d with men in the various scenes of life. Every
emotion of the soul, every line written, every word uttered, every act
that led men to rest in a refuge of falsehood, has been scattering seed;
and now, in the wretched, lost souls around him, he beholds the harvest.

Saith the Lord: "They have healed the hurt of the daughter of My people
slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace." "With lies ye
have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and
strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his
wicked way, by promising him life."(1133)

"Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of My
pasture!... Behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings." "Howl,
ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of
the flock: for your days for slaughter and your dispersions are
accomplished; ... and the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the
principal of the flock to escape."(1134)

Ministers and people see that they have not sustained the right relation
to God. They see that they have rebelled against the Author of all just
and righteous law. The setting aside of the divine precepts gave rise to
thousands of springs of evil, discord, hatred, iniquity, until the earth
became one vast field of strife, one sink of corruption. This is the view
that now appears to those who rejected truth and chose to cherish error.
No language can express the longing which the disobedient and disloyal
feel for that which they have lost forever,--eternal life. Men whom the
world has worshiped for their talents and eloquence now see these things
in their true light. They realize what they have forfeited by
transgression, and they fall at the feet of those whose fidelity they have
despised and derided, and confess that God has loved them.

The people see that they have been deluded. They accuse one another of
having led them to destruction; but all unite in heaping their bitterest
condemnation upon the ministers. Unfaithful pastors have prophesied smooth
things; they have led their hearers to make void the law of God and to
persecute those who would keep it holy. Now, in their despair, these
teachers confess before the world their work of deception. The multitudes
are filled with fury. "We are lost!" they cry, "and you are the cause of
our ruin;" and they turn upon the false shepherds. The very ones that once
admired them most, will pronounce the m