- Preface to Third Edition
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- A Review of Significant History
- Institutional Development
- The 1880's—A Period of Notable Advance
- The Setting of the 1888 Minneapolis Conference
- The General Conference of 1888
- Differing Attitudes Toward Righteousness by Faith
- Consolidation and Its Attendant Problems
- Far-Reaching Publishing-House Problems
- General Conference President Publishers Testimonies
- The General Conference of 1901
- Battle Creek Institutions Suffer God's Judgments
- “Except as We Shall Forget”
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- Instruction to the Disciples
- A Betrayal of Confidence
- A False Message
- Satan's Accusations
- The World Called to Account
- The Encouraging Word
- Words of Accusation Not of God
- A Work of Deception
- A Living Church
- Judas Given Opportunities
- The Church Not Perfect
- Satan Permitted to Tempt
- The Church the Light of the World
- A Divinely Appointed Ministry
- Beware of False Teachers
- Another Example
- The Letter
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- What Constitutes a Christian
- What Ought we to be?
- Frequent Cause of Failure
- Special Dangers of those in Positions of Responsibility
- A Daily Christian Experience Essential
- The Stewardship of Men
- The Office of Misfortune and Adversity
- Position Powerless to Sanctify
- God the Source of Strength
- The Evil of Self-Serving
- Evils of Unsanctified Consolidation
- Divine Unity Necessary
- The Preeminence of the Work of Saving Souls
- The Fallibility of Human Judgment
- Not to be Conscience for Our Fellowmen
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- Appendix Notes
The Work for this Time
The great work for this time demands that men shall go everywhere, nigh and afar off, into the highways and hedges, to diffuse light, holding forth the words of life. Has God laid upon one man or a council of men to take this work into their hands, as though the workers, God's own property, were to be under their control?TM 348.1
The business connected with the work of God in any and every branch requires men who are working in harmony with God, for power and success in the work can be attained only through the cooperation of the human and the divine. Without the best of evidence that one understands heavenly and eternal things, he should not be authorized to minister in matters connected with the work that concerns the salvation of souls for whom Christ has died. Unsanctified hands and brains have had altogether too much power entrusted to them, and very unwise moves have been made, that are not in accordance with the will and ways of God.TM 348.2
No man is a proper judge of another man's duty. Man is responsible to God; and as finite, erring men take into their hands the jurisdiction of their fellowmen, as if the Lord commissioned them to lift up and cast down, all heaven is filled with indignation. There are strange principles being established in regard to the control of the minds and works of men, by human judges, as though these finite men were gods.TM 348.3
And how is it with some who are bearing these sacred responsibilities? Men who are not spiritually minded, who are not consecrated to God, have no commission to perform, nor authority to exercise, in regard to the willing or doing of their fellowmen. But unless men are daily in communion with God, instead of seeking Him with all their heart for a fitness for the work, they will assume the power of dictation over the conscience of others. A sense of the divine presence would awe and subdue the soul, but this they have not. Without the love of God burning in the soul, love to men grows cold. Their hearts are not touched at the sight of human woe. Selfishness has left its defiling imprint on life and character, and some will never lose this image and superscription.TM 349.1
Is the working of the cause of God to be entrusted to such hands? Are souls for whom Christ has died, to be manipulated at the will of men who have refused the light given them of heaven? We should be afraid of man-made laws, and of plans and methods that are not in accordance with the principles of the word of God concerning man's relation to his fellow. “All ye are brethren.”TM 349.2