Turned Back by L. D. Santee

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 28, 1866

Turned Back.

By L. D. Santee

“He has turned back,” said a friend to me one day. It was a short sentence; but oh the sorrow, the anguish caused by those words. Who had turned back? A loved brother, bound to our hearts by many pleasant associations. We had rejoiced together; we had wept together; we had celebrated the ordinances of the Lord’s house together; we had covenanted together to keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. But he had turned back. Turned his back on the Law of God; turned his back on the Sabbath; turned his back on the pearly gates of the New Jerusalem; turned his back on the reward of the righteous, the earth made new. Parting with friends is always sad; but oh how sad when the prospect is that it will be eternal. While we are treading the rough and thorny path leading to Mt. Zion, they are traveling another road. But our sorrow is not unmixed with joy. Though all earthly friends should turn away from us, we still have a Friend who will never leave us. We are satisfied that probation is about to close; that the work of cleansing the heavenly sanctuary is nearly finished. Let this be our song while in the house of our pilgrimage, The Lord is soon coming, we will rejoice in his salvation. In a little while we shall stand before the Judge of quick and dead; but alas for the souls who in that day are weighed in the balance and found wanting! L. D. SANTEE.

Gridley, McLean Co., Ill.