1, 2. God’s Man With God’s Message—God always has men to whom He intrusts His message. His Spirit moves upon their hearts, and constrains them to speak. Stimulated by holy zeal, and with the divine impulse strong upon them, they enter upon the performance of their duty without coldly calculating the consequences of speaking to the people the word which the Lord has given them. But the servant of God is soon made aware that he has risked something. He finds himself and his message made the subject of criticism. His manners, his life, his property are all inspected and commented upon. His message is picked to pieces and rejected in the most illiberal and unsanctified spirit, as men in their finite judgment see fit. Has that message done the work God designed it should accomplish? No; it has signally failed, because the hearts of the hearers were unsanctified.{2BC 1034.2}

1,2. Guds menneske med Guds budskab. - Gud har altid mennesker som Han har betroet Sit budskab. Hans Ånd bevæger på deres hjerter, og tvinger dem til at tale. Besjælet med hellig iver, og med den stærke guddommelig impuls over sig, går de i gang med at udføre deres opgave uden kolde beregninger af konsekvenser af at sige de ord til folk som Herren har givet dem. Men Guds tjener bliver snart klar over at han har risikeret noget. Han finder sig selv og sit budskab sat til genstand for kritik. Hans manerer, hans liv, hans velstand efterses og får bemærkninger. Hans budskab rives i småstykker og forkastes i den mest smålige og uhellige ånd, sådan som mennesker med begrænsede dømmekraft finder det rigtigt. Har det budskab gjort det arbejde Gud har tiltænkt at det skal gøre? Nej; det har tydeligvis slået fejl, fordi tilhørernes hjerter var uhellige.