Upon the truth - God looks to the “faith,” the upright purpose of the heart, and without it the nominal fealty of an oath is an abomination.
Thus it was that “in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem” the message of Jeremiah to Judah was, “Hear ye the words of this covenant,”—the plain precepts of Jehovah as recorded in the Sacred Scriptures,—“and do them.” Jeremiah 11:6. And this is the message he proclaimed as he stood in the temple courts in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim. PK 414.1
Israel's experience from the days of the Exodus was briefly reviewed. God's covenant with them had been, “Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be My people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.” Shamelessly and repeatedly had this covenant been broken. The chosen nation had “walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.” Jeremiah 7:23, 24. PK 414.2
“Why,” the Lord inquired, “is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding?” Jeremiah 8:5. In the language of the prophet it was because they had obeyed not the voice of the Lord their God and had refused to be corrected. See Jeremiah 5:3. “Truth is perished,” he mourned, “and is cut off from their mouth.” “The stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but My people know not the judgment of the Lord.” “Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the Lord: shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?” Jeremiah 7:28; 8:7; Jeremiah 9:9. PK 414.3
Read in context »Problem of Centralization Solved by Fire—Elder Daniells and Elder Prescott have made some mistakes in their religious experience, as other men have; but they never defied the Spirit of God and refused to be corrected. At one time it was supposed that the publishing interests should be centralized under the organization in Battle Creek. I was in great distress in regard to this sentiment. I was weighed down as a cart beneath sheaves. But this difficulty was adjusted by the Lord's permitting the principal buildings of the Review and Herald Publishing House to be destroyed by fire.... PM 177.1
Read in context »The aged standard-bearers in the cause of God are far from being useless. The men who have held the beginning of their confidence steadfast unto the end are not to be accounted second or third in the work of God. They are not to be cast aside as having outlived their usefulness. God has an important part for them to act in His work. By learning of Christ they have obtained a rich experience. When they have made false steps, they did not refuse to be corrected. When they wandered from the path that Christ trod, they allowed Him to lead them once more into it. Thus they have learned to help others.—Manuscript 92, 1903. RY 32.2
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