"It was difficult to accomplish much good in New Hampshire. We found little spirituality there. Many pronounced their experience in the movement of 1844 a delusion. It was hard to reach this class, for we could not accept the position they ventured to take. A number who had been active preachers and exhorters in 1844, now seemed to have lost their moorings and did not know where we were in prophetic time; they were fast uniting with the spirit of the world. LS 78"
"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."
Both passages describe a falling away from sound doctrine and a turning towards worldly things. The EGW passage describes people losing their way after a significant religious event, while 2 Timothy speaks of a general trend of rejecting truth.
"The case of Jonah was presented before me. Elder Morse was in a condition similar to that of the disappointed prophet. He had proclaimed that the Lord would come in 1844. The time had passed. The check of fear that had partially held the people was removed, and they indulged in derision of those who had looked in vain for Jesus. Elder Morse felt that he was a byword among his neighbors, an object of jest, and he could not be reconciled to his position. He did not think of the mercy of God in granting the world a longer time in which to prepare for His coming, that the warning of the judgment might be heard more widely, and the people tested with greater light. He thought only of the humiliation of God's servants. LS 78.1"
"And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown."
The passage directly compares Elder Morse's experience to that of Jonah, who proclaimed a message of impending doom, and faced ridicule when the predicted event did not immediately occur.
"Instead of being discouraged at his disappointment, as was Jonah, Elder Morse should have cast aside his selfish sorrow, and gathered up the rays of precious light that God had given His people. He should have rejoiced that the world was granted a reprieve; and he should have been ready to aid in carrying forward the great work yet to be done upon the earth, in bringing sinners to repentance and salvation. LS 78.2"
"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
Both passages emphasize God's desire for repentance and salvation, and the importance of not being discouraged when opportunities for repentance arise.