EGW WritingsDeuteronomy 4

Ellen G. White · Page 1 of 2

Deuteronomy 4:1

The Review and Herald

December 9, 1909

RH December 9, 1909, par. 4

Sabbath morning, July 3, Mrs. White spoke in the tent, giving lessons from the experiences of Israel as rehearsed by Moses in the Deuteronomy 4:1. From this discourse we give the following:

Deuteronomy 4:1-4

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 13 (1898)

Lt 9, 1898

13LtMs, Lt 9, 1898, par. 10

“Now, therefore, hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your Fathers giveth you. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor: for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you. But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day.” [Deuteronomy 4:1-4.] Read the twenty-fifth chapter of Numbers. All who search the Scriptures will understand that there is a decided difference made by the Lord between those who are obedient to His commandments and those who are disobedient.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 20 (1905)

Ms 124, 1905

20LtMs, Ms 124, 1905, par. 2

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 21 (1906)

Ms 67, 1906

21LtMs, Ms 67, 1906, par. 6

Deuteronomy 4:1-9

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 17 (1902)

Ms 66, 1902

17LtMs, Ms 66, 1902, par. 11

“Now therefore, O Israel, hearken unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you. ... Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore, and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding nation. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we shall call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day. Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart, all the days of thy life; but teach them to thy sons and to thy sons’ sons.” [Deuteronomy 4:1, 2, 5-9.]

Manuscript Releases, vol. 18 [Nos. 1301-1359]

MR No. 1352—No Safety in Eating Meat; Diseases Prevalent; Drawing Nigh to God

18MR 353.2

[Deuteronomy 4:1-9, quoted.] In the fifth chapter of this book, the commandments of God are repeated. (Verses 6-21.) The whole chapter is very definite. Read verses 29-33. Again, the requirements of God are given in the eighth chapter, verses 1-15.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 13 (1898)

Lt 59, 1898

13LtMs, Lt 59, 1898, par. 6

“Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you? Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life; but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons.” [Deuteronomy 4:1-9.]

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 15 (1900)

Ms 58, 1900

15LtMs, Ms 58, 1900, par. 44

To walk according to the law of the Lord would promote the reputation of a people for wisdom and understanding. Read Deuteronomy 4:1-9.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 18 (1903)

Lt 178, 1903

18LtMs, Lt 178, 1903, par. 7

“Hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor: for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you. But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you unto this day. Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart form thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons.” [Deuteronomy 4:1-9.]

Deuteronomy 4:1-10

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 17 (1902)

Ms 116, 1902

17LtMs, Ms 116, 1902, par. 19

In the fourth of Deuteronomy we read: “Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live.” [Verse 1.] There is some joy in living even this life; but O, the joy in the life to come is so much higher, that the pleasures of this life seem insignificant in comparison. In this world we are living as probationers. Every day we are fixing our destiny for weal or for woe. We are daily to answer the question, “Will I obey God and live? or will I transgress His commandments and finally be blotted out of existence?” My brother, my sister, what is your choice?

17LtMs, Ms 116, 1902, par. 20

“Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you,” the Lord declares, “Neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor: for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you.” [Verses 2, 3.]

17LtMs, Ms 116, 1902, par. 22

17LtMs, Ms 116, 1902, par. 24

Through Moses the Lord declared to the Israelites that to keep and to do His commandments was their wisdom, not their ignorance. “This is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for?” [Deuteronomy 4:6, 7.]

17LtMs, Ms 116, 1902, par. 25

Compare the promise in Isaiah, “Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here I am,” with the promise, “For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for?” [Isaiah 58:9; Deuteronomy 4:7.] It is only as obedient children that we can lay hold on these promises.

17LtMs, Ms 116, 1902, par. 26

“And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons: specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather Me the people together, and I will make them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.” [Verses 8-10.]

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 17 (1902)

Lt 259, 1902

17LtMs, Lt 259, 1902, par. 3

What will appear next? See Deuteronomy 4:1-10.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 19 (1904)

Ms 2, 1904

19LtMs, Ms 2, 1904, par. 32

Study carefully the instruction found in the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy, verses one to ten. Notice that obedience to the law of God is the only condition upon which God’s promises were to be fulfilled to Israel.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 18 (1903)

Ms 15, 1903

18LtMs, Ms 15, 1903, par. 1

18LtMs, Ms 15, 1903, par. 3

“Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal Peor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you. But ye that did cleave unto the Lord are alive every one of you unto this day.” [Verses 3, 4.]

18LtMs, Ms 15, 1903, par. 4

“Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” [Verses 5, 6.] You may think that it shows great wisdom to associate closely with worldlings, that you may receive their favor. But we cannot afford to do this. The world will discern the wisdom and the understanding possessed by those who keep all God’s commandments, and will say, Surely this is a wise and understanding people. It is in this position that God has always wanted us to stand.

18LtMs, Ms 15, 1903, par. 5

“For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for?” [Verse 7.] If we will draw nigh to God, He will draw nigh to us, and His glory will go before us. He will indite our petitions, teaching us to ask for the very things that He has pledged Himself to bestow on us.

18LtMs, Ms 15, 1903, par. 6

“And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?” [Verse 8.] Shall we heed this law? Or shall we cover up the message and hide the law of Jehovah? God forbid!

18LtMs, Ms 15, 1903, par. 7

“Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently.” [Verse 9.] I spoke yesterday of the individuality that we must maintain. It must be a sanctified individuality. Take heed to thyself. Do not talk of the faults of others. If you have anything against any one, go to him, and tell him all about it. Pray with him and for him. If all would do this, how many souls would be saved to the work of God!

18LtMs, Ms 15, 1903, par. 8

“Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen.” [Verse 9.] God has sent us reproofs and warnings. Forget not the things that you have seen. Forget not the history of the past, when God revealed His power and His grace, giving victory after victory, when He let His blessing and mercy rest upon us, and when He reproved our errors and our wrongs. Do not repeat the wrongs that He has reproved. Do not wait for Him to tell you every day what you must do. When He commands you once, it is forever. Establish your confidence in God. Come to Him with a living faith. He has said to you, “Let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me, and he shall make peace with Me.” [Isaiah 27:5.]

18LtMs, Ms 15, 1903, par. 9

Moses spoke of the day when the people stood before God in Horeb, when He said, “Gather Me the people together, and I will make them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.” [Deuteronomy 4:10.]

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 14 (1899)

Lt 34, 1899

14LtMs, Lt 34, 1899, par. 34

“Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that by your obedience ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth thee. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish (by precept or example) ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor: for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you.” [Deuteronomy 4:1-3.] There is no sin of adultery or fornication that God will not visit with His wrath.

14LtMs, Lt 34, 1899, par. 36

Deuteronomy 4:1-13

Manuscript Releases, vol. 8 [Nos. 526-663]

MR No. 651—Our Church Paper

8MR 427.1

To all interested managers in our General Conference: I wish you to understand that I am every day grateful to our heavenly Father that our printing plant is to send forth the church paper from Takoma Park to all parts of our world, and more than this I am instructed to say that its circulation should be greatly increased. It is circulated in all places in a limited way. The Lord would have this paper come to many more families, in England, yes, in many places. It should go to Australia, where there are located large numbers of English-speaking people. And everything should be carefully written that light shall shine forth as a lamp that burneth. Much more should be written upon actual experiences and much more given in short articles, right to the point, on Bible present truth. The reasons why we are denominated people of God are to be repeated and repeated. Deuteronomy 4:1-13; 5:1-33.—Manuscript 175, 1905. (Diary, July 10, 1905.)

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 14 (1899)

Ms 110, 1899

14LtMs, Ms 110, 1899, par. 8

“Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life; but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons. Specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. And ye came near, and stood under the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire; ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.” [Deuteronomy 4:1-13.]

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 20 (1905)

Ms 175, 1905

20LtMs, Ms 175, 1905, par. 3

To all interested managers in our General Conference: I wish you to understand that I am every day grateful to our heavenly Father that our printing plant is to send forth the church paper from Takoma Park to all parts of our world, and more than this I am instructed to say that its circulation should be greatly increased. It is circulated in all places in a limited way. The Lord would have this paper come to many more families in England, yes, in many places. It should go to Australia, where there are located large numbers of English-speaking people. And everything should be carefully written, that light shall shine forth as a lamp that burneth. Much more should be written upon actual experiences and much more given in short articles, right to the point, on Bible present truth. The reasons why we are the denominated people of God are to be repeated and repeated. Deuteronomy 4:1-13; 5:1-33.

Deuteronomy 4:1-16

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 16 (1901)

Ms 152, 1901

16LtMs, Ms 152, 1901, par. 11

“Let us invite Christ to be an abiding Guest in the parlor of the soul. His law will be spiritually engraved on the minds and hearts of His covenant-keeping people. Parents, it is greatly to your advantage to keep the law of the Lord. Of this law Moses said: ‘Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you.’ [Deuteronomy 4:1.]

16LtMs, Ms 152, 1901, par. 13

“Moses continued: ‘Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.’ [Verse 2.] There was a tendency to add to the law by making human restrictions; and the Lord guarded against their adding these manmade tests that He had not specified, and that would bring in confusion. And He guarded, too, against the taking away of any of His precepts. Never are we to put our words in the place of God’s words; for thus we would be diminishing from His law.

16LtMs, Ms 152, 1901, par. 14

“‘Your eyes have seen,’ said Moses, ‘what the Lord did because of Baal-peor: for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you. But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day.’” [Verses 3, 4.]

16LtMs, Ms 152, 1901, par. 18

Concerning His commandments, God declared, through Moses, to His people: “Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” [Deuteronomy 4:6.]

16LtMs, Ms 152, 1901, par. 20

“For what nation is there so great,” the Israelitish host inquired, “who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?” [Verses 7, 8.]

16LtMs, Ms 152, 1901, par. 25

“And the Lord commanded me at that time (He talked with Moses) to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it. Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female.” [Verses 9-16.]

Deuteronomy 4:1-21

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 21 (1906)

Ms 130, 1906

21LtMs, Ms 130, 1906, par. 8

“Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor: for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you. But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day. Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons.” Deuteronomy 4:1-9. Let the Word of the God be the man of your counsel. These words are words to be studied. They are not false science. They are words of truth and righteousness. This is the true science.

21LtMs, Ms 130, 1906, par. 9

“Furthermore the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.” Deuteronomy 4:21. Here we see what an offense it is for men who occupy responsible positions to lose their self-control. The people were constantly charging all their disappointments and sufferings to him, and here Moses became provoked, and therefore they thought they had a good right to be provoked. But the Lord’s rebuke to Moses evidenced how He regards any exhibition of irritation in words or spirit as setting a wrong example which leads others to make excuses. The patient leader had prevailed with God time and again in saving Israel from receiving the just consequence of their sins. Now the Lord must engage in controversy with him when He would have saved him from this exhibition of anger against the people that provoked him so many times by their murmuring. Moses had never before shown by losing his patience that he as a man subject to like passions as were the children of Israel. He had suffered much. The Lord was very much grieved with Moses. In order to give the correct impression upon the minds of the people, He must show impartiality. And Moses had repeated to the children of Israel that God would not tolerate or pass over the sins of those whom He had signally honored. Moses must die and never with his natural human sight look upon the land of Canaan.

21LtMs, Ms 130, 1906, par. 25

To the heedless and those who are out of the way, say, by precept and example, “Come thou with us, and we will do thee good.” [Numbers 10:29.] In doing just what Christ has told you to do, you are always safe. “Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them to thy sons, and thy sons’ sons.” Deuteronomy 4:9.

Deuteronomy 4:1-28

Prophets and Kings

Chapter 24—“Destroyed for Lack of Knowledge”

PK 294.1

“Now therefore hearken,” Moses had instructed Israel, “unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.... Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” Deuteronomy 4:1-6.

PK 294.2

The Israelites had been specially charged not to lose sight of the commandments of God, in obedience to which they would find strength and blessing. “Take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently,” had been the word of the Lord to them through Moses, “lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons.” Verse 9. The awe-inspiring scenes connected with the giving of the law at Sinai were never to be forgotten. Plain and decided were the warnings that had been given Israel against the idolatrous customs prevailing among the neighboring nations. “Take ye ... good heed unto yourselves,” was the counsel given; “lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure,” “and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.” “Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which He made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of anything, which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee.” Verses 15, 16, 19, 23.

PK 295.1

Moses traced the evils that would result from a departure from the statutes of Jehovah. Calling heaven and earth to witness, he declared that if, after having dwelt long in the Land of Promise, the people should introduce corrupt forms of worship and bow down to graven images and should refuse to return to the worship of the true God, the anger of the Lord would be aroused, and they would be carried away captive and scattered among the heathen. “Ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it,” he warned them; “ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you. And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.” Verses 26-28.

Deuteronomy 4:1-31

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 23 (1908)

Ms 93, 1908

23LtMs, Ms 93, 1908, par. 36

“Now therefore, hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.” [Deuteronomy 4:1, 2.]

23LtMs, Ms 93, 1908, par. 40

“And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire; ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. And He declared unto you His covenant, which He commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and He wrote them upon two tables of stone.” [Deuteronomy 4:3-13.] They were never to be effaced or changed.

23LtMs, Ms 93, 1908, par. 42

“And the Lord commanded me at that time,” Moses continues, “to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it. Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude in the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire.” [Verses 14, 15.]

23LtMs, Ms 93, 1908, par. 44

23LtMs, Ms 93, 1908, par. 49

“And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find Him, if thou seek Him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn unto the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto His voice; (for the Lord thy God is a merciful God) He will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which He sware unto them.” [Deuteronomy 4:23-31.]

Deuteronomy 4:1-37

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 22 (1907)

Ms 187, 1907

22LtMs, Ms 187, 1907, par. 2

Verse 7. This means just what it says. Now I come to Deuteronomy 4:1-8. I wonder if most of us have forgotten that all these particulars are given in the Old Testament Scriptures in regard to a people that shall be obedient in these last days and all through history. God came down with His power and His glory upon Mount Sinai to express the very things that He would have them to be. It is the Word of the living God that we are to keep in mind, and if we studied the Scriptures one-hundredth part of what we do now, we should have one of the greatest reformations that was ever seen among our people. But there are so many that depart from the Word of the Lord.

22LtMs, Ms 187, 1907, par. 3

Verses 7-9. Children and grandchildren are to be taught and educated. We have no right to get into commercialism, to give our whole attention to that business and let our children come up without the sacred repetition of God’s requirements to them. Take heed to this. It begins with individual self. It is for the highest interest of our souls today and tomorrow and so on until the time of Christ’s coming in the clouds of heaven.

22LtMs, Ms 187, 1907, par. 4

Verses 9, 10. Sons and daughters are to be taught.

22LtMs, Ms 187, 1907, par. 5

Verses 11-15. Now, I want everything of these words that come straight from the lips of God to Moses on the mount, I want you to study them for your profit, for the Lord has presented to me that unless His people shall come up to a higher standard, idolatry will be in their midst in one shape or another that will cut them away from the strength of Israel.

22LtMs, Ms 187, 1907, par. 6

Verses 15, 16. Supposing we have less pictures taken. Supposing we shall bring ourselves into covenant relation to God, and the money we spend in getting our own pictures produced we should bring it right into the missionary work and have a missionary box in every house. In the place of committing the idolatry we should bring our children to understand that this picture-taking and these magazines that are brought into our houses are wrong. They need to keep their minds on the living God, to serve Him, lest what? Lest they should commit idolatry over humanity, over anything on the face of the earth.

22LtMs, Ms 187, 1907, par. 7

Verses 16-19. What He wants is His image produced in mind, in words, in regard to character; we are to carry that out. Judgment upon judgment is coming upon our earth, and I entreat of you for Christ’s sake that you begin at the Old Testament, and what God has said with His own lips that you shall pay some heed unto it.

22LtMs, Ms 187, 1907, par. 8

Verses 20-22. Now there was the one sin—that the man whom God had trusted and given light and evidence and power and grace, there was one sin—that he was giving glory to himself. He was angry. Should he not have been angry? He smote that rock with a rod, when God had not told him to. Speak to the rock, and it shall give forth its waters. Well, he was angry with their continual murmurings, so that instead of speaking to the rock, he smote it. Shall I bring you water out of this rock, ye rebels? There was the meekest man upon the face of the earth that forgot. It will not pay to forget. It will not pay to become careless in any of God’s requirements.

22LtMs, Ms 187, 1907, par. 10

Verses 23-26, 27-30. We are in the latter days.

22LtMs, Ms 187, 1907, par. 11

Verses 30-35. Will the rest of us know it? Isn’t it the highest consequence that the highest member of the family know God? I read this to you because I am afraid that you do not understand the claims of God.

22LtMs, Ms 187, 1907, par. 12

Verses 36, 37. Now, I wish that you would take these things and read them.

Deuteronomy 4:1-49

Patriarchs and Prophets

Chapter 42—The Law Repeated

PP 462.1

The Lord announced to Moses that the appointed time for the possession of Canaan was at hand; and as the aged prophet stood upon the heights overlooking the river Jordan and the Promised Land, he gazed with deep interest upon the inheritance of his people. Would it be possible that the sentence pronounced against him for his sin at Kadesh might be revoked? With deep earnestness he pleaded, “O Lord God, Thou hast begun to show Thy servant Thy greatness, and Thy mighty hand; for what god is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to Thy works, and according to Thy might? I pray Thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon.” Deuteronomy 3:24-27.

PP 462.2

The answer was, “Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto Me of this matter. Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with thine eyes; for thou shalt not go over this Jordan.”

PP 462.3

Without a murmur Moses submitted to the decree of God. And now his great anxiety was for Israel. Who would feel the interest for their welfare that he had felt? From a full heart he poured forth the prayer, “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, which may go out before them, and which may go in before them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in; that the congregation of the Lord be not as sheep which have no shepherd.” Numbers 27:16, 17.

PP 462.4

The Lord hearkened to the prayer of His servant; and the answer came, “Take thee Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay thine hand upon him; and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation; and give him a charge in their sight. And thou shalt put some of thine honor upon him, that all the congregation of the people of Israel may be obedient.” Verses 18-20. Joshua had long attended Moses; and being a man of wisdom, ability, and faith, he was chosen to succeed him.

PP 463.1

Through the laying on of hands by Moses, accompanied by a most impressive charge, Joshua was solemnly set apart as the leader of Israel. He was also admitted to a present share in the government. The words of the Lord concerning Joshua came through Moses to the congregation, “He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him, after the judgment of Urim before the Lord. At his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation.” Verses 21-23.

PP 463.2

Before relinquishing his position as the visible leader of Israel, Moses was directed to rehearse to them the history of their deliverance from Egypt and their journeyings in the wilderness, and also to recapitulate the law spoken from Sinai. When the law was given, but few of the present congregation were old enough to comprehend the awful solemnity of the occasion. As they were soon to pass over Jordan and take possession of the Promised Land, God would present before them the claims of His law and enjoin upon them obedience as the condition of prosperity.

PP 463.3

Moses stood before the people to repeat his last warnings and admonitions. His face was illumined with a holy light. His hair was white with age; but his form was erect, his countenance expressed the unabated vigor of health, and his eye was clear and undimmed. It was an important occasion, and with deep feeling he portrayed the love and mercy of their Almighty Protector:

PP 463.4

“Ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it? Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? or hath God assayed to go and take Him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched-out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? Unto thee it was showed, that thou mightest know that the Lord He is God; there is none else beside Him.”

PP 464.1

“The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: but because the Lord loved you, and because He would keep the oath which He had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that Jehovah thy God, He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations.” Deuteronomy 7:7-9.

PP 464.2

The people of Israel had been ready to ascribe their troubles to Moses; but now their suspicions that he was controlled by pride, ambition, or selfishness, were removed, and they listened with confidence to his words. Moses faithfully set before them their errors and the transgressions of their fathers. They had often felt impatient and rebellious because of their long wandering in the wilderness; but the Lord had not been chargeable with this delay in possessing Canaan; He was more grieved than they because He could not bring them into immediate possession of the Promised Land, and thus display before all nations His mighty power in the deliverance of His people. With their distrust of God, with their pride and unbelief, they had not been prepared to enter Canaan. They would in no way represent that people whose God is the Lord; for they did not bear His character of purity, goodness, and benevolence. Had their fathers yielded in faith to the direction of God, being governed by His judgments and walking in His ordinances, they would long before have been settled in Canaan, a prosperous, holy, happy people. Their delay to enter the goodly land dishonored God and detracted from His glory in the sight of surrounding nations.

PP 464.3

Moses, who understood the character and value of the law of God, assured the people that no other nation had such wise, righteous, and merciful rules as had been given to the Hebrews. “Behold,” he said, “I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”

PP 465.1

Moses called their attention to the “day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb.” And he challenged the Hebrew host: “What nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?” Today the challenge to Israel might be repeated. The laws which God gave His ancient people were wiser, better, and more humane than those of the most civilized nations of the earth. The laws of the nations bear marks of the infirmities and passions of the unrenewed heart; but God’s law bears the stamp of the divine.

PP 465.2

“The Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace,” declared Moses, “to be unto Him a people of inheritance.” The land which they were soon to enter, and which was to be theirs on condition of obedience to the law of God, was thus described to them—and how must these words have moved the hearts of Israel, as they remembered that he who so glowingly pictured the blessings of the goodly land had been, through their sin, shut out from sharing the inheritance of his people:

PP 465.3

“The Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land,” “not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs: but the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven;” “a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass;” “a land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.” Deuteronomy 8:7-9; 11:10-12.

PP 465.4

“And it shall be, when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which He sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, and houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; then beware lest thou forget the Lord.” “Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God.... For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.” If they should do evil in the sight of the Lord, then, said Moses, “Ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it.”

PP 466.1

After the public rehearsal of the law, Moses completed the work of writing all the laws, the statutes, and the judgments which God had given him, and all the regulations concerning the sacrificial system. The book containing these was placed in charge of the proper officers, and was for safe keeping deposited in the side of the ark. Still the great leader was filled with fear that the people would depart from God. In a most sublime and thrilling address he set before them the blessings that would be theirs on condition of obedience, and the curses that would follow upon transgression:

PP 466.2

“If thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command thee this day,” “blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field,” in “the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle.... Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face.... The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto.”

PP 466.3

“But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee,” “and thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee.” “And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind: and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life: in the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.”

PP 467.1

By the Spirit of Inspiration, looking far down the ages, Moses pictured the terrible scenes of Israel’s final overthrow as a nation, and the destruction of Jerusalem by the armies of Rome: “The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; a nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favor to the young.”

PP 467.2

The utter wasting of the land and the horrible suffering of the people during the siege of Jerusalem under Titus centuries later, were vividly portrayed: “He shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed.... And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land.... Thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee.” “The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, ... and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.”

PP 467.3

Moses closed with these impressive words: “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey His voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto Him : for He is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” Deuteronomy 30:19, 20.

PP 467.4

The more deeply to impress these truths upon all minds, the great leader embodied them in sacred verse. This song was not only historical, but prophetic. While it recounted the wonderful dealings of God with His people in the past, it also foreshadowed the great events of the future, the final victory of the faithful when Christ shall come the second time in power and glory. The people were directed to commit to memory this poetic history, and to teach it to their children and children’s children. It was to be chanted by the congregation when they assembled for worship, and to be repeated by the people as they went about their daily labors. It was the duty of parents to so impress these words upon the susceptible minds of their children that they might never be forgotten.

PP 468.1

Since the Israelites were to be, in a special sense, the guardians and keepers of God’s law, the significance of its precepts and the importance of obedience were especially to be impressed upon them, and through them, upon their children and children’s children. The Lord commanded concerning His statutes: “Thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.... And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.”

PP 468.2

When their children should ask in time to come, “What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord our God hath commanded you?” then the parents were to repeat the history of God’s gracious dealings with them—how the Lord had wrought for their deliverance that they might obey His Law—and to declare to them, “The Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is at this day. And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God as He hath commanded us.”

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 24 (1909)

Lt 112, 1909

24LtMs, Lt 112, 1909, par. 22

I ask you to study the fourth to the eighth chapters of Deuteronomy, that you may understand what God required of His ancient people, that they might be a holy people unto Himself. We are nearing the day of God’s great final review, when the people of this world must stand before the Judge of all the earth to answer for their deeds. We are now in the time of investigation. Before the day of God’s review, every character will have been investigated, every case decided for eternity. Let the words of God’s servant, recorded in these chapters, be read with profit.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 24 (1909)

Lt 6, 1909

24LtMs, Lt 6, 1909, par. 5

I am instructed to say to our people throughout the cities of the South: Let everything be done under the direction of the Lord. The work is nearing its close. We are nearer the end than when we first believed. Satan is doing his best to block the way to the progress of the message. He is putting forth efforts to bring about the enactment of a Sunday law, which will result in slavery in the southern field and will close the door to the observance of the true Sabbath which God has given to men to keep holy. The law which He came down from heaven to Mt. Sinai to proclaim is to be observed by all who would identify themselves with the people of God. Please read and re-read the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy. The whole chapter should be given careful study by those who would be numbered with God’s covenant-keeping people.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 25 (1910 - 1915)

Ms 83, 1910

San Diego, California

April 16, 1910

Previously unpublished.

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 1

Deuteronomy 4:1-7.

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 2

It will be well for us to consider that if we make the move toward God, if we make the advancement to come to Him, He understands it, and He will be to us a present help in every time of need. “Keep therefore and do them”—not profess merely to do them—“for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for?” [Verses 6, 7.]

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 3

God waits to have us call upon Him, and if you call upon Him, He will draw nigh to you. He will impress your minds; He will speak words through His servants to you. What we want is a humble, understanding, contrite heart. It is not the great pretensions that we make, but it is the relation in which we stand toward God that we honor Him, that we glorify Him, that we will do His will. And when we do this, we shall realize impressions upon our minds and hearts that will give us courage, that will increase our faith, that will bring us into a right relation to Jesus Christ, who has given His life for us.

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 4

The nations were watching to see what was meant by bringing these people away from Egypt. We want the impression made upon the people wherever we are that we have a right relation to God and that He is our understanding and our strength.

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 5

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 6

There is something He gives them to do: “Teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons.” [Verse 9.] There is our work plainly laid before us. Do we do it? Do we realize, fathers and mothers, the importance of the work that is given us to do, to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts, in our words, in our actions, and on every point to realize that we are under allegiance to God, under allegiance to Jesus Christ? Do we realize that every individual soul of us is to understand the right relation that we have toward the children, our own children and also the children that shall come under our supervision in our schools that we are establishing?

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 7

Every soul wants to have a decided heart interest in these schools, to fulfil their part of the contract, and when they have filled their part of the contract, you may be sure there will be a response. The power of God will rest upon you, and will rest upon those for whom you are working. It is not we ourselves individually that make the impression, but it is the God whose commandments we are trying to obey in carrying out the directions that He has given us toward all that are around us. We call upon Him, we pray to Him, we draw nigh unto Him, and He draws nigh unto us. Are you not grateful for this, that you have the Creator of the universe pledged that if you will comply with the conditions He will fulfil to the letter His part?

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 8

(Verse 10): “Specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.” There is a great work neglected there. When every soul of us shall realize what we might have done, when we come up to the preparedness that we must have in order to glorify God, I want to tell you there will be more careful working on our part in the home life, in assemblies that we shall meet with, to give the trumpet a certain sound, to tell the truth just as it is in Jesus. What we need above everything else is reality and humility. We need a reality in all that we do, and it will set its stamp upon the people. They will understand it, because there is no certainty that is carried in the Christian life but that it makes its impression.

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 9

We want not to be found wanting in the day of God. We cannot afford it. I want that life that measures with the life of God. I want that preparation that I must have if I see the King in His beauty. And every one of us wants to humble ourselves, not to exalt ourselves, not to feel that I am superior to everybody else around me, but you just take right hold with the humblest souls, and if you are earnest and true and realize your responsibilities, it is God’s angels that make the impressions. They are right around us. They are here today, and not only the true, good angels, but there are angels here today that rebelled in heaven, and they are watching every opportunity possible to gather to themselves the people with their deceptions.

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 10

You know how it was. The angels got to quarreling in heaven. They wanted the highest place, and were determined to have it. Just so they do on the earth. Just so they do in our churches. What we want is to walk humbly with God, in prayer to seek Him, and then when we walk humbly by faith, the evil angels cannot touch us. The angels who fell had been so exalted that they knew what righteousness was and what unrighteousness was, but they wanted a place that was higher than the one they had in the place of fulfilling the very work that they could do; and in this they sinned.

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 11

They fell from heaven, and they are on this earth today. And the intelligence that they had in heaven—do you think it is all gone from them? No, indeed. They are working every plan now in this st issue that is coming to the world, that they shall have the supreme advantage, and they have beautiful sentiments that they had in the heavenly courts, that they will use, the most beautiful sentiments. I have seen and heard them as they were using these very sentiments. And I have asked our brethren who were in peril, Do not you suppose that these fallen angels can present things in the most wonderful light to the people? They certainly can, and if they mingle in their works these sentiments, which they will, and which they are, people will get the impression that that is just the truth they want when it is just the thing they do not want.

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 12

What we want is that every soul of us should walk humbly with God—no exaltation of one man to feel that he is capable of carrying everything. Just as soon as we begin to know that these angels that fell from heaven are at work upon human minds, we are to walk humbly with God, and when we will do this, the sacredness of the truth will be so impressed upon human minds that they will co-operate with us and co-operate with God. When I have seen individuals that want the highest place and highest glory, I have said, Poor souls, you are losing all. I have felt so sad I could not express it to them. And I have felt intensely sad because those angels that fell from heaven have intelligence; they did not leave their intelligence, but kept it. They can do a work that appears to be genuine, and they are doing it.

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 13

Now what we want is a religious experience individually, an experience through humble prayer and working by living faith to help others that are around us, humbling our souls not to be the biggest one, but to take right hold to help the feeble and those that need our help. Angels will make the impression, heavenly angels from the courts above. But we do not want to mingle with those that wanted to be so high they would be equal with God. What we need is humble, unperverted religion, and characters that can reach the very ones that need to be reached.

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 14

There is a great work to be done in our world. We have looked at San Diego again and again, and we have felt that there must be a work accomplished here, and that while many people were moving in here, we must be moving very cautiously and tenderly toward them to see if we cannot win them to see the beauty of truth. God will help us.

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 15

What a work is before us, and we want that work to be carried out intelligently.

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 16

“(For the Lord thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.” [Verse 31.] There He was, holding that for those that were obedient. Will we be obedient? Will we consider that we are wholly dependent upon God?

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 17

“And because He loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt; to drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day.” [Verses 37, 38.]

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 18

He brought them out from Egypt, and there was a cloud that accompanied them everywhere they went, that encircled Christ Jesus. He drove out the nations before them. Now there is to be no self-exaltation, no boosting up of self, but you stand humbly with God, and see how much good you can accomplish for those that need your help, and angels of God will come right in to make the impression.

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 19

“And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is at this day. And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as He hath commanded us.” [Deuteronomy 6:24, 25.] That is the very position we must be in.

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 20

Here is a mutual agreement. Man agrees to give his heart to God; man agrees to study the light of God and His teaching, lest he shall depart from it.

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 21

“When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou.” [Deuteronomy 7:1.] Now all these nations God will deal with if you will place yourselves in right relation to God, that He can work your mind so that His blessing can be received before all these people.

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 22

“And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy upon them. ... For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: but because the Lord loved you, and because He would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God.” [Verses 2-9.]

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 23

Now that is what you are to know. That He is God, that He is to be honored, that your characters must be brought into harmony with God. You are not to be fretful, even in your own family. You can speak kindly and teach them without being cross and irritable. We believe you can do it. I have taken children from many families, child after child. Brother George Amadon, in whom we have so much confidence, was a mischievous boy working on the tow path with the horses. And then there was another one that his mother could not do anything with. She said that his salvation depended upon his being with someone that he respected. She asked me if I would take him, and I said, Certainly.

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 24

We would take these boys aside and tell them what we took them for. We told them that we wanted them to be prepared to stand in review before God. We wanted them to stand where they would have strength before God, and could call Him their Father. They are alive today, and when I go into Battle Creek, there is a hack that comes up, and these two gray-headed men meet me, and call me Mother; and they say, Where should we have been today had it not been for you? That is all the pay I want. I thank God we can help one another.

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 25

Deuteronomy 7:8-18. Now you can read this, and all of chapters seven and eight, and go on and study more than I have time to read.

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 26

The Lord is dealing with His people, and the one point I was afraid you would never know is that the angels that strove in heaven for the highest place have to be shut out of heaven, and now they are determined to war against God and those that are seeking to obey God. Now let every one of us today make a covenant with God by sacrifice. If such pains are taken to bring the people into right relation to God, to preserve us from these fallen heavenly intelligences, they fail, and then they change their course to do the mischief toward God.

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 27

We want to stand faithful to our God and true as steel to principle. Will we do it? Or will we go on as some have, to think they should have their own way in everything, and they will wrestle for it and wrestle for it, and God will wrestle counter to them, and yet they will wrestle for it with all their might. Now, they would better change, or they will lose their souls. What we want is a living connection with God, and He will soften and subdue our natural temperaments, and as we pray and believe and draw with all our power in harmony with God, He will accept us with pleasure.

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 28

I am so glad that I can speak these words to you. Since I was fifteen years old I have been engaged in public labors, giving a message here and there and somewhere else. I am now in my eighty-third year, and I want to say, My love for God, my reverence for God has not diminished. I want to exalt my Saviour, and I want that every one of you should exalt Jesus Christ.

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 29

Fathers and mothers, connect with your children. Pray with them. Encourage them. They need encouragement. Why? Because the fallen angels will bring the most beautiful things to present before them in various ways, and they will think that is the highest education. If they can get that education, they will think it is the very highest education that they can have. The highest education that we can have is to be God’s obedient children. It is to have a mind subject to Christ, who laid aside His royal robes and kingly crown and came into our world as a little child to bear all the infirmities of children, and He gave the evidence to all that He had the mind of God, and was doing it. He made all that sacrifice, and at last He was stretched on the cross at Calvary. But before that He was in prayer.

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 30

The thought that He was taking the sins of the world upon Him seemed as though it would crush Him; it seemed so in the humanity of His nature, and yet never had He failed on a point. In His agony He said, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me,” but if not, strengthen me to drink it. [Matthew 26:39.] And as He prayed, the great drops of bloody sweat moistened the sod of Gethsemane. He went to His disciples, hoping to find them watching, but they were asleep. Are any of us asleep? God help us! We are facing a crisis. Christ was facing a crisis then. We shall have conditions that we do not dream of, and we will need to be in close relation with God.

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 31

As Christ was suffering in agony, a mighty angel came from glory and strengthened the divine sufferer to bear all that. He said, “Not My will, but Thine be done.” [Luke 22:42.] Taking the cup trembling in His hand, it seemed that the destiny of the lost world was balanced, as I viewed it. But the strength came from heaven to go through the ordeal, to die in our behalf. What are you willing to suffer for Christ’s sake in order to help others that are weak and trembling and do not know what to do? Shall we every one of us brace ourselves up? Shall we seek to be humble before God, and meek and lowly? Shall we seek for unity? God grant that we may.

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 32

But the divine Sufferer hung upon the cross, and while there, there was one that prayed while another was mocking Him. One said, Master, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Christ replied, “Verily I say unto thee, today”—stretched there upon the cross in agony—“thou shalt be with Me in paradise.” [Luke 23:43.]

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 33

I have much matter which I would like to bring before you. Let us trim our lamps and have them burning. Christ was not left in the grave. Angels from heaven were sent to roll back the stone from the sepulchre, Christ’s life came from heaven, and He walked forth from that sepulchre, proclaiming, “I am the resurrection and the life.” [John 11:25.] Thank God! We have a living Saviour. Do not act as though He were dead, because He has the same power, and we are having a living issue here in this world, and we want to be in a position where we can grasp infinity by a living faith.

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 34

When they came to anoint the Saviour, they said, He is risen! He is risen! They could not believe it, but it was a fact. The mighty angel had rolled back the stone, and He had come forth from that grave a mighty Conqueror. “I am the Resurrection and the Life,” He could proclaim to every one of them.

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 35

My heart feels so earnest at this time that every one of us should come in right relation to God. We cannot afford to lose a day. We cannot afford to lose our time. We must do our very best by sacrifice and self-denial to bring a knowledge of the truth before the inhabitants of all these cities that are right around us. Time is short. We are facing eternal realities, and we are to take up this work as we never have taken it up before. I lie awake hours and hours in the night, while the representation is given me of what we might be and of what are not, and that is why I have consented to come here today to speak to you. We want the help of every one of you. We do not want to exalt you and we do not want any to exalt themselves, but we want you to come in the humility of Jesus Christ and seek to save perishing souls.

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 36

We want you to work for souls as those that must give an account, and if you save one soul, why it is just one soul saved to Christ. And if you are a winner of souls, as they come into the city of God, with the crown upon their heads, as they look upon you they will know just what you have done for them, and they will lay their crowns at the feet of Jesus, and then touch the golden harps and fill all heaven with rich music and with songs to the Lamb. We want the victory. We do not want to stop short of it. We have a heaven to win, and a hell to shun, and we want the help of every living soul to bring souls into the truth.

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 37

I may have an opportunity to speak here again. They have appointments out for me in Los Angeles, to speak in a hall, and I shall go there from here. But pray for me. I believe in prayer. I believe that our faith and humility can grasp the hand of infinite power. Satan is watching with all his bribes to get us into a position where we shall bring no glory to God. Will we come up to the help of the Lord against the mighty?

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 38

I do not know how to stop. I ask you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth to help me and to help others. Every one that will live a life of humility and meekness, every soul that will do this, rise upon your feet. May God help you in this matter.

25LtMs, Ms 83, 1910, par. 39

Praying: I thank Thee, heavenly Father, I thank Thee for this pledge. I pray Thee to give a large amount of Thy Holy Spirit to these souls that they may follow on to know the Lord, that they may know that His going forth is prepared as the morning. God will give you strength. Amen.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 25 (1910 - 1915)

Lt 40, 1910

25LtMs, Lt 40, 1910, par. 1

Last Sabbath I spoke to the people in the San Diego church. I felt deeply in regard to the words in Deuteronomy, which I took for my text.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 25 (1910 - 1915)

Lt 146, 1910

25LtMs, Lt 146, 1910, par. 6

The Lord gave me voice and clearness of mind as I spoke from the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy with portions from the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters. The congregation was very attentive. I spoke a little more than an hour, and all listened with the greatest respect. The Lord gave me the freedom of His Holy Spirit, and many in the audience were deeply affected.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 25 (1910 - 1915)

Ms 84, 1910

Los Angeles, California

April 23, 1910

Previously unpublished. +NoteOne or more typed copies of this document contain additional Ellen White handwritten interlineations which may be viewed at the main office of the Ellen G. White Estate.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 1

(Discourse by Mrs. E. G. White at Simpson’s Auditorium, Los Angeles, California. This copy includes Ellen White’s handwritten corrections.)

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 2

Deuteronomy 4:1-20. I have chosen my subject, expecting but a small company to be assembled together, but I want this subject still to come before the people. It is the word of the living God, and I want to present it to you. I want every one of you to understand that I am a simple, humble old woman, not depending upon myself for strength. I am in my eighty-third year, and I have been in almost constant labor in the field of service since I was 15 years old, and yet I do not depend upon myself. I know unless the angels of God shall be here, and unless they shall make the impressions, it will not be of benefit to any soul. But if I walk in the fear of the Lord, I leave all the results with Him.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 3

“In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount. And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountains, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him.” [Exodus 19:1-7.]

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 4

When we receive from the Lord His mercies and His blessings, we may know that the Lord means that we should observe and appreciate all His instruction for our own good, and thus do honor to His name.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 5

“And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee forever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the Lord.” [Verses 8, 9.] What a wonderful condescension on the part of our holy God and carefully should Israel cherish this wonderful manifestation.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 6

“And the Lord said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes, and be ready against the third day: for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.” [Verses 10, 11.]

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 7

Now here is a very peculiar lesson that shows that the Lord has an interest in all that He requires His people to do, that they may carry out the principles of His Word to the letter. No impurities in their clothing must there be when they come before the Lord. No impurities must come near the Lord. God is going to talk with Israel. He comes in the thick cloud so that His glory shall not destroy the people. And there a sanctification took place, to bring them into a sacred nearness to God. We want, every one of us, as we listen to the Word of God, to be in a position that we shall understand what the Lord saith unto us, and take heed unto His instruction.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 8

“And the Lord spake all these words, saying, ... Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” [Exodus 20:1-3.] Will we obey it? Are we obeying it, giving it every sanctified impulse of mind and soul and strength? We are living in the very last days of this earth’s history. If it were not so, I would have said today, I have not strength; I cannot come; I cannot speak. But if there is one soul that will hear the word of the Lord and will be wrought up in heart to obey His word, [even] if I should lose my life I would have nothing to regret. For the Lord God means all that He hath said.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 9

“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments.” [Verses 4-6.]

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 10

Now we want to understand that it means everything to us whether we will listen to the Word of God and obey His requirements, and whether we will obey the Word of God to the letter. It means everything to this congregation to whom this message is repeated. We want in every way to bring ourselves under discipline to God, to heed the Word of the Lord and depart from all iniquity, from [all] sin. We want to take the Word of the Lord into the mind and heart, to follow on to know the Lord, that we may know that His going forth is prepared as the morning. This word of the Lord is right from God. Here I read it out of His Book, even as He spoke it. It means everything to us whether we are coming into right relation to God.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 11

“I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.” [Verse 5.] Of course, He could not promise and pledge Himself that He would let His blessing rest upon the fathers and mothers and the children when they were transgressing His requirements, which are plainly written in the Book that He has given us, and forbidden that anything should be changed in that Word.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 12

“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.” [Verse 7.] “In vain”—that means something to every one that has a tongue and a voice. We are to remember that there will be a settlement with every case to decide whether they are worthy, whether they have sanctified heart and soul [so] that they will be fit to come into the presence of God, whether they will see the King in His beauty, whether Christ, whom He has given to the world, has died in vain for them.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 13

Oh, if we can only be overcomers! If we can only understand that there is to be a grand and critical review by the God of heaven, of every case, that there shall not be a second rebellion in heaven. He says, “Shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.” [Verse 6.]

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 14

Every one, every soul that keeps the commandments of God, has a guarantee that he shall have a place in the kingdom of glory, and I have taken my position that I will stand obedient on the commandments of God. I will warn the people by precept and example; I will go East and West, North and South, until I shall lay off the armor at the feet of my Redeemer. Now I want to tell you there is joy and gladness and peace in the service of God. Think you that I would have taken the responsibilities that I have taken in my youth and carried them through to the present time if I had not the confidence day by day that I was working out of the will of my heavenly Father?

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 15

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” [Verses 8-11.] This is the Sabbath that God has ordained. After He had created the world in six days, He rested the seventh day, and then what? Why, His people were standing in review before God, as obedient children, and thus we are to stand.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 16

“Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 17

“Thou shalt not kill.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 18

“Thou shalt not commit adultery.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 19

“Thou shalt not steal.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 20

“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 21

“Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.” [Verses 12-17.]

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 22

Now suppose that we obeyed that requirement. Suppose that in our large cities they believed in the commandments of God as they are given. What a change there would be in our cities and in the whole world! He tells us directly what to do.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 23

“And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightning, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.” [Verses 18-20.]

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 24

The Lord graciously proves His people. He gives them messages; He works with them on the right hand and on the left to prove them, that His fear may be before their faces that they sin not. He does not want you to sin, because with every sin there is a crime. God does not want you to sin against Him or against the people, or against anyone in your house. Fathers and mothers, how important it is that you understand that you are not to bring sharp words into your speech in the ruling of your children. They are the Lord’s property. If you do, there is something in their hearts that rises up to resist injustice and to do the very thing that you told them [they] must not do. But if you talk to them kindly and read to them the Word, and tell them what God says about it, they will be impressed when they are very young, for angels are helping to forward every righteous action.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 25

The mother is never to lift her voice in anger to her children, because you are educating them, and if you do that, if you strike them and speak in anger, as I have seen many do in the foreign countries, and in our own country, you make an impression, give a mould, that you may never be able to efface. Mothers, do not do it any more. You will feel pleasanter by speaking pleasant words, and the Lord knows the influence of every word. He understands its impression, and He has given us His Word that we may follow it with success.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 26

“And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” [Verse 19.]

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 27

They knew that they were a rebellious people; they knew that they moved from impulse. No fathers and mothers who are true Christian will give way to passion. They may be church members but they must be reconverted, because they can never enter the city of God unless they can bear the test and examination of character. They will not be introduced into the city of God, into the heavenly courts, where it [might be] possible for [them] to rebel.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 28

There are the angels, the beautiful angels exalted in heaven, but where sin sprang from in them it is impossible to tell. Those very angels that fell from heaven may be listening to me in this congregation unseen, because they are working in every city to bring in their temptations and trials so that they will provoke God who cast them out of heaven because they would not be obedient to the laws of heaven.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 29

Let us begin to show forth obedience right here. Let everyone of us fear the Lord our Creator. A grand review is to take place before long, when the case of every soul will be decided. When I think of that, I never refuse any such call as is made to me today, if I have strength to stand upon my feet. And I want to tell you, when I consider what there is to gain if we bear the signature of heaven, I feel as though I wanted to speak to the whole universe, to work in unity with God. It seems that I could not hold my peace, because it is presented to me in many visions that God has given me of heavenly things, and therefore God is my Keeper. I trust in Him, and when my work is done, I shall be thankful to rest.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 30

I want to tell to every man and woman, God has given you His work, and if you will just read the Word and see how much God has done for you, then you will try to obey God, not according to your imperfect ideas, but according [to] His Word, that you may not offend God and grieve His Holy Spirit. Fall down upon your knees and plead with God to have compassion upon you that you may not grieve the Holy Spirit of God and drive it from you. You cannot afford to do this. It is too expensive a matter that you should be careless in forming your character in this life for the eternal life. The Lord Jesus gave you His example right in this life, and lived a perfect pattern for every soul that will cooperate with Him in His work.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 31

There is a world to be saved, a world to be warned, and we want every one of you here present to get into place that you may begin to act your part in giving this warning message to those that are in these cities and towns and wherever people are, that they may be prepared to meet their God. You cannot afford to neglect the light given you even for a day. Give your heart to God in all simplicity, and then ask the Lord Jesus to mold and fashion and convert your soul, and He will do it.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 32

[Verse 18.] Here it says that “when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off,” afraid of God. “And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” [Verse 19.] How many would plead that today? How many who are here would plead that if they were in that very company today?

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 33

“And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that His fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. And the Lord said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold. An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.” [Verses 20-24.]

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 34

Now let us consider how we stand. Oh, let us consider whether we are prepared to meet the requirements of God! That is why I felt that I would not let this occasion pass by, weak as I am, but would come before you. Then He enforces His requirements that they must conform to.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 35

I want to say to you that it was for your sakes that Christ gave His precious life. Do you appreciate the gift? He left the royal courts; He laid aside the royal crown and the royal robes, and He came as an infant here in this world to carry through the very work that He was to do, to warn the people. He was the Son of the living God, God’s only begotten Son, but He gave Him for you to be your example. He gave Him that He should come, and go everywhere to educate, educate, educate, and yet there was no sin upon Him, not a stain of sin. When you consider this, I want you to realize that God appreciates every such occasion as this. That is why our brethren felt that perhaps some soul might be convicted, and know the value of the saving power of the Lord and what the truth is.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 36

The world is becoming more and more corrupt, and we have only a little time in which to work. We have it signalized in San Francisco, in the city that was nearly destroyed. Instead of this experience making them better, it seems that Satan’s agencies have more firmly taken possession of the whole city. It is a terrible thing. It makes our work, to express the value of the truth in practical godliness, tenfold harder, yes, a hundredfold harder, because it seems next to impossible to reach the people. And what does it mean? It means that when the angels came to claim the highest place in heaven, above the only begotten Son of God, it was not given to them. And because they did not receive it, there was war in heaven, and those that wanted a higher place, to crowd out Christ Jesus, were cast out of heaven because they would not repent and accept the rule of God; and they may be listening to me today.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 37

But I want to tell you, one thing is certain, there is a living God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and He will be with us if we will be with Him. There were those beautiful angels, as you will find described in the Word; but they lost heaven because they would not listen to the highest authority, which was God Himself. How many are doing this kind of disobedience today? The angels would have their own way. And they are in this world. They have that beautiful language, the most beautiful language given the angels. These evil, fallen angels will use [it] when it suits their purpose. And they will bring in that language. Learned men are deceived, and people will think that because they can represent things in this beautiful language, that they are just what they represent and claim to be—heavenly beings. They present these things before those that will listen to them, and tempt them, and tell them this and that the other thing in regard to God and in regard to their brethren.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 38

We must strictly guard ourselves with the Word of God as we have never guarded ourselves before. Why are you building sanitariums all around in different places? Why are you preparing meeting houses? Why are you establishing schools in many different places? We have to do it under a pressure of debt, but we work away at it, denying ourselves of many things because the purity and beauty of the cause and work of God must not be hindered in its advancement. We do all we possibly can [to] bring light and truth to human minds, to convert souls. That is what we are doing. And these very subjects I present before them again and again at certain times. And then they ask why, if our people are being educated, they should not receive the highest education. That is the very thing we are trying to do to elevate, ennoble, and sanctify the souls of believers. We have the highest education that there is to be had in the world. What is it? It is to obey God according to the letter of the Word. That is the highest education that there is to be had in the world. That is the education that is going to save the souls in our world.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 39

I present before our people and before all to whom I speak, that the higher education is to fashion your souls in living obedience to the Word of the living God. You take that Word and follow out its teachings, and the first thing you who have enlightened intelligence will do is to awaken men and women conscientiously [to] responsibilities. [This] is just what we have been doing. The Lord has said, “And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not.” [Deuteronomy 6:11.]

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 40

And we have found these very things in taking up our responsibilities in the work right here. We have found them in such places as at Loma Linda and other places. Then what are we to do? After we have been some time teaching, those who have had the old ideas want to go to the physicians and learned men of the world to get the “higher education.” They always come out with the lower education. The higher education is to fasten the mind and soul to the Word of the living God, just as it reads, and when you have done this, there are angels that are round about you to make impression upon the human mind, working with human minds that they may not be kept under deception.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 41

What we want is salvation, for in a little time this world will be in such a commotion as you never dreamed of. I want to tell you that it is high time that we understood that the higher education cannot be obtained by committing yourselves to be educated by leading men who do not obey God’s commandments. Leading men, praying men, seeking counsel of God, will be taught of God, and led and directed of God in their work and efforts. But some think they must attach to the worldly sort of men that claim to be physicians, or to some other soul that is not submitted to God. They do not keep His Sabbath, God’s appointed day that He has sanctified and blessed. “Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations,” says the Lord. [Exodus 31:13.] Where will they get their higher education?

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 42

I have not come in here to force anything upon any one, but only to present the Word of God, and let that Word be our counselor and not have it shut away from the people. We want to say just now that we do not wish to harm any soul. We have come to let light in, we have come to enlighten those that are in darkness, and we want to say to you that there is a heaven of bliss open to you. “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” And what overcoming He did! He was crucified; He was hung upon the cross; He was mocked; He was derided. He travelled on foot from place to place. The people would follow Him wherever He went, and His voice with such melody [in] it would reach the people’s hearts where they were, and they would listen to Him. And we want our voices to be tempered into harmonious melody, if it is possible.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 43

There is a living God, and although the world is going into wickedness, it is not the higher education that God wants us to have. The higher education is that which yields to the Higher Will, the Higher Power, and that will improve the character that will receive it. That is what we want for the people. We want you to have peace of mind; we want you to have grace; we want you to have salvation, because you have [the] minds of your children that you are training up in the way of the Lord. Never, never speak to them in a sharp, harsh way. You cannot afford it. Just take them away and talk to them tenderly. I have taken children that were not my own, and trained them in this way, and they are believers and alive today. Every one of us should work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 44

We read in Deuteronomy four: “Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you.” [Verse 1.] It is our life to be obedient children of God. This is the highest class of education. “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.” [Verse 2.] Now mind that. Men are changing the Bible to conform to the ideas of higher education, and they have those special ones that fell from heaven, that were so enlightened, to help them in making it a very grand thing, but it will be so grand that there will be very few who accept it that will ever enter heaven.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 45

“Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor: for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you. But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day.” [Verses 3, 4.] Now when he would make that representation, there would be a voice to respond, Yea, yea, yea.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 46

“Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.” [Verse 5.] There was the blessed land that they were trying to get to, and He wanted them to become acquainted with their relation to God that they might carry it out in coming into the possession of these lands. Here was their only hope.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 47

“Keep these commandments therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for?” [Verses 6, 7.]

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 48

“This is your wisdom.” Is not that the highest education that human beings can obtain? Is there any higher? Tell me where it is. If you will come in submission to God, you will realize the converting power of God every day.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 49

“And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?” [Verse 8.]

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 50

Is not that the higher education? That is why we purchased Loma Linda and Glendale and Paradise Valley Sanitarium, and other similar property. That is why we are established in Washington, having our school and physicians at work in these sanitariums that we have established, and we are trying to bring all over the world the higher education. It is not to be confined to one place. Why? Because we want the people to understand what the only safe higher education is. It is to be in submission to the will of heaven. There is no higher education that can come to any mortal but to listen to the Word of God.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 51

“Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thine heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons and thy sons’ sons; specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. And ye came near and stood under the mountain: and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.” [Verses 9-12.]

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 52

And why was there not a similitude? Because they would go to patterning after that similitude. We do not need one-hundredth part of these pictures that we have been fashioning in our books as a great addition. We do not need to spend our money for many things for which we spend it in creating pictures. We are getting ready for a life that measures with the life of God. We are getting ready to see the King in His beauty. Christ came to our world to carry out the purposes of God. He ministered to the people until wicked men took Him and crucified Him. But He did not stay in the grave long, for a mighty angel came and rolled back the stone from the door of the sepulcher. And the men that were watching the grave became like dead men. The light came so strong that it took away their strength. Christ Jesus came forth from the grave, and He proclaimed over the rent sepulcher of Joseph, “I am the resurrection and the life.” [John 11:25.]

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 53

There was Christ, risen from the dead. He had suffered death. You can suffer no more. You cannot suffer any more than your Saviour suffered; but He proclaimed over the rent sepulcher of Joseph, “I am the resurrection and the life.” [Verse 25.]

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 54

He who has proclaimed Himself to be “the resurrection and the life” has “declared unto you His covenant, which He commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and He wrote them upon two tables of stone.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 55

“And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it. Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female.” [Deuteronomy 4:13-16.]

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 56

God was giving them these lessons. We want heaven. We do not want to lose heaven. We want to be brought into right relation to God. We want to see the King in His beauty, and we want to be partakers with Christ in His sufferings, that we may in character be lawfully partakers of His glory. The Lord He is God, and what this great person or that great person may say should not affect us. They may say most wonderful things. Bear this in mind, because the fallen angels were educated in a wonderful manner by the Lord God of heaven. They wanted to be first and take Christ’s place in heaven. Let every one of us be a partaker of the divine nature, that we may overcome the temptations that are in the world through lust. Now, we do not want to be the biggest men or the biggest women, but we want to be those that believe the Word of God just as He has given it to us. We do not want to glorify anyone, whatever may be their work, or lift up any human being, but we do want to encourage a faith that works by love and purifies the soul.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 57

Fathers and mothers, I beseech you, educate your children not with scolding or fretting, or anything of that kind, but teach them what is before them in the formation of their character if they ever expect to wear the crown of life, and let no human nature be your judge of your fine capabilities, to exalt yourself and [thus] lose the crown of life. The Lord alone can judge any mortal’s value. I ask you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, that you will listen to these words that I have spoken to you.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 58

I want to say that our God is a living God. In the fifth chapter of Deuteronomy are words which He wants us to heed:

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 59

“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain. Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. Six days thou shalt labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 60

“Honor thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath commandment thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” [Verses 11-16.]

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 61

And so He goes on with His commandments. Let us walk humbly with God. And when we speak to one another, do not let it be in a scolding way, do not let it be in scolding and fretting at your children. Just take them, and kneel down and pray with them, and you will find that there will be a surprising change come to them. Why? Because heavenly angels are sent [to] work with [the] father and mother and they do a work you cannot do.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 62

It is for the purpose of doing a work in the name of the Lord that we have purchased institutions in many places. We are doing a work in school education, and in our sanitariums where the sick and suffering are brought, and we know it to be true that many souls have been converted in these very institutions, and many more will be converted if you all blend in harmony. We want to tell you that the Lord He is God, and we are going to serve Him to the letter. We want to help you, if it is possible, that you may take your position for the Lord God of Israel. We thank you that you have been so patient to listen to what a feeble woman has had to say to you. When I am on my feet, as I was before thousands in public in Washington, I know no weariness. I stand and speak to the people, and the Lord gives me strength; He gives me people’s ears to hear, and He has preserved my life.

25LtMs, Ms 84, 1910, par. 63

I want to see that there are many becoming true to God my Saviour, that when the gates of the city are swung back upon their glittering hinges, they may enter in and the harp be placed in their hands and the crown upon their heads, and what is the best part of it? They go no more out forever. There will be no more tempting devil to come in and tempt them away from God. We want you to be saved with an eternal salvation. We want you to see the King in His beauty. We want you to bring your children into the city of God, and we want to see the crowns on their head, and to hear their voices in praise for Him who gave His life for them. You ought to want to hear it. So let us all unitedly strive for victory till the word in heaven comes, It is done; the warfare is ended.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 25 (1910 - 1915)

Lt 42, 1910

25LtMs, Lt 42, 1910, par. 6

Brother Parsons, we have a most solemn work before us. Let us, my brother, lift up the standard, beginning with full surrender and continuing in the simplicity of obedience to all the Lord’s commandments, according to His special directions. None of the important things specified in His Word are to be neglected. Read to the people the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy. Read this chapter carefully, and regard the charge. O what a lesson is in this chapter! Read also chapters five, six, seven, and eight. Let the special lesson be our interest to do them. I feel intensely over this matter. All are to search the Scriptures for themselves, to make the Word of the Lord their study book, lest they also be found in rebellion. Let every soul sanctify himself daily, according to the Word of the Lord. Then the Lord will be glorified through us.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 25 (1910 - 1915)

Lt 22, 1911

25LtMs, Lt 22, 1911, par. 11

I ask you who stand as leaders in this work to read prayerfully chapters four to eleven of the book of Deuteronomy; for there is instruction that all need who would understand God’s dealings with His people. And I wish to impress upon all who read these chapters that they mean much to every soul who carries responsibilities in connection with sanitarium work. “Thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God,” the Lord declares, “and the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto Himself above all nations that are upon the earth.” [Deuteronomy 14:2.] All the directions He has given are to be carefully observed, from the greatest to that which may seem the least.

The Voice in Speech and Song

Chapter 47—Illustrations and Visual Aids

VSS 278.4

Starving Sheep—There are men who stand in the pulpits as shepherds, professing to feed the flock, while the sheep are starving for the bread of life. There are long-drawn-out discourses, largely made up of the relation of anecdotes; but the hearts of the hearers are not touched. The feelings of some may be moved, they may shed a few tears, but their hearts are not broken. The Lord Jesus has been present when they have been presenting that which was called sermons, but their words were destitute of the dew and rain of heaven. They evidenced that the anointed ones described by Zechariah (see chapter 4) had not ministered to them that they might minister to others. When the anointed ones empty themselves through the golden pipes, the golden oil flows out of themselves into the golden bowls, to flow forth into the lamps, the churches. This is the work of every true, devoted servant of the living God.

The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials

Diary—January 1891

1888 877.1

The very same principles expressed in James 3 were spoken by the voice of God from the pillar of cloud. God spoke to the people the acts they should do and the actions they should not do. Deuteronomy chapter 4. The specifications are never to lose their force, for they are the expression of the mind of the infinite God. Every word is to be cherished.

Loma Linda Messages

E. G. White to W. A. Ruble, J. A. Burden, and I. H. Evans, May 7, 1911 (B. 22, 1911)

LLM 571.1

I ask you who stand as leaders in this work to read prayerfully chapters four to eleven of the book of Deuteronomy; for there is instruction that all need who would understand God’s dealings with His people. And I wish to impress upon all who read these chapters that they mean much to every soul who carries responsibilities in connection with sanitarium work. “Thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God,” the Lord declares, “and the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto Himself above all nations that are upon the earth.” All the directions He has given are to be carefully observed, from the greatest to that which may seem least.

From Eternity Past

Chapter 42—God Teaches His Law to a New Generation

EP 327.1

The Lord announced to Moses that the appointed time for the possession of Canaan was at hand. As the aged prophet stood upon the heights overlooking the Promised Land, with deep earnestness he pleaded, “O Lord God, Thou hast begun to show Thy servant Thy greatness, and Thy mighty hand: for what god is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to Thy works, and according to Thy might? I pray Thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon.”

EP 327.2

The answer was, “Speak no more unto Me of this matter. Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with thine eyes: for thou shalt not go over this Jordan.”

EP 327.3

Without a murmur Moses submitted to the decree of God. And now his great anxiety was for Israel. From a full heart he poured forth the prayer, “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation ... which may bring them in; that the congregation of the Lord be not as sheep which have no shepherd.” Numbers 27:16, 17.

EP 327.4

The answer came, “Take thee Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay thine hand upon him; and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation; and give him a charge in their sight. And thou shalt put some of thine honor upon him, that all the congregation of the people of Israel may be obedient.” Verses 18-20.

EP 328.1

Joshua, a man of wisdom, ability, and faith, was chosen to succeed him. He was solemnly set apart as the leader of Israel. The words of the Lord concerning Joshua came through Moses to the congregation, “At his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation.” Verse 21.

EP 328.2

Moses stood before the people to repeat his last warnings and admonitions. His face was illumined with a holy light, his hair white with age. But his form was erect, and his eye was clear and undimmed. With deep feeling he portrayed the love and mercy of their Almighty Protector.

EP 328.3

“Ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it? Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? or hath God assayed to go and take Him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched-out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?”

EP 328.4

“Because the Lord loved you, and because He would keep the oath which He had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations.” Deuteronomy 7:8, 9.

EP 328.5

The people of Israel had often felt impatient and rebellious because of their long wandering in the wilderness; but the Lord had not been chargeable with this delay in possessing Canaan. He was more grieved than they because He could not bring them into immediate possession of the Promised Land and display before all nations His mighty power. With their distrust of God, they had not been prepared to enter Canaan. Had their fathers yielded in faith to the direction of God, walking in His ordinances, they would long before have been settled in Canaan, a prosperous, holy, happy people. Their delay dishonored God and detracted from His glory in the sight of surrounding nations.

EP 329.1

“Behold,” Moses said, “I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”

EP 329.2

And he challenged the Hebrew host: “What nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?” The laws which God gave His ancient people were wiser, better, and more humane than those of the most civilized nations of the earth. God’s law bears the stamp of the divine.

EP 329.3

How must these words have moved the hearts of Israel as they remembered that he who so glowingly pictured the blessings of the goodly land had been, through their sin, shut out from sharing the inheritance of his people:

EP 329.4

“The land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven”; “a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass”; “a land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.”

EP 329.5

“And it shall be, when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which He sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, and houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; then beware lest thou forget the Lord.” “Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord our God... . For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.” If they should do evil in the sight of the Lord, then, said Moses, “Ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it.”

EP 330.1

Moses completed the work of writing all the laws, statutes, and judgments which God had given him, and regulations concerning the sacrificial system. The book containing these was placed for safe keeping in the side of the ark.

EP 330.2

Still the great leader was filled with fear that the people would depart from God. In a sublime and thrilling address he set before them the blessings that would be theirs on condition of obedience, and the curses that would follow upon transgression:

EP 330.3

“If thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command thee this day,” “blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field,” in “the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle... . Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store... . The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face... . The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto.”

EP 330.4

“But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not ... observe to do all His commandments and His statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee,” “and thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee.” “And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from one end of the earth even unto the other... . And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind: and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life: in the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! And at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning!”

EP 331.1

By the Spirit of Inspiration, looking far down the ages, Moses pictured the terrible scenes of Israel’s final overthrow as a nation and the destruction of Jerusalem by the armies of Rome. The horrible sufferings of the people during the siege of Jerusalem under Titus centuries later were vividly portrayed: “He shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land... . Thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters ... in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee.” “The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, ... and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.”

EP 332.1

The more deeply to impress these truths upon all minds, the great leader embodied them in sacred verse. The people were to commit to memory this poetic history and teach it to their children and children’s children, that it might never be forgotten.

EP 332.2

When their children should ask in time to come, “What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God hath commanded you?” then the parents were to repeat the history of God’s gracious dealings with them—how the Lord had wrought for their deliverance that they might obey His law: “The Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is at this day. And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as He hath commanded us.”

From Eternity Past

Blessings Conditional

EP 331.2

Moses closed with these impressive words: “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey His voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto Him: for He is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” Deuteronomy 30:19, 20.

From Splendor to Shadow

Chapter 24—A Nation “Destroyed for Lack of Knowledge”

SS 157.2

Near the close of the wilderness wandering, on the very borders of the Promised Land, those who remained faithful renewed their vows of allegiance. Through Moses they were exhorted to remain separate from the surrounding nations and to worship God alone. See Deuteronomy 4.

SS 157.3

The Israelites had been specially charged not to lose sight of the commandments of God. Plain and decided were the warnings given them against the idolatrous customs prevailing among the neighboring nations. “Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which He made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of anything, which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee.” Deuteronomy 4:23.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 7 (1891-1892)

Ms 40, 1891

7LtMs, Ms 40, 1891, par. 43

The very same principles expressed in (James 3) were spoken by the voice of God from the pillar of cloud. God spoke to the people the acts they should do and the actions they should not do. Deuteronomy chapter 4. The specifications are never to lose their force, for they are the expressions of the mind of the infinite God. Every word is to be cherished.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 12 (1897)

Lt 55, 1897

12LtMs, Lt 55, 1897, par. 11

Please read Isaiah 58; also Deuteronomy 4; 6:1-9; 15:1-15.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 14 (1899)

Ms 121, 1899

14LtMs, Ms 121, 1899, par. 21

Let those who believe the word of the Lord read the instruction contained in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. There they will learn what kind of an education was to leave its impress on the families of the nation of Israel. God’s chosen people were to stand forth distinct and holy, separate from the nations who knew not God. But they were given directions to treat the stranger kindly. He was not to be looked down on because he was not of Israel. The Israelites were to love the strangers, because Christ died as verily to save them as He did to save Israel. The Lord God of Israel would receive them if they chose the society of those who knew and acknowledged Him. In this way they would learn of Jehovah, and glorify Him as they beheld His works in behalf of His chosen people.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 14 (1899)

Lt 221, 1899

14LtMs, Lt 221, 1899, par. 2

I have things to send to you in writing that I deem very important, and I think it will be prepared in a form so that many may be benefited by it. I should oft be so pleased to have talks with you upon matters that are intensely interesting to me, that I am trying to write out, in reference to the specifications in Scriptural injunctions in regard to the duties one to another in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. We must just call to our minds those [precepts on] actual, practical missionary work, and work intelligently, and do the very principles of Christianity, the gospel of the Old Testament.

14LtMs, Lt 221, 1899, par. 5

I cannot write out all that is contained in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. But I think our people in this enlightened age of 1899, if they would go back to the period they call the “Dark Ages” and bring into their practical life the lessons that Christ gave to the Hebrews, they would act out the obedience God required of them. Their hearts would not be so full of selfish principles that when His brethren working in hard fields should ask a favor, that they would close the door of their heart and say, No.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 15 (1900)

Ms 36, 1900

15LtMs, Ms 36, 1900, par. 9

The truth of God must be presented from His Word. It is a work of sacred importance to impress upon parents the need of teaching their children to obey the commandments of God, as directed by Christ before He assumed the garb of humanity. Read the Old Testament Scriptures, especially Deuteronomy, on this subject. God told Moses to say to the children of Israel.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 17 (1902)

Ms 222, 1902

17LtMs, Ms 222, 1902, par. 1

This morning Sara McEnterfer accompanied me to the place where a school building is being built to give advantage to the children in this locality to attend. The law has been passed that there should be no Bible education given, that no religious instruction should be allowed in the school. Brother Anthony is an excellent teacher, beloved and respected by all who have been acquainted with him. But being prohibited from doing the very work he would be glad to do makes the matter a necessity to have a school building where the children can be instructed in understanding the Scriptures, especially in accordance with the Word of the Lord in Deuteronomy chapters 4 and 5. All through this book of sacred history is the special Word of the Lord.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 18 (1903)

Ms 60, 1903

18LtMs, Ms 60, 1903, par. 1

Let those who have heard the truth for these last days study carefully the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy and take heed to the warnings contained therein.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 18 (1903)

Lt 105, 1903

18LtMs, Lt 105, 1903, par. 3

I feel deeply over our present situation. We must now do a work that should have been done long ago. We must do as the Lord directed Moses to do, when the children of Israel, having crossed the desert, were encamped on the borders of Jordan. Moses was bidden to rehearse to them all the dealings of the Lord to them during their journeyings through the wilderness. The record of this rehearsal is found in the book of Deuteronomy.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 18 (1903)

Lt 162, 1903

18LtMs, Lt 162, 1903, par. 2

I have been instructed to place before our people the instruction given by the Lord to Israel to keep them separate from the world. My brother, I want you to see the principles upon which we are to work. In the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy we read:

18LtMs, Lt 162, 1903, par. 3

“Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes, and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land, which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor; for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed from among you. But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day. Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore, and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding nation. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thine heart all the days of thy life; but teach them thy sons and thy sons’ sons.” [Verses 1-9.]

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 18 (1903)

Ms 9, 1903

18LtMs, Ms 9, 1903, par. 1

The book of Deuteronomy should be carefully studied by those living on the earth today. It contains a record of the instruction given to Moses to give to the children of Israel. In it the law is repeated. At the time that the instruction that it contains was given, the people of Israel were encamped beside the Jordan. All but two of the adults who had left Egypt had died in the wilderness. Now the generation that had arisen during the forty years of journeying were about to pass over the Jordan to receive their inheritance in the promised land. But they must first hear from the lips of Moses the instruction given him by the Lord for them. The words of the law must be repeated to them, and they must hear again the conditions upon which they were to enter into and take possession of the promised land.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 18 (1903)

Ms 132, 1903

18LtMs, Ms 132, 1903, par. 1

I have been instructed to call the attention of our people to the instruction given by the Lord to Israel regarding the importance of separation from the world. In the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy we read:

18LtMs, Ms 132, 1903, par. 3

“Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding nation. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thine heart all the days of thy life; but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons.” [Verses 1, 2, 5-9.]

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 18 (1903)

Lt 188, 1903

18LtMs, Lt 188, 1903, par. 30

I was referred to the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy. The whole of this chapter is to be studied. In it we read:

18LtMs, Lt 188, 1903, par. 33

“And because He loved thy fathers, therefore He chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in His sight with His mighty power out of Egypt; to drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day. Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord He is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath; there is none else. Thou shalt keep therefore His statutes, and His commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, forever.” [Verses 20-24, 30-40.]

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 18 (1903)

Ms 11, 1903

18LtMs, Ms 11, 1903, par. 6

We do not make enough of Deuteronomy and Exodus. These books record the dealings of God with Israel. God took the Israelites from slavery and led them through the wilderness to the promised land. They had almost reached the end of their journey. Spies were sent over the Jordan to view the land and bring back a report.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 18 (1903)

Ms 162, 1903

18LtMs, Ms 162, 1903, par. 2

God has given us the ten commandments for our instruction in righteousness. These commandments are a transcript of God’s character, and in the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy we are told that it is our life to obey them. We have no excuse for transgression. Christ came to our world to represent the Father in character, and He is our example in all things. Those who claim to be the children of God, and yet misrepresent the Lord Jesus by disorderly behaviour, as a child determined to have his own way, will find that such a life is a very hard one. He sets up his own will as a standard for others to follow, and the plans that he makes to carry out his own preconceived ideas and opinions frequently bring him into opposition to the will of Christ and into transgression of the law of Jehovah.

18LtMs, Ms 162, 1903, par. 3

“Now therefore, hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor; for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the Lord your God hath destroyed them from among you. But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you unto this day.” [Verses 1-4.]

18LtMs, Ms 162, 1903, par. 9

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 21 (1906)

Lt 116, 1906

21LtMs, Lt 116, 1906, par. 3

I often read and speak on the instruction given in the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy. Read this chapter diligently, and let your voice unite with my voice in bringing the people back to the true platform. We are not to be blinded by the enemy; we are not to follow Satan’s seductive insinuations. One thing is certain: truth will triumph and will bear away the victory. I call upon you, my brother, to unite with us, heart and soul, in the grand, noble work before us.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 21 (1906)

Ms 141, 1906

21LtMs, Ms 141, 1906, par. 21

Now I want to read a little further. I want now to come to Deuteronomy 4. Is there any Israel here? Yes, there is.

21LtMs, Ms 141, 1906, par. 22

Verses 1, 2 quoted. “which I command you.” He does not give it to you as a curse. He gives it to you as a way that you can escape the curse of all sin, and that you may be righteous to stand before Him, and that you may be holy, and that you may be happy, and that you may have communion with God, and you can know that He is your God, and that you are His children.

21LtMs, Ms 141, 1906, par. 23

Verses 2, 3 quoted. Why? And they became so self-sufficient that they thought they could carry all Israel without Moses, without Aaron, or any one that had charge of them. Therefore they got up a counterinfluence, and went to work, and in that counterinfluence came their destruction. The earth swallowed them up.

21LtMs, Ms 141, 1906, par. 24

Verse 4 quoted.

21LtMs, Ms 141, 1906, par. 26

Verses 5, 6 quoted. “keep therefore and do them.” Let us see. Does that make them false? Does that make them so Israel cannot understand anything, that they will be so foolish that they cannot make anything of themselves here in this world, or in the future world?

21LtMs, Ms 141, 1906, par. 28

Finish verse 6 quoted. What is the matter? We have got hold of the higher education. We are in the school to learn of God and His heavenly requirements, and we can have the highest education that ever can be given to any mortals upon the face of the earth. So it is best for us not to separate from God.

21LtMs, Ms 141, 1906, par. 29

Verse 7 quoted. These words were frequently repeated to them as they were being led through the wilderness. There was Christ our Redeemer in the pillar of cloud, and all the directions He was giving to the people—first to Moses, next to Joshua. They were leading the people under heaven’s direction and command.

21LtMs, Ms 141, 1906, par. 31

Verses 8, 9 quoted. Here it comes from father to son, and thus it is for generations.

21LtMs, Ms 141, 1906, par. 32

Verse 10 quoted. Now, here is the education. It is to pass from parents to their children, and we are to educate them strictly in observance of the very day that we observe today.

21LtMs, Ms 141, 1906, par. 33

Verses 11-14 quoted. Now, this belongs unto every human being that is here today, that you are to take heed to your individual selves.

21LtMs, Ms 141, 1906, par. 34

Verses 15, 16 quoted.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 21 (1906)

Lt 184, 1906

21LtMs, Lt 184, 1906, par. 4

I cannot at this time write all that I desire. But you are to realize your great responsibility to teach your children the way of the Lord. Study the directions given in the book of Deuteronomy and in the New Testament. The Lord will bless you in your efforts to heed His directions. We owe all to God, and let us praise His holy name.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 21 (1906)

Ms 65, 1906

21LtMs, Ms 65, 1906, par. 22

I was referred to the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy. The whole of this chapter is to be studied. Notice particularly the statement: “Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord He is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath; there is none else. Thou shalt keep therefore His statutes, and His commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, forever.” [Verses 39, 40.]

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 21 (1906)

Ms 146, 1906

21LtMs, Ms 146, 1906, par. 29

In the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy we read:

21LtMs, Ms 146, 1906, par. 30

21LtMs, Ms 146, 1906, par. 32

“But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day. Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land wither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” [Verses 4-6.]

21LtMs, Ms 146, 1906, par. 33

Not only will our brethren and sisters in the church understand, but the nations of the earth will see and know that the Lord has power to shield and guard those who keep God’s commandments. Commandment keepers will stand before the world and before God as “a wise and understanding people.” [Verse 6.] And if the commandments of God had been kept, oh, what a different state of things would exist in the world today!

21LtMs, Ms 146, 1906, par. 35

“For what nation is so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for?” Deuteronomy 4:7. Well, then, search it out, find out what God has said. Find out what God will claim as His right—obedience. And then, let me tell you, in doing obedience, you can ask Him for His blessing, and He will give it to you. Now He says: Verse 8, quoted. “So righteous.” Why, it is righteousness. It is taught that neighbor shall look after neighbor, and that they should be friendly, and that all wickedness should be put away. Now, we have a very busy devil in our world. He is gathering in his harvest. We cannot afford to dishonor God one iota in disregarding one precept of His law.

21LtMs, Ms 146, 1906, par. 36

Verse 8; Verse 9. “all the days of thy life.” “Teach them thy sons and thy sons’ sons.” Verse 10.

21LtMs, Ms 146, 1906, par. 38

First portion of (Verse 10) quoted: “And I will make them hear My words.” Yes. There was a cloud that covered the mount. Through that cloud they heard the words of the infinite God that came down from the infinite God to Sinai, and there He spoke these words with a voice that made the people tremble every time they heard it.

21LtMs, Ms 146, 1906, par. 39

“I will make them hear My words”—last part of Verse 10 quoted.

21LtMs, Ms 146, 1906, par. 41

Verse 11, quoted.

21LtMs, Ms 146, 1906, par. 42

Verses 12, 13, quoted.

21LtMs, Ms 146, 1906, par. 44

Verses 13, 14.

21LtMs, Ms 146, 1906, par. 46

“that teach you statutes” ... Verses 14, 15.

21LtMs, Ms 146, 1906, par. 47

“Lest ye.” Now let us see why they do not find any similitude. Verse 16. Now you see they are guarding every point.

21LtMs, Ms 146, 1906, par. 48

Verse 19. “To worship them.” They are grand beings, wonderful beings. But there is One that created them, that demands all your service. The whole confidence of your life and heart and soul.

21LtMs, Ms 146, 1906, par. 49

Verse 19. “To worship them, serve them.”

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 22 (1907)

Lt 176, 1907

22LtMs, Lt 176, 1907, par. 12

I spoke from the nineteenth chapter of Exodus and the fourth of Deuteronomy, relating how the Lord came down on Mount Sinai before the mighty host of Israel, gave them His law, making to them wonderful promises if they would observe His commandments. Never before have I felt so intensely the importance of this subject. I know that the Lord blessed me and that His angels were present. By the time I had spoken about an hour, I became very hoarse and was obliged to cease.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 22 (1907)

Ms 131, 1907

22LtMs, Ms 131, 1907, par. 21

Turn to the book of Deuteronomy. In the fourth chapter we read: “Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you.” [Verse 1.]

22LtMs, Ms 131, 1907, par. 22

“That ye may live.” [Verse 1.] To keep the commandments of God, and to live in harmony with His will, means life to us. No human agency can set up his own will independently of God’s will and yet remain a child of God and an heir to life eternal.

22LtMs, Ms 131, 1907, par. 23

(Verses 2-5): “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you. But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day. Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.”

22LtMs, Ms 131, 1907, par. 24

“Keep therefore and do them,” we read in the next verse. And why?—“For this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” [Verse 6.] This is the impression that is to be made upon human agencies round about us. We are not to feel as if obedience to God’s commands would weaken our influence or lessen our reputation in the sight of the world; for obedience brings us into harmony with the living Jehovah.

22LtMs, Ms 131, 1907, par. 25

(Verse 7): “For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for?” God wants you to take these assurances and to have a living faith, not a dead faith. He wants you to come up to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.

22LtMs, Ms 131, 1907, par. 26

(Verses 9-14): “Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest thy depart from thy heart all the days of thy life; but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’s sons; especially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather Me the people together, and I will make them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. And He declared unto you His covenant, which He commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and He wrote them upon two tables of stone.

22LtMs, Ms 131, 1907, par. 28

The Lord then cautioned them, through Moses, not to worship any manner of similitude—“the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, the likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground,” etc. [Verses 16-18.] He goes on to specify that instead of worshiping the likeness of anything, they should keep God before their minds. All the idols, and all the other representations that might be made, were to be regarded as of no account. The Israelites were to direct their minds to the Lord God of heaven, who liveth and abideth forever.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 23 (1908)

Lt 204, 1908

23LtMs, Lt 204, 1908, par. 3

The book of Deuteronomy is a most interesting book. We should rehearse more often the history of events that it contains. We do not dwell enough on these wonderful experiences. Moses was instructed to repeat over and over to Israel the history of their experiences—their failures and their victories.