A Testimony on Present Truth
By J. Dorcas
Bro. White: I have been thinking over matters, and thought it might not be out of order for me to drop a few lines to the friends of present truth, who have been shaken in their minds by what has been passing before them here in Iowa, for the last few weeks. And to begin, Would we not be able to decide against a messenger and know that he had departed from "the faith," if he should declare the Sabbath abolished, and no longer obligatory? We readily answer, Yes. So also with the 2300 days of Dan. viii, 14. Knowing that these terminated without a doubt, in 1844, we are enabled to determine the close of the first angel's message of Rev. xiv, 6; the cleansing of the sanctuary of Dan. viii, 14, and the judgment-hour work of Rev. xiv, 6, being identical. The second angel's message, of Rev. xiv, 8, having no "loud voice," stands, as it were, between the two great loud-voiced messages, and belongs to both periods, as it simply states a fact. Babylon, or the fallen churches, being in existence, the great city, we cannot fail to have a correct application. And it being no less a fact to-day that the churches exist, in a fallen state spiritually, this fact must be proclaimed with a strong voice, as seen in Rev. xviii, 2. For example, a late Chicago paper, in noticing a change about to be made in opera affairs, says "It would have been delightful for the habitues of our Opera House if this mutilation had not taken place; as, with the twenty-two pieces retained, those who attended the Saturday evening performance, might have been saved the trouble of going home, and proceeded to the Sunday morning service in their respective churches directly from the theater." We might notice other glaring facts right in our midst to show that the position taken in relation to these things, by Adventists, is true—alarmingly true. The rise and progress of the work, purporting to be a fulfillment of the third angel's message, viewed from the right stand-point, and in its true character, is in itself a demonstration of the truthfulness of the application of the prophecy to this time. This side of 1844, after the solution of the bitter-disappointment problem, men have arisen all over the land proclaiming another message, not a time-message, for "time shall be no longer," but a warning message, a message that has brought out its thousands, placing them plainly and squarely on the platform of this closing message. "Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Can we deny all this? Our opponents here in the West, deny most of these great leading facts. They also denounce the doctrine, as held by this people, of the existence of "the spirit of prophecy," among this people, as being false. Can you indorse all this? Our conviction is, that a work so extensive as that of sister White's could not easily be the forgery of a couple of individuals, no others knowing anything about it. That its influence is calculated to promote morality and virtue, none who are acquainted with it will deny. That to oppose and reject them, where they should be heeded and obeyed, brings confusion and darkness, many of us know. May the Lord help us to discern his hand in these last days, is my prayer. J. Dorcas.