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R. C. PORTER

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 12, 1908

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 85, No. 11.

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R. C. PORTER

By R. C. PORTER

The Ax Laid at the Root of the Trees—No. 2

R. C. PORTER

FEARFUL will be the account that will be met by false shepherds in the day of judgment. It were better for a man that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he drowned in the depth of the sea, than that by his unfaithfulness to the solemn charge of his ministry to “preach the word” he should allow souls to drift to ruin unwarned, and their blood be upon his garments.
More than fifty years ago we were instructed through the spirit of prophecy that the time would come when there would be a shaking among us. It was stated plainly that this shaking would be caused by a revival of the straight testimony. When we see the shaking coming precisely as predicted, caused by the revival of the straight testimony as declared, shall we then be longer in a state of questioning as to where we should stand in this crisis? The present situation is the strongest confirmation of the truthfulness and reliability of the spirit of prophecy. It declared that we should see just this at this very time. It declared that some would be shaken out. It stated plainly that these who would not receive the straight testimony, would endeavor “to unsettle the established faith of the body.” The next step brings us to the latter rain.
When the shaking time is past, the body will not be left torn and distracted, as the result of the shaking. In place of that, the ones who were opposed to organization, and unwilling to harmonize with church order, will have been shaken out. “My attention was then turned to the company I had seen, who were mightily shaken. I was shown those whom I had before seen weeping and praying with agony of spirit. The company of guardian angels around them had been doubled, and they were clothed with an armor from their head to their feet. They moved in exact order, like a company of soldiers.”—“Early Writings,” page 132.
They had not accepted theories of organization that would lead to disorganization. The established faith of the body on the subject of organization was still adhered to.
Page 133 of the same book records the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the latter rain. It did not fall upon those who renounced the established faith of the body. It came to the body when the testimony of the Faithful and True Witness was heeded by it. “I saw that the testimony of the True Witness has not been half heeded. The solemn testimony upon which the destiny of the church hangs, has been lightly esteemed, if not entirely disregarded. This testimony must work deep repentance; all who truly receive it, will obey it, and be purified.”—“Early Writings,” page 132.
The test of truly receiving the testimony of the Faithful and True Witness, is obedience to the messages given. These, obeyed, will result in purifying the heart. It is easy to proclaim faith in the spirit of prophecy. The test is obedience to its messages.
In the illustration of the human body representing the church in the New Testament, there is the most explicit organization. In that illustration every member is given his place “as it hath pleased Him.” In this there is the most perfect order. Every member of the body is directed by the head, but the nerve through which the direction is given is interwoven with the tissues of the body. It is not individual direction independent of the body. The individual direction given through the body is always in harmony with the action of the body directed by the same head. God has committed the proclamation of his gospel to men. He guides them in the work. The Holy Spirit co-operates with Christ in directing the work. “The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.” Therefore “in the multitude of counselors there is safety.” There is no safety in individual independence that ignores counsel. The message will finish its work on the same platform on which it was begun—the commandments of God, and the testimony of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy.
“What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Hamilton, Mo.