“Character building is the most important work ever entrusted to human beings;and never before was its diligent study so important as now.” Education, p. 225
“To give glory to God is to reveal His character in our own, and thus make Him known. And in whatever way we make known the Father or the Son, we glorify God.” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Vol. 7, p. 979
“All the light of the past, all the light which shines in the present and reaches forth into the future, as revealed in the Word of God, is for every soul who will receive it. The glory of this light, which is the very glory of the character of Christ, is to be manifested in the individual Christian, in the family, in the church, in the ministry of the Word, and in every institution established by God’s people… By beholding the goodness, the mercy, the justice, and the love of God revealed in the church, the world is to have a representation of His character.” Ellen White, God’s Amazing Grace, p. 229
“The followers of Christ are to manifest to the world the characteristics of their Lord… they are to be representatives of Jesus in the earth.” Ellen White, That I May Know Him, p. 250
“The more we study the attributes of the character of God as revealed in Christ, the more we see that justice has been sustained in the sacrifice that met the penalty of the law, and that mercy has been provided in the only begotten Son, who bore the penalty of the law in the sinner’s place, in order that man might have another probation, another opportunity to be obedient to the law of God’s government, that it might be made manifest who could be trusted to become members of the Lord’s family, children of the Heavenly King.” Ellen White, Review and Herald, March 9, 1897
“Instead of directing the people to study men’s theories about God, His word or His works, He taught them to behold Him, as manifested in His works, in His word, and by His providences. He brought their minds in contact with the mind of the Infinite.” Ellen White, Lift Him Up, p. 177
“Christ’s teaching, like His sympathies, embraced the world. Never can there be a circumstance of life, a crisis in human experience, which has not been anticipated in His teaching, and for which its principles have not a lesson. The Prince of teachers, His words will be found a guide to His co-workers till the end of time. . . . Before His mind’s eye was outspread every scene of human effort and achievement, of temptation and conflict, of perplexity and peril. All hearts, all homes, all pleasures and joys and aspirations, were known to Him.” Ellen White, Lift Him Up, p. 177
“Man’s need for a divine teacher was known in heaven. The pity and sympathy of God were aroused in behalf of human beings, fallen and bound to Satan’s chariot car; and when the fullness of time was come, He sent forth His Son. The One appointed in the councils of heaven came to this earth as man’s instructor. The rich benevolence of God gave Him to our world, and to meet the necessities of human nature He took humanity upon Himself. To the astonishment of the heavenly host, the eternal WORD came to this world as a helpless babe. Fully prepared, He left the royal courts and mysteriously allied Himself with fallen human beings. ‘The WORD was made flesh, and dwelt among us’ (John 1:14).” Ellen White, Lift Him Up, p. 166
“Christ was the greatest teacher the world has ever known. He came to this earth to shed abroad the bright beams of truth, that men might gain a fitness for heaven. “For this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth.” He came to reveal the character of the Father, that men might be led to worship Him in spirit and in truth.” Ellen White, Lift Him Up, p. 166
“After the enemy had betrayed Adam and Eve into sin, the connection between heaven and earth was severed, and had it not been for Christ, the way to heaven would never have been known by the fallen race. . . . Christ is the mystic ladder, the base of which rests upon the earth, and whose topmost round reaches to the throne of the Infinite. The children of Adam are not left desolate and alienated from God, for through Christ’s righteousness we have access unto the Father.” Ellen White, That I May Know Him, p. 82
“Christians misrepresent their heavenly Father when they go mourning and groaning, as though they were burdened with an enormous load, when their countenances are expressive of gloom and despondency, and the shadow encompasses their souls. But let them not think they are serving God in so doing; they are doing Satan’s work in misrepresenting God and his service. They should go before the Father, and plead with him for a view of his goodness. They have lost sight of Jesus and his love. Let them go to Christ and study his character, for he came to represent the Father. Shall we receive Satan’s misrepresentations of our God, and go on in discouragement, lacking peace and joy in the Holy Ghost? Shall we go on mistrusting our heavenly Father’s love and doubting his goodness? What greater injury could we do to our children and our friends than to give them such false impressions of Christian life? It was at an infinite cost to the Father that man’s salvation was purchased…Christ became our surety, our sacrifice, saviour and example, and when all Heaven has been poured out to us in this gift of God, how shall he not with him freely give us all things?” Ellen White, Signs of the Times, September 2, 1889