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Colporteur Ministry
message of warning to the world is given more distinctly than in any
of my other books.—
Letter 281, 1905
.
I speak to you who are engaged in the canvassing work. Have
you read volume 4 [The Great Controversy]? Do you know what it
contains? Have you any appreciation of the subject matter? Do you
not see that the people need the light therein given? If you have not
already done so, I entreat you to read carefully these solemn warnings
and appeals. I am sure that the Lord would have this work carried
into all the highways and byways, where are souls to be warned of the
danger so soon to come.—
Letter 1, 1890
.
I was moved by the Spirit of the Lord to write that book, and while
working upon it, I felt a great burden upon my soul. I knew that time
was short, that the scenes which are soon to crowd upon us would at
the last come very suddenly and swiftly, as represented in the words
of Scripture: “The day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.”
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The Lord has set before me matters which are of urgent importance
for the present time, and which reach into the future. The words have
been spoken in a charge to me, “Write in a book the things which
thou hast seen and heard, and let it go to all the people; for the time
is at hand when past history will be repeated.” I have been aroused
at one, two, or three o’clock in the morning with some point forcibly
impressed upon my mind, as if spoken by the voice of God....
I was shown ... that I should devote myself to writing out the
important matters for volume 4 [The Great Controversy]; that the
warning must go where the living messenger could not go, and that it
would call the attention of many to the important events to occur in
the closing scenes of this world’s history.—
Letter 1, 1890
.
The book The Great Controversy, I appreciate above silver or gold,
and I greatly desire that it shall come before the people. While writing
the manuscript of The Great Controversy, I was often conscious of
the presence of the angels of God. And many times the scenes about
which I was writing were presented to me anew in visions of the night,
so that they were fresh and vivid in my mind.—
Letter 56, 1911
.
The Greatest Results Future—The results of the circulation of
this book [The Great Controversy] are not to be judged by what now
appears. By reading it, some souls will be aroused, and will have
courage to unite themselves at once with those who keep the com-
mandments of God. But a much larger number who read it will not