The Coming Crisis - How To Meet It- Millennial Star 1853

Millennial Star, 30 April 1853, Volume 15, Pages 273-276, 289-292. 

The Coming Crisis - How To Meet It

A great and awful crisis is at hand - such a crisis was never known before since 
the foundation of the world. All nations are looking through the misty future in 
order to descry, if possible, what is about to happen. Many sermons have been 
preached, many speeches have been made, and some pamphlets have been 
published, with the hope of lifting up the veil of the future. Yet none but the 
servants of God who have the testimony of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy, 
can unfold the mysteries of the future. They can give the trump a certain sound, 
and their counsel will not be guess work. God will do nothing except He reveal 
His secrets to His servants and Prophets. God, the Lord God of Israel, will take 
the control of these great events which are shortly to come to pass. Not a 
sparrow will fall to the ground without His notice. But His servants will be fully 
advised to every important event that is to transpire. They will be the heralds of 
blessings and also of vengeance. For the Lord hath a controversy with all 
nations, and the hour of recompense is at hand. 

But, says the reader, I would like to know of what this crisis is to consist! Who are 
the contesting parties? Well, reader, if you will be patient and honest-hearted, 
praying withal, with unceasing diligence and thanksgiving to God, you shall have 
the keys of such knowledge as all the sectarian priests of Christendom are by no 
means able to reveal, because they are only revealed to God's servants, the 
Prophets. 

Perhaps you will be disappointed, if I tell you that the time is coming, and now is, 
when, not only God, the Highest of all, shall be revealed in spirit and in mighty 
power, but the Devil or Satan also, will be revealed in signs and wonders and in 
mighty deeds! This, reader, is the great key to all the marvelous events that are 
to transpire shortly upon the earth. 

Now just stop right here, and pause, and mark emphatically this key. Then you 
and I will proceed to unlock the mysteries and to prepare ourselves to the battle. 
For there will be no neutrals in the approaching controversy. I say again, that 
God the Highest of all will make bare His arm in the eyes of all nations. And the 
heavens even will be rent, and the lighting down of His power will be felt by all 
nations. But this is not all. Satan also will be revealed. He has made some 
manifestations of his power in different periods of the world, but never before has 
there been such an array of numbers on his side, never before such a 
consolidation of armies and rulers, never before has there been such an 
imposing and overwhelming exhibition of miracles as Satan will shortly make 
manifest. Don't suppose for a moment, that I am uttering dark sayings or 
speaking unadvisedly upon speculation or the strength of mere human opinion. 

Don't tell me about Popes and Prelates sitting in the Temple of God as God. One 
far greater than any Pope or Prelate is soon to be revealed, and he will claim to 
be worshipped as God. Now, remember, that it is no modern wicked man that is 
going to claim divine honors. No, it is that old Serpent, the Devil. He it is that will 
head the opposition against God and His Christ. And he, the son of perdition it is, 
that will be allowed a much longer chain than heretofore. And such will be the 
greatness of his power, that it will seem to many that he is entirely loose. He will 
be so far unshackled and unchained that his power will deceive all nations, even 
the world. And the elect will barely escape the power of his sorceries, 
enchantments, and miracles! And even God, Himself, the true God, will 
contribute to put means and instruments in his way and at hand, for his use, so 
that he can have a full trial of his strength and cunning, with all deceivableness of 
unrighteousness in them that perish. 

It is not to be expected that Satan will carry on his great warfare against Christ 
and his Saints by means of any one religion exclusively. It is not the Papal or 
Protestant religion alone that you have need to fear. But the great and 
abominable Church which you should expect to encounter is Anti-Christ. 
Whatever exalts and opposes itself to God, that is Anti-Christ, whether it is a civil 
or religious power. But the most formidable power that will be arrayed against 
Christ and his Saints in the last days, will consist of the revelations of Satan. 

These revelations of Satan will come through every medium and channel by 
which the cunning and power of Satan can be brought to bear against the Saints 
and their Lord. It is a great mistake to suppose that Satan is altogether a religious 
personage. No, far from this. He is a politician, a philosopher, an erudite scholar, 
a linguist, a metaphysician, a military commander, a prince, a god, a 
necromancer, an enchanter, a diviner, a magician, a sorcerer, a prophet, and (if it 
were not railing) a clergyman and a liar from the beginning. With these universal 
endowments, he has never hitherto made a full and grand exhibition of himself, 
as it remains for him to do. But the Lord, who gave him an opportunity to try is 
battery upon good old Job, is fully designing to give him sufficient apparatus to 
deceive all the nations that love not the truth, and have pleasure in 
unrighteousness. His signs and tokens are as ancient as the apostasy of Cain, 
and as varied as will suit the secret designs of all ages. Through him men learn 
how to become "observers of time and seasons", with great skill and astonishing 
accuracy. He presides over the arts of astrology, clairvoyance, mesmerism, 
electro-biology, and all auguries and divinations. Being Prince of the power of the 
air he understands aeronautic and steam navigation, and he can compose and 
combine the various elements, through the co-operation of them that believe in 
him, with far more that human skill. Now don't doubt what I say concerning this 
matter, but rather read the history of his skillful exploits and his mighty power, as 
they are recorded in the Old and New Testaments. Take a Bible and 
Concordance, (if you have any Faith in the Bible left, in an age when the Bible is 
perverted beyond all other books), and read attentively for yourselves, and you 
will there learn that I am telling you the truth. 

Now there is a greater destruction coming upon the wicked nations of the earth, 
than was even experienced by Pharaoh at the Red Sea. But before that 
destruction can be made manifest, men's hearts will be hardened, and 
wickedness will rise to a more over-towering height than many bygone 
generations have been allowed to witness. God, through his Prophet, will roar out 
of Zion. His voice will be heard in spite of all the confusion and indignant 
opposition from many nations. After the testimony of His servants has been 
proclaimed to all nations, as a witness, then shall the scene of the end come. 
And great shall be that scene. The Devil in the last stage of desperation, will take 
such a pre-eminent lead in literature, politics, philosophy, and religion; in wars, 
famines, pestilences, earthquakes, thunderings and lightnings, setting cities in 
conflagration, etc., that mighty kings and powerful nations will be constrained to 
fall down and worship him. And they will marvel at his great power, and wonder 
after him with great astonishment. For his signs and wonders will be among all 
nations. Men will be raised for the express purpose of furthering the designs and 
marvelous works of the devil. Every description of curious and mysterious arts 
that penetrate beyond the common pale of human sagacity and wisdom, will be 
studied and practiced beyond what has been known by mere mortals. The great 
capabilities of the elements of fire, air, earth, and water, will be brought into 
requisition by cunning men under the superior cunning of the prince and the God 
of this world. And, inflated with the knowledge of these wonderful arts and 
powers, men will become boasters, heady, high-minded, proud, and despisers of 
that which is good. But the God who is above all, and over all, and who ruleth in 
the armies of heaven, and amongst the inhabitants of the earth, will not be a 
silent observer of such spiritual wickedness in high places, and among the rulers 
of the darkness of this world. For the master spirits of wickedness of all ages, 
and of worlds visible and invisible, will be arrayed in the rebellious ranks before 
the closing scene shall transpire. Now just at this time, God will come out of His 
hiding place and vex the nations in his hot displeasure. By the mouth of His 
Prophet He will rebuke strong nations afar off, notwithstanding their strong 
armies and great miracles, and cunning arts. His servant, the Prophet, in Zion will 
have a marvelous boldness to rebuke them, and to lay down before them in 
plainness and inflexible firmness the law of the Lord. As Moses laid down the law 
to Pharaoh, and then continued to multiply evils and judgments until he made an 
utter end of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, even so will the living God prescribe the 
line of conduct to be pursued, and the penalties of violation, to great and mighty 
nations, until they rally around the ensign established upon the mountains, and 
go up to the house of the God of Jacob to learn His ways, or are utterly 
overwhelmed in keen anguish and ruin. 

The ways of the God of Jacob are easily recognized in these days of general 
wickedness. It is true, that they are clearly revealed in the Scriptures of truth, and 
by a living Priesthood of inspired men, yet they have been so long and so grossly 
perverted by the precepts and opinions of a hireling ministry, that doubts and 
contentions have sprung up in every land, and the plainest and simplest truths 
are denied, abrogated, or accounted obsolete. God is not allowed to speak from 
the heavens by the mouths of Prophets as in former days. Notwithstanding there 
is much preaching and praying, still there is a virtual acknowledgement among all 
nations that God, as He was known unto the Patriarchs and Prophets of old, has 
forsaken the earth. And men are therefore left to discover the way to heaven by 
the light of nature, or the misty nebulae of a hireling Priesthood. And it is a fact, 
undeniable, that infidels in the school of nature have more true piety towards the 
living God than the hireling ministry of Christendom have. Hence priests are 
doing so much, often unwittingly, to blind the eyes of the people, so that they 
shall not see the approaching crisis in its true character until the catastrophe is 
completed, and Great Babylon and all her lofty cities, great wealth, princely 
merchants, chief captains, and mighty sovereigns, are laid low in one general 
ruin. Oh ye great and strong nations! ye philosophers and religionists! ye spiritual 
mediums and ye revelators, sitting upon thrones over great nations! how can you 
fulfill the prophecies that are so clearly revealed, concerning the destructions of 
the last days! Ye perhaps marvel that the great men and governors over one 
hundred and twenty-seven provinces in ancient Babylon, with a brave monarch 
at their head, should have been such firm believers in the astrologers, magicians, 
and interpreters of dreams, in their days! But marvel not, for when the greater 
power of the like class of persons, under the direction of Satan, shall be brought 
to bear in your own day, the delusion will be so much stronger that Princes, 
Presidents, Governors, and chief Captains, will be constrained to bow to it. Their 
credulity will be taxed beyond the power of resistance. The workers of these 
mysterious and supernatural arts will bring to their aid both natural and 
supernatural causes that will challenge and defy disputation. The senses and 
judgment of men cannot withstand such imperative facts as will arrest their 
observations. For it cannot be denied that facts and truths will constitute such a 
measure of the ingredients of these mysterious and wonderful arts as to give 
them an irresistible strength of conviction to those who are unenlightened by the 
Spirit of God. And so far as facts and truth are mingled, it must also be 
acknowledged that God, the true and living Sovereign of Heaven and Earth, will 
contribute to produce the delusion. He has said that "He will send them strong 
delusions that they might believe a lie." He gives his reason and apology for 
acting after this stranger manneržbecause, knowing the truth, they do not love it 
unadulterated. And knowing God, they do not choose to glorify Him as God. 
Therefore their foolish hearts become darkened, and God suffers Satan to 
compound and mix up truth and error in such proportions as to be captivating 
and strongly delusive. As a snare, this composition will be ingeniously mixed and 
administered to all nations, by skillful and practiced hands. 

And who shall be able to withstand? Do you think that your great sagacity and 
the compass of your profound, philosophical turn of mind will enable you to 
detect the error and delusion of these arts? Oh, man, this is a vain hope. You will 
not be competent to detect the delusion. God Himself will allow Satan to ply your 
scrutinizing eye with powers and sophistications far beyond your capacity to 
detect. Do you say then, I will stand aloof from investigation, I will shun all 
acquaintance with these mysterious workings, in order that I may not be carried 
away with their delusive influence. Vain hope. Oh, man, you cannot be neutral. 

You must choose your side and put on your armor. Those that come not up to 
the help of the Lord in the day of battle, will be sorely cursed. The captive 
Hebrew Daniel stood up boldly against all the governors and whole realm of 
Babylon with their monarch at their head. Daniel readily acknowledged that it was 
not from any wisdom in him, above other men, that he could surpass the 
astrologers and magicians. But holding intercourse with the God of heaven, he 
became endowed with supernatural comprehension that effectually shielded him 
against supernatural delusion. Thereby he escaped the snare that entwined 
around the great statesmen and governors of that immense empire of Babylon. 

Thereby, those who take refuge in the name of the Lord and in immediate 
revelation from heaven, will be safe, and no others. He that is not for God and 
the principle of immediate revelation, will inevitably be ensnared, overcome, and 
destroyed. Because he that is not for Him must be against Him. No man in any 
age was ever for God, that did not hold intercourse with Him personally, and 
receive for himself the revelations of his will. The rock of revelation, by which 
Peter knew Jesus Christ, is the only basis upon which any man can escape the 
strong delusion which God will send among the nations through Satan and his 
mediums and coadjutors. Reader, if you live long, you will be compelled to take a 
side for God or for Satan. Satan was allowed to try a compulsory process upon 
as good a man as Job. The whirlwind and tempestuous elements, with disease 
and death, were put into Satan's hand that he might compel Job to abandon his 
integrity. Had not Job possessed the key to revelation from God, he would have 
been compelled to have made peace with Satan, and forsaken the Lord. His wife 
urged him to do sožsays she, "Curse God and die"; or in other words, take the 
side of Satan against God. 

Now, reader, if you have ships of precious merchandise, floating at sea, the time 
is fast coming when Satan will destroy those ships, unless you bow down to his 
power and become a co-operator with him. And if you do bow down to him, to 
work wickedness and say, no eye seeth mežthen God will destroy those ships 
and you too, and peradventure He will destroy your family also, and make a 
clean end of you, and blot out your name under heaven. Your beautiful mansion 
and flourishing family still have to be consecrated to God or to Satan, whichever 
you may choose. The controversy is begun and the war will never end till the 
victory is complete and universal, and there shall not be found so much as a dog 
to move his tongue against the Lord, and the immediate revelations of His will. 

Your being a minister of some Church, will not serve as the last screen for you 
against the hot indignation of God, unless you have the law and the testimony of 
the true and living God made known to you personally. For the time has come 
that God will write His law upon every man's heart, that will receive it, not with 
ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. And against him that hath this law, the 
gates of hell never have prevailed and never will prevail. Heaven and earth shall 
pass away before a jot of this law shall be made to succumb to wicked men or 
devils. The heavens have been shaken once when angels rebelled, and they are 
destined to another shaking even with the earth. Do you say you don't need any 
more revelation from God. Then the Devil will be allowed to give you some which 
you don't need. And by the time that he has revealed himself to you, and buffeted 
you, and trained you under his rigorous discipline to fight in this awful crisis 
against the heavens, peradventure you will not then feel so rich and increased in 
goods, but that you can take a little counsel from the Lord, and feel a little of your 
extreme poverty and destitution. 

You cannot know God without present revelation. Did you ever think of this most 
solemn and essential truth, before? You may have been accustomed to pray, all 
your lifetime, and as yet you, even you, do not know God. You may have heard 
many thousand sermons, with a sincere desire both to remember and practice 
them, and yet you do not know God. But it has been decided in the court of 
heaven, that no man can know the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son 
REVEALETH him. Now, has Jesus Christ ever revealed God the Father to you, 
dear reader? Be honest with yourself, and do not err in your answer to this most 
important question. However much the Son may have revealed the Father to 
Prophets, Patriarchs, and Apostles of old, the question still remains in full 
forcežhas he revealed Him to you? A revelation to another man is by no means a 
revelation to you. For instance, God revealed himself to Samuel, and called him 
by name to be a Prophet. But the call to Samuel is by no means a call to you to 
be a Prophet. God called Abraham to kill Isaac, but that is no revelation to you to 
kill your son. God revealed the baptism of repentance to John the Baptist, before 
Christ's death, but that is not a revelation to you. He revealed authority to Paul to 
preach to the Gentiles, but what was told to Paul is not told to you, nor is it 
required of you. Again, you need the righteousness of God to go where God is, 
and be happyžand how will you get it except it is revealed to you personally? You 
cannot get it any other way. Hence the Lord says, "The righteousness of God is 
revealed from faith to faith." Don't say now, as some do, that revelation was 
anciently given in order to establish the truth, and being once established is it no 
longer necessary to be revealed to subsequent generations of people. Don't say 
this for your life, for revelation is just as necessary to establish truth now as it 
was then. You need the ministry of angels now, just as much as people did then. 

They in past ages could not know God, nor say for a certainty, from personal 
knowledge, that Jesus Christ was the Christ, only by the Holy Ghostžand you are 
just as weak and dependent as they were. You most assuredly cannot call Jesus, 
Lord, only by the Holy Ghost. If the Holy Ghost is confirmed upon you, by the 
imposition of the hands of the true Priesthood, then you can know God for 
yourself. Why? Because the Holy Ghost teaches all things, even the deep things 
of God. This generation needs present revelations from heaven, as much as any 
other generation ever did, because they are quite as wicked as Sodom ever was. 

They practice as gross sensuality and beastliness, as glaring robbery and 
murder, as much treachery and lying, and are as ardent for war and blood-
guiltiness, as ever the ancient Canaanites were. And among the many religions 
that have sprung up, calculated to confuse people's minds, there is, now, as must 
jargon and schism, contention and strife, and persecuting zeal, as there ever was 
before. Now, reader, you need present revelation from God to your own dear 
self, in order to help you out of this nasty, confused labyrinth, and to set your feet 
firmly upon the solid rock of revelation. Mere flesh and blood cannot help you 
now. It requires an Almighty arm to effect your deliverance. Therefore, put no 
more trust in man, for a curse rests upon him that will be guided by the precepts 
of man. I do not ask you to be guided by what I say to you, unless the Lord from 
heaven shall reveal to you that I speak the truth, even as it is in Christ. Although I 
know that I am declaring heaven's truth to you, in all sobriety, yet, my knowing it, 
does not suffice for you. You also must know it for yourself, and not for another. 
This is your right and your privilege. For God has made this promise to you, and 
not to you, reader, only, but to all others whom He calls to repentance. Now, go 
and get revelation for yourself. If you are penitently desirous with all your heart to 
get revelation from God to your own self, go to some one whom God has called 
and ordained to confer the Gift of Reader, be resolute! This is a critical and trying 
moment with you. And this is God's call unto you. Don't refuse when He calls 
you! And if you are honestly, without prejudice, meditating upon what you now 
read, then God's Spirit is sweetly persuading you to believe what I say. The faint 
dawn of the Spirit is even now upon your mind. Now, reader, cherish this little 
dawn of light until the daylight of more truth shines more clearly upon your mind. 

Pray mightily for the Spirit of Revelation to rest upon you, that you may know the 
things that are freely given to you of God. And follow the Spirit of revelation, as 
fast as you receive its whisperings, down into the water where Jesus went, for 
the remission of your sins, and you will very soon become a witness to the one 
truth, and put your own seal upon it even as I have done. And you will not barely 
believe, and hope, and fear, but you will know, from present and personal 
revelation, that the Lord is a God at hand, revealing Himself as freely as He ever 
did in Patriarchal days. Will you not, then be a happy man, O reader! and you a 
happy woman, O reader, to come into possession of the same gift of present 
revelation from heaven, that holy men and holy women enjoyed in ancient times? 

Yes, I know you will. You will then feel deep pity and sorrow for any one that says 
he doesn't need present revelation! You will then discover the pride of such an 
one's heart, and mourn over him as one that is blinded by the God of this world. 
But your peace will be great and your joy unspeakable. Although you can hardly 
believe me now, yet through your faithfulness, the Spirit of prophecy will in due 
time rest even upon you, O man! and also upon you, O woman! The spirit of 
prophecy has rested upon many sons and daughters in as humble walks of life 
as you are, and they, according to "promise", have prophesied and dreamed 
dreams. Now when this promise is fulfilled in your experience, you will feel very 
glad and very happy. And you will feel thankful that you ever read this article with 
a humble, prayerful heart. And when you see the promised signs following your 
faith, as thousands have done in this day, then you will exclaim, Surely this is not 
merely the form, but also the power of godlinessžthis kind of gospel is in very 
deed the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth! And then if you 
have money, which so many worship, you will not be afraid to give a tenth to rear 
up a Temple like Solomon's, in which God will place the ark of His covenant, and 
reveal His will, through His servants the Prophets, for the benefit of all the ends 
of the earth. When you yourself have the promised gift of discerning of spirits, 
then you will not have to ask your neighbor who is an imposter and who is not - 
you will know from the Fountain Head all about it just as well as the next person. 

He that is spiritual judgeth all things. Many things are hard to be understood and 
reconciled, which the unstable and unlearned stumble at, even as formerlyžhe 
that is spiritual can easily judge all things, but he that is not spiritual can judge 
nothing correctly, for he is blind, and he cannot see afar off. 

And further, when you see also the gross and beastly sexual abominations that 
are practiced and are increasing among all nations, without shame or fear, you 
will not marvel that God is determined to raise up a righteous seed and glorious 
branch, by re-establishing the Patriarchal Order, as in the days of Abraham, 
Jacob, David, Solomon, and Elkanah. Neither will you marvel, while the Spirit of 
God is upon you, that man and even women should sneer at the sacred 
institution of marriage being an institution wholly under the control of God, as it 
was in the days of Abraham. Why should you not marvel at their sneers? 
Because, we have been distinctly and emphatically forewarned that in the last 
days there shall arise scoffers, walking after their own hearts' lusts, who shall 
speak evil of dignities and things that they know not, have men's persons in 
admiration because of gain. You would have more cause to marvel and 
disbelieve the scriptures of truth, if sensual men and women did not speak evil of 
the Patriarchal Order of marriage, and of men that conform to the pure sanction 
and penal restrictions of that most holy Order. 

Now there are several ways in which the pure and obedient get revelations. It will 
be your privilege in due time to become acquainted with these various ways. One 
way is, through the inspiration of the Spirit. The Spirit is given to every man to 
profit withal. All men have such a measure of the Holy Spirit as to enable them to 
make a profitable use of the light and opportunities that they have and to obey 
the law under which they are placed. All the different methods of revelation are 
not probably given to all men now. God dispenseth His gifts severally as He will. 

The inspiration of the Almighty giveth understanding. Every various method of 
immediate revelation, however, always accords with the inspiration of the Spirit. If 
an holy angel talks with a man, what the angel speaks accords with the 
inspiration of the Holy Spirit. If the Urim and Thummim is consulted, it accords 
with the teachings of the Holy Spirit. An open vision or dream, each accords with 
the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Now one mark of a dream from God is, that it is 
distinguished for the clearness and simplicity of the impress that it makes upon 
the mind of him that dreams. A dream from the Lord being always true in all its 
legitimate bearings, will be so disembarrassed from error and uncertainty to him 
that has the Spirit of truth in lively exercise, that he will know it perfectly in 
distinction from all false hallucinations or deceptions of the mind. Reader, take 
your Bible and read the Bible account of dreams. 

There you will see that dreams 
from the Lord, for any important end, are plainly distinguishable from all 
deceptive influences. When Jacob went toward Haran and lay upon his stone 
pillow, and dreamed of seeing a ladder reaching up to heaven, etc., after he 
awoke he knew, beyond a doubt, that the dream was from God. Hence he says, 
"How terrible is this place," etc. When Laban wanted to cheat Jacob out of his 
just wages, the Lord appeared to Jacob in a night dream, and told him how to 
increase the number of his cattle, so that he could get the advantage of the 
cheating employer. Jacob understood the dream perfectly, and so managed as to 
have the best of the increase fall to his share. When Joseph told the simple 
dream of the sheaves, his brothers all understood it well. And when he told the 
dream of the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowing down to him, his father Jacob 
felt the force of the meaning, although he rebuked Joseph. When God gives a 
dream to a wicked man, He makes him fully to understand it, unless He wishes to 
hide the meaning from him. Abimelech understood his two dreams from the Lord, 
concerning Sarah, Abraham's wife. The Lord gave Solomon wisdom, and riches, 
and dominion, in a dream, and yet Solomon knew the import of the dream, and 
that the Lord had appeared to him, in that dream. The Lord does not suffer 
wicked spirits to foul and blot and mar a dream, when he wants to communicate 
His mind and will in a dream. Foul spirits are rebuked and commanded to depart 
when God wants to indict the truth upon any one's mind. The Angel of God 
guards the dreamer till a clear and distinct impression is made. And that 
impression is of an unmistakable character, it cannot be misunderstood, any 
more than the light of the sun can be mistaken for the darkness of midnight. An 
open vision is another method of revelation. David saw an Angel of the Lord with 
a drawn sword, even the pestilence, standing between the heavens and the 
earth. The Prophet having prayed that the eyes of his servant might be opened, 
showed him that the armies of heaven were more numerous than the host of his 
enemies. Another method of revelation is through the ministry of angels. An 
angel forewarned Lot to leave Sodom. Angels gave the Law to Moses, upon 
Mount Sinai. An angel opened a great iron gate that liberated the Apostle Peter. 
Again, God reveals things by Urim and Thummim, and by burnt offerings, and by 
diverse tongues, etc. 

Now, reader, I entreat you to seek the aid of present revelations from God. You 
need them just as much as any poor creature ever did, that has been born into 
the world. Without them you never can know God, worlds without end. Don't 
flatter yourself that because others know God or have formerly known Him, you 
are any better off on that account, unless you know Him for yourself. 
Are you poor and oppressed? Then you have the greatest need to receive 
revelations from God. There are very many poor people in these days, and in 
these lands. Even in England, rich men oppress you, and many cheat you and 
defraud you, and keep back your merited wagesžand you, who do the greatest 
part of the work that is done in the land, can hardly get an honest living, while 
your masters roll in pomp, and fare sumptuously every day. I have seen you and 
your little sons and tender daughters, hurrying off early in the morning to work for 
them, and returning late at night, poorly fed and poorly clothed often. And all the 
time that you are making others rich, they are keeping you in poverty and 
ignorance. And your daughters are often insulted and sometimes seduced by 
masters, and you are threatened with workhouse if you don't grind for the 
oppressor, and you have but little time to see your own families, and bless them 
with comforts, and educate and train them up for usefulness and salvation. Now, 
if you knew how to take counsel from the God of heaven, as Jacob did, you 
would not have to submit always to such fraud and oppression. But God would 
help you out of your many difficulties, and your enemies could not help 
themselves. God has seen your afflictions, and has sent forth his servants to all 
nations to preach deliverance, for the acceptable year of the Lord has now come. 

And ye rich men, the voice is to you. Gather up the poor and bless them, and 
your riches shall not waste, but increase fourfold and great shall be your reward 
in heaven. But blessed are the poor who shall obtain the gifts of revelation for 
themselves, for they shall rejoice greatly in the Holy One of Israel. For not many 
rich, not many noble, will be humble enough to seek revelations from God. But 
beware of the counsel of any priests or ministers who are hired and paid for 
preaching. God never hired any man to preach, nor did He ever authorize any 
man to hire himself out to preach for wages. Therefore beware of all such lest 
they deceive you. Go not after them, neither listen to them for a moment, for they 
are confederate with rich men and oppressors, and they are despisers of present 
revelation, and consequently they neither know God themselves, nor are they 
willing that others should know Him. And vengeance will shortly overtake all that 
know not God, and obey not the Gospel. 

Millennial Star, 30 April 1853, Volume 15, Pages 273-276, 289-292.