p. 124 | The Judgment Hour by J. Dorcas

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 20, 1866

The Judgment Hour.

By J. Dorcas

How solemn the thought, that we are now passing the period of this world's history in which the character and destiny of God's people is being determined. Have we made a profession of faith in God? that faith is either a living or a dead faith. How stands the matter? The apostle springs the all-important question touching this point. After showing that the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God, that is, when the "judge standeth before the door," and "the end of all things being at hand," he says "What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?" Oh, that we might realize these things as we should, and stir each other up to lay hold on eternal life. The judgment work must progress on earth among the people of God, as it progresses in the eternal city. God will judge his "people with his truth."

This time has come; the time spoken of by all the holy prophets, and apostles. See for example Rev. xi, 18, "And the time of the dead that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great," &c. Do we see a people arising this side of when the "temple of God was opened in Heaven," at the ending of the 2300 days, who give evidence that they are moved by these solemn facts and truths? We do, most emphatically. We most devoutly pray that this people may "arise and shine, their light being come;" that they may be not only a peculiar people but particularly zealous of good works; and that their words may not eat as doth a canker, but be seasoned with grace.

Oh, my brethren, my sisters, let us exhort one another, and so much the more as we see the day approaching: may the poet's question and answer always be fresh in our minds.

"What is the world? A wildering maze, Where sin has tracked ten thousand ways Her victims to ensnare; All broad and winding and aslope, All tempting with perfidious hope, All ending in despair. One humble path that never bends— Narrow and rough and steep—ascends From darkness into light."

J. Dorcas.

Tipton, Iowa.