several States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts,
Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan,
Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and in Canada. She has, during this time,
written books amounting to more than twenty-one hundred pages, besides
many articles for several periodicals. And all who are acquainted with
her teachings know that any statement that they are not in strict
harmony with God’s standard of morality, is a slanderous untruth. Then
let her enemies point to one impure sentence in all her writings, or
prove that in her religious teachings she has uttered one unchaste
word, or cease their slanderous persecution of a self-sacrificing
Christian woman.
But I do not indulge the thought that whatever may be said to show the
falsity of statements concerning ascension robes, and the views of Mrs.
W., will silence the tongue of slander. No. These ministers know the
influence they have with the public mind, and the advantages they have
over us in this respect. Regardless of justice and truth, they will
doubtless continue to do this scandalous work, wherever the glorious
doctrine of the coming of Jesus shall be proclaimed. We can only expose
their sin in this thing, and disabuse honest minds.
The dragon is wroth with those who keep the commandments of God and
have the testimony of Jesus Christ. The Devil will use any willing
tool to slander and abuse the followers of Jesus Christ. Scoffers will
scoff, and liars will lie, whether they bear the title of Reverend,
or be patrons of brothels. And the higher the position, the greater
the criminality. But for all these things will God bring them into
Judgment. Those who fear God and keep his commandments, and suffer
reproach for the sake of Christ and the truth, will have their reward.
Those who employ the vile tongue of slander against them, in order to
crush their influence and keep others from obeying the commandments
that they may live, will perish in all their villainy. They, also,
will have their reward. The True Witness has spoken relative to the
present controversy and the final destiny of both classes of actors, as
recorded by the prophet John.
_First Class._ “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they
may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates
into the city.” Rev. xxii, 14. These are doing right. Although they
suffer for well doing, all the hate and slander that wicked men and
demons can invent, their reward is the holy city and the tree of life.
_Second Class._ “For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers,
and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.”
Verse 15. These are commandment-breakers, and commandment-haters,
and haters of those who keep the commandments of God. They are also
noted for two things in particular, namely, loving and making lies.
The application of these two items is so natural to these reports of
ascension robes and the like, that no further comment is needed. They
make lies, and love to publish them from the pulpit and the religious
press. But, thank God, in the Judgment they are without. The happiness
of those who love God and keep his commandments is then no more to be
marred by their poisonous influence. Would God that they would repent
of, and forsake, their wicked course, and live, and finally share the
holy city and the tree of life. But as they will not do this work, that
they may share that reward, their corrupting influence must be borne
with Christian patience and fortitude while the controversy lasts.
PRESENT POSITION AND WORK.
1. Seventh-day Adventists have nothing to do with definite time, only
to show that the prophetic periods served the design of the Author of
prophecy in the first angel’s message, and that they terminated with
the midnight cry in 1844. Having no definite time to which to look for
the coming of the Lord, yet seeing from the signs of the times, and
the fulfillment of prophecy, the great Advent movement thus far, that
the event is at the door, they regard the present as emphatically the
waiting, watching time. Their position since their disappointment in
1844 has been a trying one, requiring faith and patience to hold fast
the Advent movement in the past, and to meet in a Christian spirit
the opposition to the observance of the Sabbath of the Lord. Hence it
is said of this time, and of this people, “Here is the patience of
the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the
faith of Jesus.” Should we become weary of watching and waiting for
the return of our Lord from the wedding, impatiently cast away our
confidence in the great Advent movement, cease to keep the Sabbath,
draw back, fall away, and crucify the Lord God afresh, it might then
be said of us, Here is the impatience of the saints, (?) here are they
that break the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
2. We solemnly believe that it was the design of God that definite time
should be proclaimed, and that the 2300 days reached to the Judgment,
referred to in the words of the first angel, “Fear God and give glory
to him, for the hour of his Judgment is come.” In the great Judgment of
mankind there are two distinct parts; first, the investigative; second,
the executive. The investigative Judgment takes place prior to the
second advent, and the resurrection of the just, that it may be known
who are worthy of the first resurrection. Those who have part in that
resurrection are first ascertained to be “blessed and holy.” Rev. xx,
6. The executive Judgment, both in the reward of the righteous, and
the punishment of the wicked, will be at the close of the great day of
Judgment.
The grandeur of the sitting of the great court of Heaven in the
investigative Judgment is described by the prophet thus: “I beheld till
the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose
garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure
wool; his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning
fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him; thousand
thousands ministered unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood
before him. The Judgment was set, and the books were opened. I saw in
the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of man came with the
clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him
near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a
kingdom.” Dan. vii, 9, 10, 13, 14.
The best authorities give the words “cast down” just the opposite
meaning. They render them “set up,” or “established.” Thus, Adam Clarke
says: “_The thrones were cast down_ might be translated _erected_; so
the Vulgate, _positi sunt_, and so all the versions.” Dr. Hales, in his
“Sacred Chronology,” Vol. ii, p. 505, renders Dan. vii, 9, thus: “I
beheld till the thrones were erected, and the Ancient of days sat,” &c.
The Douay Version reads, “were placed;” and so Bernard, and Boothroyd
and Wintle in the Cottage Bible. Matthew Henry in his Exposition
renders it “set up.” Of the original Hebrew word, Gesenius, in his
Lexicon says, “_R’mah_, (1.) To cast, to throw, Dan. iii, 20, 21, 24;
vi, 17. (2.) To set, to place, _e. g._, thrones. Dan vii, 9; comp.
Rev. iv, 2.” The term used by the Septuagint is θρόνοι ἐτέθησαν, which
literally rendered, according to Liddell and Scott, would be, “the
thrones were set.” Other authorities might be given.
The Judgment scene here introduced opens with,
1st. The establishment of thrones and the sitting in Judgment of the
great God, amid the brightness of that glory, feebly represented by
fire and flame, accompanied by the millions of his attendants.
2d. The opening of the life-records of men, from which they are to be
judged.
3d. The Son of man approaches the Ancient of days, attended by
multitudes of angels, here represented by the clouds of heaven, to
receive dominion, glory, and a kingdom. This does not represent the
second appearing of Christ to this world, unless it can be shown that
the Ancient of days is here.
3. Seventh-day Adventists believe in the perpetuity of spiritual gifts.
They believe that the spirit of prophecy was designed to be with the
people of God in all ages, and that dreams and visions are a medium
through which God has spoken to his people in past time, and through
which he will speak, till faith is lost in sight. “If there be a
prophet among you, I, the Lord, will make myself known unto him in a
vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.” Num. xii, 6.
They find no prophecy in the Old Testament pointing to the opening of
the Christian age as the time for spiritual gifts to be removed from
the people of God, and no declaration in the New Testament that the
church would not need them, and that therefore they were about to
cease. No, nothing of this kind appears upon the sacred page. But we
hear the prophet of God say, “And it shall come to pass afterward,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and
your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your
young men shall see visions. And also upon the servants and upon the
handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit. And I will shew
wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars
of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into
blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come. And
it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the
Lord shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be
deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord
shall call.” Joel ii, 28-32.
Notice, first, that the prophet points to the last days, as quoted
by Peter. Acts ii, 16-20. There can be no days later than the last,
a period in which these things will be removed from the church; and,
second, that he also points to signs and wonders in the heavens, and
in the earth, in the sun and in the moon, to appear in connection with
the manifestation of the spirit of prophecy. Third, he mentions the
deliverance of those who call on the name of the Lord. This naturally
applies to the deliverance of God’s people who will cry to him day
and night in the time of trouble. Luke xviii; Dan. xii. They will be
delivered, according to the words of the prophet. And may not the
“remnant” here mentioned be the same spoken of in Rev. xii, 17? “And
the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the
remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the
testimony of Jesus Christ.”
The woman is a symbol of the church, and the remnant of the church
represents the Christians of the last generation of men living just
prior to the second advent. The dragon makes war on these for keeping
the commandments of God, Sabbath and all, and having the testimony
of Jesus Christ, which according to the inspired definition of chap.
xix, 10, “is the spirit of prophecy.” Here, then, are the causes of
the dragon’s warfare upon the remnant. They teach the observance of
the ten commandments, and the revival of the gifts, and acknowledge
the gift of prophecy among them. When the Devil got one foot upon
the fourth commandment, and the other upon the gifts planted in the
Christian church by Jesus Christ, then his satanic majesty was filled
with revengeful delight. But when the remnant, whom God designs to fit
for translation to Heaven without seeing death, “ask for the old paths,
where is the good way, and walk therein,” then the dragon is wroth, and
makes war on them.
The true spirit of the dragonic host, which is already being somewhat
developed, is vividly described in Isa. xxx, 8-13, as being manifested
just prior to the sudden destruction of those who hate the pure
testimony, and love smooth and deceitful things.
“Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that
it may be for the time to come forever and ever [margin, ‘the latter
day’]; that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children
that will not hear the law of the Lord; which say to the seers, See
not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak
unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits; get you out of the way, turn
aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from
before us. Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye
despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay
thereon: therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to
fall, swelling out in a high wall whose breaking cometh suddenly at an
instant.”
Mark this: In “the latter day” men will not hear the law of the Lord,
the commandments of God; and they will say to the seers, those who have
the spirit of prophecy, See not. They will receive neither. They war
against both. See also Mark xvi, 15-20; Matt. xxviii, 18-20; Eph. iv,
4-13; 1 Cor. xii, 1, 28; xiii, 8-12; i, 4-8; Rev. xix, 10; 1 Thess.
v; Matt. vii, 15-20; Isa. viii, 19, 20; Jer. xiv, 14; xxiii, 16, 17;
viii, 10, 11; v, 30, 31. For a full exposition of the subject of the
perpetuity of spiritual gifts, as held by Seventh-day Adventists, see
their works upon the subject.
But it is objected that since the volume of inspiration was completed,
spiritual gifts have not been needed. Who knows this to be the case?
The disciples of Jesus had the law and the prophets, yet needed
the manifestations of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We have both
Testaments, and who knows that we do not also need the gifts of the
Spirit of God?
The great design of the sacred Scriptures was to give man a perfect
rule of faith and practice. God purposed that his people should follow
this rule and by it develop characters perfect before him. Said Paul
to Timothy, “Thou hast known the holy Scriptures which are able to
make thee wise unto salvation.” There is no fault in the Scriptures
that makes it necessary that the gifts of the Holy Spirit should be
manifested. The necessities in the case exist in the imperfections of
the people of God, in the fact that they do not follow their perfect
rule.
We now see the gifts of the Spirit occupying their proper place. They
are not manifested to give a rule of faith and practice. We already
have a rule that is perfect in the Sacred Writings. But in consequence
of the errors of God’s people, and their deviations in faith and
practice from this perfect rule, God in mercy manifests the gifts to
reprove their errors, and lead them to a correct understanding of the
holy Scriptures. This is the position of the gifts. They were not
designed to take the place of the Scriptures. And they are not given
because the Scriptures are an imperfect rule of faith and practice.
But in consequence of the errors of God’s professed people, in
departing from the perfect rule, which he has given them, the gifts are
manifested to correct the erring, and point them to the Bible as their
lamp and guide.
God designed that his people should be one. This was the burden of
the prayer of Jesus. John xvii. Hear him as he prays in agony, “That
they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that
they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast
sent me.” Paul exhorted the Corinthians in the name of Christ to be
perfectly joined together in the same mind, and in the same judgment.
Read 1 Cor. i, 10; Rom. xv, 5; Phil. ii, 1, 2; 1 Pet. iii, 8; v, 5. But
do we see this unity in those who profess to take the Bible as their
rule, and reject the gifts? We see divisions, and with many, confusion
to the utmost. The fault, however, is not in the Bible. It is in those
who fail to follow the teachings of the sacred Scriptures. And God in
mercy and condescension infinite purposes to help them by the gifts.
But many of them refuse to be helped in this way, because that in the
Bible they have a perfect rule. If they obeyed the sacred Scriptures,
and walked in unity, both among themselves, and with God, they would
not need the gifts. But in their confusion, and their distance from
Christ, while still rejecting the gifts, there is no help for them in
God.
Again, I ask, Who knows that the gifts of the Holy Spirit have not
been needed since the completion of the volume of inspiration? It is
admitted that when completed it was a more perfect rule then when
but a portion of it was given. But how does its completion take the
place of the gifts? If they were given because of the imperfections
of the people of God, their removal supposes perfection on the part
of God’s people. Do we find perfection in the church since the days
of Paul, to that degree as to need no special manifestations of the
Spirit, reproving sin and correcting deviations from God’s perfect
rule? The history of the church, setting forth her terrible apostasies
and corruptions, her endless schisms, divisions and creeds, and
her conflicting expositions of the plainest truths of the Bible,
testifies too plainly of her imperfections. Her sad history and present
wretchedness, show that necessity still remains, since the completion
of the Book of God, for the manifestations of the gifts of the Spirit.
The gift of prophecy is by the apostle classed with the callings of the
Christian church in Eph. iv, 11-13. He distinctly states their object:
“And he gave some, apostles, and some, prophets, and some, evangelists,
and some, pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for
the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of
the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature
of the fullness of Christ.” These were _all_ given at the same time,
all for the same purpose, _all_ to cease at the same time. Do we
recognize in the Christian church, evangelists, pastors, and teachers?
Why not prophets? Does the church still need them? Why not the gift of
prophecy? Will those continue till the church is perfected, ready to
meet her descending Lord? So will the gift of prophecy.
Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, has spoken very definitely
upon this subject of spiritual gifts. In 1 Cor. xii, 1, he says: “Now
concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.”
He regarded this subject as one of the highest importance, and urges an
understanding of it. In all he has said relative to it, he has not once
intimated that the gifts were to cease before the perfect day of glory
should come. But he does clearly point to the time when the gifts will
cease. 1 Cor. xiii. 8-12: “Charity [ἀγαπη--love,] never faileth:
but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be
tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish
away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which
is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When
I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought
as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For
now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face; now I know in
part, but then shall I know even as also I am known.”
The apostle here contrasts the mortal state with the immortal; the
present imperfect, with that which will be perfect; the cloudy present
while we walk by faith, with the open glory of the life to come. Here,
we only know in part, prophesy in part; there, that which is in part,
will be done away. Here, we see through a glass darkly; there, face
to face. Here, we know in part; there, we shall know, even as we
are known. Charity, or love, will never end. Here, it is the highest
Christian grace; there, it will be the crowning glory of immortals for
ever and for ever. In this sense love will never fail. But prophecies
will fail, tongues will cease, and knowledge will vanish away. The
light of Heaven through the dim medium of these, and the other gifts of
the Holy Spirit, is represented as being only in part, to be superseded
by the perfect day of glory when we may talk face to face with God,
Christ, and angels, as our first parents talked with God in Eden before
sin entered. But when? This is the vital question. When were the gifts
to be done away? Let Paul answer: “But when that which is perfect is
come, then that which is in part shall be done away.” “And let all the
people say, Amen.”
4. God has had a truth in every age, by which he has tested the people
of that age. This was true in the days of Noah, and at the first
advent of Christ. It is especially true at the present time, as God is
preparing to visit the wicked with judgments and the righteous with
salvation. All revealed, practical, truth ever has been, and ever will
be, a test of man’s fidelity to God. He will have to give an account to
the Author of truth how he treats it. If he obeys, he may be saved; if
he rejects it, and violates its claims upon him, he must be lost.
But the law of God, in an eminent sense, is a test to man. It is the
highest authority in all earth and Heaven. If God’s law is not a test,
there is no such thing as a test. Seventh-day Adventists solemnly
believe that God is proving and testing the people by his holy law. In
point of sacredness and importance, they regard the fourth commandment
equal to either of the other nine, and the sin of violating it, when
as well understood, equal to that of breaking either of them. They
believe that the present time, in the providence of God, during the
proclamation of the third angel’s message, is the period for the
Sabbath reform, and that in the last message, the Sabbath of Jehovah
is to be the special test in the law of God for the people. The great
question to be decided before the wrath of God shall be poured out upon
a guilty and ruined world is, Who will be loyal to the God of Heaven?
Such, if washed from their sins by the blood of Christ, become heirs to
the future inheritance, and receive a crown of unfading glory at the
second appearing of Jesus. Says Christ, “If thou wilt enter into life
keep the commandments.”
Seventh-day Adventists are charged with making the Sabbath a test. And
some will have it that we denounce and reject all who do not believe
as we do. It is true that we teach that God is testing the people by
his law. But we deny the charge that we denounce and reject those who
differ from us. Our course toward all men whom we can reach with our
publications, our sermons and our entreaties, proves the charge false.
We beseech all men, without respect to profession of religion, color,
or rank in society, to turn from their sins, keep God’s commandments
and live. And we manifest a zeal and earnestness in this matter
somewhat in proportion to the importance of the testing message we
bear. And because our testimony is pointed and earnest, condemning
those who choose to pass along with the popular current, and violate
the law of God, some are disturbed, and with feelings of retaliation,
falsely charge us. It is not our work to test, condemn, and denounce,
the people. It is not in our hearts to unnecessarily injure the
feelings of any. But with our present convictions of truth and duty, we
should do great violence to our own consciences, and sin against God,
should we cease to declare to the people the purpose of God in testing
the world by his law, just before the day of wrath.
And God has greatly blessed such testimony. As a people, Seventh-day
Adventists were heard of, as it were, but yesterday. As a people, they
do not claim to be more than a score of years old. And yet in point of
numbers and efficiency they have a little strength. And why? Because,
when they have borne a pointed and earnest testimony, God has been with
them, and added to their numbers and strength.