to the trouble of teaching and observing it in the face of decided
opposition. If we can be as good Christians while breaking the fourth
commandment, as while keeping it, should we not at once seek to be
in harmony with the rest of the Christian world? Why be so odd as to
obey the commandment of God, if one can be as good a Christian while
living in violation of it? And there are frequent inconveniences, and
pecuniary sacrifices, to be suffered by those who are so particular
concerning the observance of the fourth commandment. If the Sabbath is
of so little importance as not to be a test of Christian fellowship and
eternal salvation; if men who break the Sabbath should be embraced in
our fellowship the same as if they observed it; and if they can reach
Heaven as surely in violating the fourth commandment as in keeping it;
why not abandon it at once, and cease to agitate the public mind with a
question of no real importance which is so unpleasant and annoying.
Seventh-day Adventists believe that in the restoration of the Bible
Sabbath, under the last message of mercy, God designs to make it a test
to the people. Hence many of them labor with earnestness to teach it,
and are ready to make any sacrifices in order to observe it, and do
their duty in teaching it to others. Convince them that it is not a
test, and they will not trouble the people nor themselves longer with
it. But should they give the people to understand that they regard the
Sabbath of so little importance as not to be a test, “the sword of
the Spirit,” on that subject at least, would become in their hands as
powerless as a straw. They could not then convict the people upon this
subject. Indeed their position before the people, in earnestly calling
their attention to a subject that is of so little importance as not to
constitute a test of Christian character, and which would subject them
to a heavy cross, much inconvenience, sacrifice, and reproach, would
be but little less than solemn mockery. With our present view of the
importance of the subject, we have a sufficient reason for earnestly
urging the claims of the fourth commandment upon our fellow-men.
The remarks of Elder J. N. Andrews in reference to the Sabbatarians of
England in the seventeenth century, have so direct a bearing upon this
subject that I give the following from his History of the Sabbath, pp.
335, 336:
“The laws of England during that century were very oppressive to all
dissenters from the established church, and bore exceedingly hard
upon the Sabbath-keepers. Yet fine, imprisonment, and even capital
punishment, would not have proved sufficient to suppress the Sabbath.
It was in the house of its own friends that the Sabbath was wounded.
In the seventeenth century eleven churches of Sabbatarians flourished
in England, while many scattered Sabbath-keepers were to be found in
various parts of that kingdom. Now but three of those churches are in
existence. It was not the lack of able men among the Sabbath-keepers
to defend the truth, nor the fierce assaults of their persecutors, that
has thus reduced them to a handful. The fault is their own, not indeed
for any disgraceful conduct on their part, but simply because they made
the Sabbath of no practical importance, and lowered the standard of
divine truth in this thing to the dust. The Sabbath-keeping ministers
assumed the pastoral care of first-day churches, in some cases as their
sole charge, in others they did this in connection with the oversight
of Sabbatarian churches. The result need surprise no one; as both
ministers and people said to all men, in thus acting, that the fourth
commandment might be broken with impunity, the people took them at
their word. Mr. Crosby, a first-day historian, sets this matter in a
clear light:
“‘If the seventh day ought to be observed as the Christian Sabbath,
then all congregations that observe the first day as such must be
Sabbath-breakers.... I must leave those gentlemen on the contrary side
to their own sentiments; and to vindicate the practice of becoming
pastors to a people whom in their conscience they must believe to be
breakers of the Sabbath.’”
The Seventh-day Baptists of America have done a good work in teaching
the Sabbath. We should respect them, and regard them with peculiar
interest for this. But had they been faithful to the sacred trust
committed to them, their numbers and strength might have been a
hundred-fold greater than they now are. They have had the reproach, the
cross, and the inconvenience of the Sabbath, without that strength and
force which teaching it as a test gives. For nearly two centuries, in
their feebleness, they have been holding up the Sabbath, while, if they
had been faithful in teaching it, in observing it, and urging it upon
the consciences of the people, the Sabbath would have held them up,
and been the strength of that people.
Seventh-day Adventists have nothing to boast of. God has often reproved
and chastised us for unfaithfulness. And when we have returned to
him, and humbly and faithfully battled for the truth, amid reproaches
and persecutions, he has greatly blessed us. Nothing is so much to
be dreaded as that calm which is the result of tempering unpopular,
testing truth to the ears of the people so as not to offend. Rather let
the reproach come, and the storm rage, if it be the result of speaking
the truth of God in love.
As a people we have had our difficulties to surmount, our trials to
bear, and our victories to gain. We are gathered from Methodists,
Regular Baptists, Freewill Baptists, Seventh-day Baptists,
Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Episcopalians, Dutch Reform,
Disciples, Christians, Lutherans, United Brethren, Catholics,
Universalists, Worldlings, and Infidels. We are composed of native
Americans, English, Welsh, Scotch, Irish, French, Germans, Norwegians,
Danes, Swedes, Poles, and others. To bring together a body composed
of such material, affected more or less by the religious sentiments
and forms of the several denominations, with all their national
peculiarities, has called for much patient, and persevering toil. And
it is by the grace of God that we are what we are. And let his name be
praised that in our darkest hours, when we have humbled ourselves, he
has ever come to our aid.
From their past brief history Seventh-day Adventists may learn much
as to their present work and future prospects. When in humility they
have borne a decided testimony in the fear of God, their labors have
been signally blessed. When they have been willing to bear the cross
of present truth, and sacrifice time, convenience and means to advance
the work, they have shared the approving smiles of Heaven. They have
seen that nothing can keep the body in a healthy condition but the
plain and pointed testimony. This will do the work of purification,
either by purging their sins, or separating from them the unconsecrated
and rebellious. Let the result be what it may, such testimony must be
borne, or this people will fall as others have fallen. And terrible
would be their fall, after having so clear light, and having had
committed to them so sacred a trust as the last message of mercy to
sinners.
From the past we may also learn what to expect in the future, in the
line of persecution. Satan has been angry because this people have
been seeking for the “old paths,” that they might walk therein. He has
been especially disturbed as they have plead for the restoration of
the Sabbath, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. If the people be taught
that God is testing them upon the Sabbath, and that they should listen
to the testimony of Jesus, in the spirit of prophecy, which reproves
their sins, and calls on them to consecrate themselves and what they
possess to the Lord, we may depend upon it, the ire of the dragon will
be stirred. This we have witnessed and suffered in proportion to our
faithfulness in the work. When we have borne a pointed testimony, we
have been the especial objects of the wrath of the dragon; but with
it have also shared largely the blessing of God. When we have been
unfaithful, the dragon has been comparatively quiet, but we have
suffered leanness of soul. And thus we may expect it will be for time
to come.
The position of suspense is not the most happy one. Those who wait
for the return of the Lord in uncertainty as to the definite period
of his second advent, are in danger of becoming restless. Hence the
application of certain texts to this time, and to the people who are
waiting for their Lord. “Ye have need of patience, that, after ye have
done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” Heb. x, 36. “Be ye
also patient, stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth
nigh.” James v, 8. “Here is the patience of the saints, here are they
that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. xiv,
12.
In such a position, how natural the often-repeated inquiry, “How long
before the Lord will come?” But no definite answer can be given to
this inquiry. And it is best that this question cannot be definitely
answered. Definite time has answered the purpose of God. It brought
the Advent people to the waiting time, requiring great patience.
Throughout this entire period of the patience of the saints, the only
safe position is to keep the coming of Christ ever before us, and to
regulate all our acts in full view of the terrible realities of the
Judgment. To put off the coming of the Lord, and view that event in the
distance, and enter into the spirit of the world, would be dangerous
in the extreme. It is true that there are prophecies to be fulfilled,
just prior to the coming of the Lord; but their fulfillment is of such
a nature that it can be realized in a short time. Unbelief may suggest
that as the time has continued longer than the waiting ones expected,
it may still continue many years. But saving faith takes the safe
position, and views the event at the door. This fact should ever be
borne in mind, that while we have no means of showing that the Lord
will come at an immediate definite point, no one can prove that he may
not very soon come. And while it cannot be proved that the Lord will
not very soon come, I call attention to the following facts which show
that the second advent cannot be a distant event.
1. The three messages constitute a solemn warning to the world to
prepare for the coming of Christ. The closing division of this great
warning is a test to the world and ripens the harvest of the earth.
Those who receive the warning and prepare for the coming of the Lord,
are ripened by it for immortality. Those who reject it, are ripened for
the day of slaughter.
2. The warning given by Noah, the manner his message was treated, and
the wrath of God in a flood of water, illustrate the closing events of
the present state of things. “As the days of Noah were, so also shall
the coming of the Son of man be.” God did not call this preacher of
righteousness to warn the next to the last generation before the flood,
but the very last. The very generation which drank the waters of the
flood, saw Noah build the ark, and heard his warning voice. How absurd
the supposition that Noah built the ark, and gave his warning message
in the time of next to the last generation, so that those who heard
his message and saw his work, passed into the grave, and the ark went
to decay, and their children came upon the stage of action to witness
unwarned the terrors of the flood.
3. The last great warning was to be given to the last generation of
men. The very ones who hear it, receive it, obey it, and are waiting
for the Lord, will exclaim, as the Son of man shall return with his
angels down the blazing vault of heaven, “Lo! this is our God, we have
waited for him, and he will save us.” And the very men who reject the
warning, and justly merit the wrath of God, will also witness the
second advent in flaming fire with terror and anguish. This warning is
not given to the next to the last generation, but to the very last.
Then, as certain as the great warning, illustrated by the three
messages of Rev. xiv, has been, and is being given in our day, just
so certain the generation that has heard the warning will witness the
day of wrath, and the revelation of the Son of God from Heaven. One of
two things is certain; either Seventh-day Adventists are wrong in the
application of the messages, or Christ is very soon coming. If they are
correct in their application of the great warning, then the very men
who hear it will witness its terrible realities.
“Verily I say unto you,” says Christ, “this generation shall not pass
away, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass
away, but my words shall not pass away.” Matt. xxiv, 34, 35. We do not
believe that the word generation marks any definite number of years.
The Lord designed to teach that the people who should live at the time
of the fulfillment of the last sign mentioned, (falling stars of 1833,)
and should hear the proclamation of the coming of Christ, based partly
upon the fulfilled signs, should witness the scenes connected with
his coming. God has raised up men to give the solemn warning to the
world at the right time. The signs were fulfilled at the right time to
give force to the warning. And the very generation of men that live
after the three great signs are fulfilled, and who hear and reject the
warning message, will drink the unmingled cup of the wrath of God.
And those of this very generation who receive the message, suffer
disappointment and endure the trials of the waiting position, will
witness the coming of Christ, and exclaim, “Lo! this is our God, we
have waited for him.”
Dear reader, if watchful and faithful to duty, we shall very soon enter
the harbor of eternal rest. Keep a good look-out. Oh, be not deceived,
and overcome by the world, the flesh, and the Devil. True faith
forbids your looking into the future, and laying plans for the benefit
of the next generation. It shuts you up to the present. But it is to be
feared that those who are employing their physical and mental forces
to accumulate wealth for their children, while they are neglecting
their duty to the cause of present truth, and do not give themselves
and families time to seek and serve God, are making a terrible mistake.
They not only fail to help the cause, and fail to walk with God, and
fail to exert the best influence in their own families, but their
influence in professing so solemn and definite a position as that the
present is the period for the third and last solemn warning, while in
works they deny their faith, is decidedly against the cause.
The world exhibits madness in grasping for wealth. A spirit of insanity
has taken hold of men upon the subject of worldly gain; and many who
profess present truth are more or less imbued with it. With those who
do not fear God and keep his commandments, and are not looking for
the soon coming of his Son, this is what might be expected. But with
Seventh-day Adventists there is no excuse. With them it is insanity and
madness. Why should they accumulate wealth for their children? Should
the Lord remain away a hundred years, wealth handed down to them would
be their almost certain ruin. Look to the history of truly good and
great men. Have they sprung up amid wealth? Or have they come from
families trained in the school of poverty and want? Read the histories
of the early lives of Martin Luther and Abraham Lincoln. Both were
poor boys. But they both became great men, by facing want, grappling
with poverty, and overcoming those obstacles ever lying in the path
of want. Such a struggle in early life gave them experience, and was
the safeguard of their purity. While the names of these good men are
embalmed in the memory and affection of the people, those of hundreds,
who received riches from their parents, have rotted, because money was
in the way of their doing what they should have done, and being what
they might have been. Setting aside the coming of the Lord, there is no
more certain ruin to the children than for them to look to, and lean
upon, their parents’ wealth.
But what can be said of the influence of those brethren who profess to
believe that the last great warning to the world is being given, yet
devote their entire energies to accumulating wealth for their children?
What can be the influence upon their children? Is it not to lead them
to love this world? to put off the coming of the Lord? to neglect
the necessary preparation? Are they not taking a course directly to
shut them out of the kingdom of Heaven? And is there any hope of
the salvation of either parents or children while pursuing such an
inconsistent course? Without the faith of the soon coming of the Lord,
they are pursuing a course to secure their ruin. With this faith, while
pursuing a course to deny it in work, they are making that ruin certain.
The short period of probation remaining should be improved in laying
up treasure in Heaven, and seeking that preparation necessary to its
enjoyment in the next life. Parents, I entreat of you, live out the
precious Advent faith before your children. Lead them to Jesus, and,
teach them by your faith and works to secure a preparation for his
coming. Let your influence in favor of truth and holiness extend to
all around, that it may be said to you, “Well done, good and faithful
servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”
THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
“I and my Father are one.” John x, 30.
The Father and the Son were one in man’s creation, and in his
redemption. Said the Father to the Son, “Let us make man in our image.”
And the triumphant song of jubilee in which the redeemed take part, is
unto “Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, forever and
ever.”
Jesus prayed that his disciples might be one as he was one with his
Father. This prayer did not contemplate one disciple with twelve
heads, but twelve disciples, made one in object and effort in the
cause of their Master. Neither are the Father and the Son parts of the
“three-one God.” They are two distinct beings, yet one in the design
and accomplishment of redemption. The redeemed, from the first who
shares in the great redemption, to the last, all ascribe the honor, and
glory, and praise, of their salvation, to both God and the Lamb.
But if it be true that the law of the Father and the gospel of the Son
are opposed to each other, that one was to take the place of the other,
then it follows that those saved in the former dispensation are saved
by the Father and the law, while those of the present dispensation are
saved by Christ and the gospel. And in this case, when the redeemed
shall reach Heaven at last, and their redemption shall be sung, two
songs will be heard, one ascribing praise to God and the law, the other
singing the praises of Christ and the gospel.
This will not be. There will be harmony in that song of redemption. All
the redeemed will sing the facts as they have existed during the period
of man’s probation. All will ascribe the praise of their salvation to
God and the Lamb. Adam, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Moses, will
join with the disciples of Jesus in singing of the redeeming power of
the blood of the Son, while those who have lived since the crucifixion
of Christ, saved by his blood, will join the patriarchs and prophets in
the song of praise to the Father, the creator and lawgiver. Therefore
the law and the gospel run parallel throughout the entire period of
man’s probation. The gospel is not confined to some eighteen centuries.
The dispensation of the gospel is not less than about six thousand
years.
The word gospel signifies good news. The gospel of the Son of God is
the good news of salvation through Christ. When man fell, angels wept.
Heaven was bathed in tears. The Father and the Son took counsel, and
Jesus offered to undertake the cause of fallen man. He offered to
die that man might have life. The Father consented to give his only
Beloved, and the good news ran through Heaven, and resounded on earth,
that a way was opened for man’s redemption. In the first promise made
to man that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head, was
the gospel of Jesus Christ, as verily as in the song the angels sung
over the plains of Bethlehem, to the shepherds as they watched their
flocks by night, “Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth and good
will to men.”
Immediately after the fall, hope of a future life hung upon Christ as
verily as we can hang our hopes on Christ. And when the first sons of
Adam brought their offerings to the Lord, Cain in his unbelief brought
the first fruits of the ground, which were not acceptable. Abel brought
a firstling of the flock, in faith of Christ, the great sacrifice for
sin. God accepted his offering. Through the blood of that firstling,
Abel saw the blood of Jesus Christ. He looked forward to Christ, and
made his offering in the faith and hope of the gospel, and through it
saw the great sacrifice for sin, as verily as we see the bleeding Lamb
as we look back to Calvary, through the broken bread and the fruit of
the vine. Through these emblems we see Christ crucified. Abel saw the
same through the lamb which he offered. Do we hang our hopes in faith
upon Christ? So did Abel. Are we Christians by virtue of living faith
in Christ? So was Abel.
Abraham had the gospel of the Son of God. The apostle says that the
scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen, preached
before the gospel unto Abraham. Gal. iii, 8.
Paul testifies of the Israelites in the wilderness, that they “were all
baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the
same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink; for
they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock
was Christ.” 1 Cor. x, 2-4. The gospel was preached to the children of
Israel in the wilderness. The apostle says, “Unto us was the gospel
preached, as well as unto them; but the word preached did not profit
them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” Heb. iv, 2.
Moses and the believing Jews had the faith and hope of the gospel.
Through the blood of the sacrificial offerings, they saw Christ, and by
faith embraced him. Their hopes of the future life were not in the law,
but in Christ.
“The law,” says Paul, “having a shadow of good things to come.” The
typical system is but the shadow. The good things, of which Christ
as a sacrifice and mediator is the center, are the body that casts
its shadow back into the Jewish age. The bleeding sacrifices of the
legal system were but the shadow; Christ, bleeding on the cross, was
the great reality. Every bleeding sacrifice offered by the Jews,
understandingly and in faith, was as acceptable in the sight of Heaven
as what Christians may do in showing their faith in the sufferings,
death, and resurrection of Christ, in baptism and the Lord’s supper.
The one was done in the faith and hope of redemption through the
blood of the Son of God, as verily as the other may be. The gospel
dispensation, which is the dispensation of the good news of redemption
through Christ, has been six thousand years long.
The dispensation of the law of God is longer than that of the gospel.
It commenced before the fall, or there could not have been in the
justice of God any such thing as the fall. It existed as early as there
were created intelligences subject to the government of the Creator.
It covers all time, and extends to the future, running parallel with
the eternity of God’s moral government. Angels fell, therefore were on
probation. They, being on probation, were consequently amenable to law.
In the absence of law, they could not be on probation, therefore, could
not fall. The same may be said of Adam and Eve in Eden.
The ten commandments are adapted to fallen beings. As worded in the
sacred Scriptures given to man in his fallen state, they were not
adapted to the condition of holy angels, nor to man in his holy estate
in Eden. But the two grand principles of God’s moral government did
exist before the fall, in the form of law. These are given in the
Old Testament, and are quoted by Christ in the New, as the two great
commandments: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and
great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the
prophets.” Matt. xxii, 37-40. Compare Deut. vi, 5; Lev. xix, 18.
These two commandments require supreme love to the Creator, and love
to fellow-creatures equal to that bestowed upon one’s self. Angels
could do no more than these require. Adam could do no more. We can do
no more. The two great commandments embrace all that is required by
the ten precepts of the decalogue. They are the grand circle inside of
which is the will of God to man. No precept, and no principle, of the
Book of God, extends beyond this circle.
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