When Ministers have no more sense than Children

"I looked to see the humility of soul that should ever sit as a fitting gar­ment upon our ministers, but it was not upon them.

I looked for the deep love for souls that the Master said they should possess, but they had it not.

I listened for the earnest prayers offered with tears and anguish of soul because of the impenitent and unbe­lieving in their own homes and in the church, but heard them not.

I looked for the burden bearers, who in such a time as this should be weeping between the porch and the altar, crying, Spare Thy people, Lord, and give not Thine heritage to re­proach; (Joel 2:17) ' but I heard no such suppli­cations.

A few earnest, humble ones were seeking the Lord.
But a large majority of the ministers had no more sense of the sacredness of their work than children..,"
Testimonies,Vol. V, pp. 165, 166 E.G.W.

A Look at the Book in Revelation 5:1

Revelation 5:1: “And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.”

“There in His open hand lay the book, the roll of the history of God’s providences, the prophetic history of nations and the church. Herein was contained the divine utterances,
--His authority,
--His commandments,
--His laws,
--the whole symbolic counsel of the Eternal,
--and the history of all ruling powers in the nations.

In symbolic language was contained in that roll the influence of

every nation, tongue, and people from the beginning of earth’s history to its close.
… The vision as presented to John made its impression upon his mind. The destiny of every nation was contained in that book.

John was distressed at the utter inability of any human being or angelic intelligence to read the words, or even to look thereon. His soul was wrought up to such a point of agony and suspense that one of the strong angels had compassion on him, and laying his hand on him assuringly said, ‘Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof’ [Revelation 5:5].”
Manuscript Releases, vol. 20, 197 E.G.W.

That first paragraph lists seven things:

1. The roll of the history of God’s providences
2. The prophetic history of nations
3. The prophetic history of the church
4. The divine utterances of His authority, His commandments and His laws
5. The whole symbolic counsel of the Eternal
6. The history of all ruling powers in the nations
7. The influence of every nation, tongue, and people from the beginning of earth’s history to it’s close.

“When they (the Jewish rulers) were asked to choose between Christ and Barabbas, they cried out, ‘Release unto us Barabbas!’ Luke 23:18.
And when Pilate asked, ‘What shall I do then with Jesus?’ they cried fiercely, ‘Let Him be crucified.’ Matthew 27:22. ...declaring passionately, ‘His blood be on us, and on our children.’ Matthew 27:24, 25.
Thus the Jewish leaders made their choice. Their decision was registered in the book which John saw in the hand of Him that sat upon the throne, the book which no man could open. In all its vindictiveness this decision will appear before them in the day when this book is unsealed by the Lion of the tribe of Judah.”
StepsToLife/Christ’s Object Lessons, E.G.W.

How the Sanctuary of Christ is not known to the Christian world today

 "For in the eighth chapter of Daniel are the very expressions which he uses in 2 Thessalonians, of

which he says, "Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?" This fixes the time to be after the apostles' days, when Rome magnified itself "even to the Prince of the host" and "against the Prince of princes;" and connects it directly with the falling away, or apostasy, which developed the Papacy, or Rome, in its latter and ultimate phase.
   
Now let us read verses 11 and 12 of Daniel 8 and it will be plainly seen that here is exactly the place where Paul found the scripture from which he taught the Thessalonians concerning the "man of sin" and the "mystery of iniquity:" "Yea, he magnified himself even to the Prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practiced and prospered."    

This plainly points out that which took away the priesthood, the ministry, and the sanctuary of God and of Christianity.     Let us read it again. "Yea, he [the little horn--the man of sin] magnified himself even to the Prince of the host ["against the Prince of princes"--Christ], and by him [the man of sin] the daily sacrifice [the continual service, the ministry, and the priesthood of Christ] was taken away, and the place of His sanctuary [the sanctuary of the prince of the host, of the Prince of princes--Christ] was cast down. And an host was given him [the man of sin] against the daily sacrifice [against the continual service, of the ministry of Christ, the Prince of the host] by reason of transgression cast down the truth to the ground; and it practiced, and prospered."    

It was "by reason of transgression," that is, by reason of sin, that this power gained "the host" that was used to cast down the truth to the ground, to shut away from the church and the world Christ's priesthood, His ministry, and His sanctuary; and to cast it all down to the ground and tread it underfoot. It was by reason of transgression that this was accomplished. Transgression is sin, and this is the consideration and the revelation upon which the apostle in 2 Thessalonians defines this power as the "man of sin" and the "mystery of iniquity."         And it is this continual service of Christ, the true High Priest, "who continueth ever," and "who is consecrated forevermore" in "an unchangeable priesthood"--it is this continual service of our great High Priest, which the man of sin, the Papacy, has taken away.   

  *In the apostasy, the bishops, presbyters, deacons, and the eucharist were made to succeed the high priest, priests, Levites and sacrifices of the Levitical system.  
*Now by every evidence of the Scriptures, it is certain that, in the order of God it was Christ and His ministry and sanctuary in heaven and this alone, that in truth was the object of the Levitical system and that is truly the Christian succession to that system.
*Therefore when in and by the apostasy the system of bishops as high priests, presbyters as priests, deacons as Levites, and the Supper as a sacrifice was insinuated as the Christian succession to the Levitical system, this of itself was nothing else than to put this false system of the apostasy in the place of the true, completely to shut out the true, and finally, to cast it down to the ground and stamp upon it.   

And this is how it is that this great Christian truth of the true priesthood, ministry, and sanctuary of Christ is not known to the Christian world today. The "man of sin" has taken it away and cast it down to the ground and stamped upon it."
A.T. Jones (Consecrated Way)