Second email

    Faith and Works in Salvation--1878.-- All your good works cannot save you; but it is nevertheless impossible for you to be saved without good works. Every sacrifice made for Christ will be for your eternal gain.--The Review and Herald, March 21, 1878.
     Trust in Christ Essential--1879.--Christ has been loved by you, although your faith has sometimes been feeble and your prospects confused. But Jesus is your Saviour. He does not save you because you are perfect, but because you need Him and in your imperfection have trusted in Him. Jesus loves you, my precious child. You may sing, “Under the shadow of Thy throne Still may we dwell secure; Sufficient is Thine arm alone, And our defense is sure.”--Letter 46, 1879.

     Works of Righteousness Weighed in the Judgment-- 1881.--Ministers sometimes tell the people that they have nothing to do but believe; that Jesus has done it all, and their own works are nothing. But the Word of God plainly states that in the Judgment the scales will be balanced accurately, and the decisions will be based on the evidence adduced.
     One man becomes ruler of ten cities, another of five, another of two, each man receiving exactly in proportion to the improvement he has made on the talents entrusted to his keeping. Our efforts in works of righteousness, in our own behalf and for the salvation of souls, will have a decided influence on our recompense.--The Review and Herald, Oct. 25, 1881.
     Ellen White’s Only Hope in Christ--1881.--In my recent bereavement, I have had a near view of eternity. I have, as it were, been brought before the great white throne, and have seen my life as it will there appear. I can find nothing of which to boast, no merit that I can plead.    

“Unworthy, unworthy of the least of Thy favors, O my God,” is my cry. My only hope is in a crucified and risen Saviour. I claim the merits of the blood of Christ. Jesus will save to the uttermost all who put their trust in Him.--The Review and Herald, Nov. 1, 1881.

     Strive for Perfection of Character--1882.--We can never see our Lord in peace, unless our souls are spotless. We must bear the perfect image of Christ. Every thought must be brought into subjection to the will of Christ. As expressed by the great apostle, we must come “unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” We shall never attain to this condition without earnest effort. We must strive daily against outward evil and inward sin, if we would reach the perfection of Christian character.--The Review and Herald, May 30, 1882. Selected Messages, Vol. 3, p. 147, 348.

Carroll,

  As you can see, Mrs. White had a whole different approach to the science of salvation than Elder Venden took. They are not contradictory, but complimentary. They sound at odds with one another, but are no less in unity than Paul and Moses, who sounded miles apart, so that even the Protestant denominations concluded that they could not co-exist and “Moses had to go. He was only for the Jews. Now we can really rejoice in living without the Law! Yipee!”

  Not to treat this too lightly, I’ve often heard this sentiment, and also that SDAs are a cult because they want to keep the Law. But, the Law is still in effect. This is easily deduced by seeing what happens when the Law is disregarded—the results are lawlessness, unChristlikeness, disease, and death. This was the very thing the Advent movement was raised by God to fight against. We were to call people out of this. The laws of morality are just as binding as the natural laws. Jump off the Golden Gate Bridge and you die. Disregard the moral Law, which is holy and just and good, and you end up with a society like the world was before the flood and ready for the Lord to destroy it. Introduce foreign substances into the body and cancer appears.

  Just because God makes provision for faith and grace doesn’t change the consequences to disobedience one iota. He can only save from disease and death through obedience or the willingness to be changed, which leads to conversion and to a new life of obedience to the moral and natural laws. So, the consequences of disobedience bark at us and nip at our heals and chase us in order to give us a need of a Savior. We search high and low for Him, and if we really need Him, we will find Him when we have searched for Him with all of our heart. And when we get to Him, we hide behind Him and grow to be like Him because He teaches us. “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” (Gal 3:24).

  “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

To declare, I say, at this time His righteousness: that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

Is he the God of the [self-righteous] Jews only? is He not also of the [unrighteous] Gentiles ? Yes, of the Gentiles also: 

Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.

Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.” (Rom. 3:24-31).

  So, justification/conversion/the new-birth, leads us to establish obedience to God.

  Mrs. White said things like: “Sinful man can find hope and righteousness only in God, and no human being is righteous any longer than he has faith in God and maintains a vital connection with Him.” She understood the essentiality of faith as the means to receive power to obey.

  Yet, she was inspired to keep the ramifications of disobedience before our minds because Christ knew the deceitfulness of the sinful human heart and its desperate wickedness. He knew that the only way for us to have genuine conversion, the real article, we must be put under duress and be shocked out of moral apathy and into spiritual awakeness. He lets us get swamped in trouble and fear, if only our hearts will open to Him and we will abandon our pride and stubborn resistance to His example. Then the Holy Spirit is sent to change our heart and nature, and to leave peace.

  Your brother,

David