The Great Controversy 1888 (1888)

1 The GreatControversy1888 Ellen G. White1888 Copyright 2017 Ellen G. White Estate, about this BookOverviewThis eBook is provided by the Ellen G. White Estate. It is includedin the larger free Online Books collection on the Ellen G. WhiteEstate Web the AuthorEllen G. White (1827-1915) is considered the most widely translatedAmerican author, her works having been published in more than 160languages. She wrote more than 100,000 pages on a wide variety ofspiritual and practical topics. Guided by the Holy Spirit, she exaltedJesus and pointed to the Scriptures as the basis of one s LinksA Brief Biography of Ellen G. WhiteAbout the Ellen G. White EstateEnd User License AgreementThe viewing, printing or downloading of this book grants you onlya limited, nonexclusive and nontransferable license for use solelyby you for your own personal use.

2 This license does not permitrepublication, distribution, assignment, sublicense, sale, preparationof derivative works, or other use. Any unauthorized use of this bookterminates the license granted InformationFor more information about the author, publishers, or how youcan support this service, please contact the Ellen G. White Estateat We are thankful for your interest andfeedback and wish you God s blessing as you s PrefaceWhen the leader of those angels which kept not their first es-tate (Jude 6) fell from his holy and exalted place in heaven, heprecipitated upon the universe of God an awful the very nature of the case, there must be eternal antago-nism between righteousness and sin. Between purity and pollutionthere can be no coalition; nor could the supreme author of all things,the God in whom inheres every perfection, maintain any other thanan attitude of uncompromising hostility to sin and all its fruits, tothe author of rebellion and all his conclusion is apparent: God, as the foe of all evil,and at the same time omnipotent, could not, consistently with Hisown nature, suffer rebellion to enter within his realms, and abideforever.

3 The intruder must be cast out; the disturber of the peacemust be destroyed. There can be no question as to the issue of thiscontroversy between a holy Creator and the rebellious sin might make a full revelation of its nature and results tothe intelligences of all worlds, this Controversy was not arrested in itsinception. When sin is finally destroyed, it will have given sufficientevidence to satisfy every mind that it deserves the infliction; and allwill joyfully acquiesce in its merited we have no evidence that, outside the apostate angels,any other world than our own has fallen under the influence of thissinful revolt. But this is enough to make it a matter of absorbinginterest to us; for Satan and his angels being cast out of heaven, thisworld has become the sole theater of the struggle between right andwrong. All men have become involved therein.

4 Between them andsalvation there lies the problem of recovery from sin, the attainmentto a condition of reconciliation and acceptance with theme is therefore entitled to be regarded with more ab-sorbing interest than this Great Controversy the stages throughwhich it has passed, its present development, and the outlook for thefuture. How and under what circumstances will the Controversy end?iiiAnd have we any evidence that the long-wished-for termination isdrawing near?To the consideration of these Great themes the following pagesare devoted; and we have the clearest assurance that the author pos-[b]sesses peculiar qualifications for such a work. From her childhoodshe has been noted for her reverence and love for the Word of God,and her piety and devotion to His service. Unbounded faith in thepromises of the Holy Scriptures has been both an inducement and ameans to enable her to live near to the Saviour.

5 The blessing of theHoly Spirit has been vouchsafed to her in large measure. And as oneof the offices of this Spirit was declared to be to show unto the fol-lowers of Christ things to come (John 16:13), working through thatprescribed channel which, as one of the endowments of the church,is described as the gift of prophecy (1 Corinthians 12:9, 10; 14:1),so we believe she has been empowered by a divine illumination tospeak of some past events which have thus been brought to her atten-tion, with greater minuteness than is set forth in any existing records,and to read the future with more than human foresight. Those whoknow what it is to hold communion with our Heavenly Father, will,we think, as they read these pages, feel constrained to believe thatthe writer has drawn from the heavenly fountain, and received helpfrom that throne of grace where Christ sitteth as our merciful HighPriest, and whence He is ever ready to send forth assistance to themany sons whom He is bringing unto glory.

6 Hebrews 2 from the Great volume of inspiration the Bible no otherbook presents a more wonderful and intensely interesting history ofthe present dispensation, to the complete restitution of all things, thanthe volume here offered to the public. And as the closing scenes ofthis world s history are of the most thrilling and momentous nature,these are more particularly dwelt upon in this work. The reader,as he follows the narrative, beginning with a sketch of our Lord sgreat prophecy in Matthew 24, will find himself entering into newsympathy with the church in her warfare and her sufferings, as shepasses on to her promised redemption; and the soul of every believerwill kindle at the vivid description of the final triumph of the peopleof God, the destruction of Satan and all his followers, the total andeternal extirpation of evil from the universe, and the renovation ofthe earth as the everlasting inheritance of the saints, when this greatcontroversy is the subjects here presented involve the loftiest imagery,and most wonderful depth, even as the apostle declares, the deepthings of God, which the Spirit alone is capable of searching into(1 Cor.)

7 2:10), yet they are treated in language chaste, simple, andeasy to be understood. And we rejoice to know that the readingof this work leads to greater confidence in, and love for, the HolyScriptures, to greater sympathy with Christ, in His marvelous workfor the redemption of men, and to greater reverence for the God of[c]all grace, in Whom are all the treasures of wisdom and editions of this work having already been exhausted,we feel a peculiar gratification in sending forth this edition, enlargedand improved, and adapted to circulate in various tongues. Theillustrations will add to the interest and value of the work. May itstill prove a blessing to all who read, and redound to the glory of theMost s PrefaceBefore the entrance of sin, Adam enjoyed open communion withhis Maker; but since man separated himself from God by transgres-sion, the human race has been cut off from this high privilege.

8 Bythe plan of redemption, however, a way has been opened wherebythe inhabitants of the earth may still have connection with has communicated with men by his Spirit, and divine light hasbeen imparted to the world by revelations to his chosen servants. Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 2 Peter 1 the first twenty-five hundred years of human history,there was no written revelation. Those who had been taught of God,communicated their knowledge to others, and it was handed downfrom father to son, through successive generations. The preparationof the written word began in the time of Moses. Inspired revelationswere then embodied in an inspired book. This work continued duringthe long period of sixteen hundred years, from Moses, the historianof creation and the law, to John, the recorder of the most sublimetruths of the Bible points to God as its author; yet it was written byhuman hands; and in the varied style of its different books it presentsthe characteristics of the several writers.

9 The truths revealed areall given by inspiration of God (2 Timothy 3:16); yet they areexpressed in the words of men. The Infinite One by his Holy Spirithas shed light into the minds and hearts of his servants. He has givendreams and visions, symbols and figures; and those to whom thetruth was thus revealed, have themselves embodied the thought inhuman ten commandments were spoken by God himself, and werewritten by his own hand. They are of divine, and not human com- position . But the Bible, with its God-given truths expressed in thelanguage of men, presents a union of the divine and the human. Sucha union existed in the nature of Christ, who was the Son of God andvithe Son of man. Thus it is true of the Bible, as it was of Christ, that[d] the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. John 1 in different ages, by men who differed widely in rankand occupation, and in mental and spiritual endowments, the booksof the Bible present a wide contrast in style, as well as a diversity inthe nature of the subjects unfolded.

10 Different forms of expression areemployed by different writers; often the same truth is more strikinglypresented by one than by another. And as several writers presenta subject under varied aspects and relations, there may appear, tothe superficial, careless, or prejudiced reader, to be discrepancy orcontradiction, where the thoughtful, reverent student, with clearerinsight, discerns the underlying presented through different individuals, the truth is broughtout in its varied aspects. One writer is more strongly impressed withone phase of a subject; he grasps those points that harmonize with hisexperience or with his power of perception and appreciation; anotherseizes upon a different phase; and each, under the guidance of theHoly Spirit, presents what is most forcibly impressed upon his ownmind; a different aspect of the truth in each, but a perfect harmonythrough all.