are
not the work of the Spirit of God.
In the truths of His word, God has given to men a revelation of
Himself; and to all who accept them they are a shield against the
deceptions of Satan. It is a neglect of these truths that has opened the
door to the evils which are now becoming so widespread in the religious
world. The nature and the importance of the law of God have been,
to a great extent, lost sight of. A wrong conception of the character,
the perpetuity, and the obligation of the divine law has led to errors in
relation to conversion and sanctification, and has resulted in lowering the
standard of piety in the church. Here is to be found the secret of the lack
of the Spirit and power of God in the revivals of our time.
There are, in the various denominations, men eminent for their piety,
by whom this fact is acknowledged and deplored. Professor Edwards A.
Park, in setting forth the current religious perils, ably says: “One source
of danger is the neglect of the pulpit to enforce the divine law. In former
days the pulpit was an echo of the voice of conscience.... Our most
illustrious preachers gave a wonderful majesty to their discourses by
following the example of the Master, and giving prominence to the law,
its precepts, and its threatenings. They repeated the two great maxims,
that the law is a transcript of the divine perfections, and that a man who
does not love the law does not love the gospel; for the law, as well as
the gospel, is a mirror reflecting the true character of God. This peril
leads to another, that of underrating the evil of sin, the extent of it, the
demerit of it. In proportion to the rightfulness of the commandment is
the wrongfulness of disobeying it....
“Affiliated to the dangers already named is the danger of
underestimating the justice of God. The tendency of the modern pulpit
is to strain out the divine justice from the divine benevolence, to sink
benevolence into a sentiment rather

465