Sectarian Spirit by John Nevins Andrews

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 2, 1882

Sectarian Spirit.

By John Nevins Andrews

(From Les Signes des Temps.)

Some persons have spoken against our paper, accusing it of being sectarian in character; but this accusation is altogether unjust. It is true we have proclaimed several doctrines which are not generally adopted by the public, and it is equally true that we hold these doctrines as very important. But this does not constitute our paper a sectarian sheet. If they say to us that we are sectarian because the majority is against us, we reply that the fact of being in the minority does not render a person sectarian. If it were so, then the true servants of God, in all ages, have been sectarian.

Noah was in the minority as also was Lot. Caleb and Joshua were in the minority. It was true also of Elias and of all the prophets of God. St. Paul was in the minority at Athens. Those who arose against the errors of Rome during the ages of moral darkness, found themselves always in the minority. Neither does it constitute a sectarian spirit to sustain with ardor all that we find clearly marked out in the Bible. The friends of the truth are not only justified in ardently proclaiming it, but they are under the most sacred obligation to be fervent in their efforts to sustain it. The men whom we have named we would not say were the more distinguished by the fact that they were in the minority, but because they were zealous in the defense of those truths which condemned the greater number. To ardently proclaim an unpopular truth, and to be obliged to encounter a strong opposition on the part of those who are in the majority, does not render a man sectarian. The sectarian spirit is more often encouraged among those who are in the majority than among those who are in the minority. The question is not whether a doctrine may be popular, but whether it may be shown from the Bible.

Men are sectarian when they are driven by selfish motives and by a partisan spirit. They are sectarian when they seek to gain renown by establishing parties who will give honor to them rather than to God. Men are sectarian when they withhold the truth by unjust means; when in the place of being converted themselves by the truth, they make use of it for the purpose of condemning others, or for motives other than that of the glory of God.

Thus men may be sectarian by making a wrong use of the truth, although this spirit may be generally grounded on error. When men labor with right intentions in favor of the truth, they are not sectarian, although all the world may oppose them. But when men neglect themselves to become converted by the truth and make use of the truth only to overcome others, or when they defend errors and seek to draw followers after them, then may they be justly accused of sectarianism.

But we believe that this accusation cannot be made with any justice against our journal. We do not profess infallibility. We do not say that we know all the truth. We do not pretend to say that none may be saved who do not believe exactly as we do. On the contrary we endeavor to recognize all that we find good among others, no matter how far they may be from believing as we do on other things.

We strongly condemn error, but we carefully avoid judging our neighbor. In presenting our doctrines to others we say: Here are important truths and here are the reasons which convince us that these things are true. We are responsible toward God to make them understood, and we pray you to act in regard to these things as though before him to render account. We say that all men are responsible toward God; not only for obeying the truths which they have learned, but also for the employment of all means at their command to learn the further will of God; and let the Judgment of the last day trace back the fidelity or the infidelity with which they have acted in this respect.

The doctrines in which we differ from others may be stated thus:—

1. That the prophetic writings show that the second coming of Christ and the day of Judgment must be now even at the door.

2. That the law of God is the perfect rule of morality, and that the gospel of Christ is not given for the purpose of abolishing the ten commandments, but in order to enable the Christian to justly live up to the requirements of that law.

3. That although in all ages men have been saved by the grace of God, this grace has not been given for the purpose of excusing disobedience, but to render obedience possible.

4. That it is the duty of all the human family to recognize God as the creator of the heavens and the earth by observing the day which he has sanctified, as the memorial of the work of creation.

5. That “God only has immortality.” That men should seek for immortality by persevering in well doing; and that the just will receive immortality at the sound of the last trumpet. That men are neither recompensed or rewarded before being first judged; and that on the day of Judgment the just will inherit eternal life, and the wicked will suffer the second death, by which they will be entirely devoured or consumed; after which there will be a universe purified, in which the saints alone can dwell.

6. That the death, the burial, and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ should be commemorated by the celebration of the Lord’s Supper and by burial with Christ in baptism.

7. That men should abstain from the use of all intoxicating drinks and from the use of tobacco in all forms.

8. Finally, that conversion to God or the circumcision of the heart consists of a miraculous change, operated by the Holy Spirit, by which the law of sin is cast from the heart, and the law of God is written in its place; and that the grace of God will continue its work of transformation during the entire life of the Christian, until he will be perfect and lacking in nothing.

We believe that these things are true, and we know that if they are true they are very important. We do not make war with men but with error, and we entreat those who read our journal to abstain from denouncing us as teaching evil until they may have well weighed the reasons which we present for defending our doctrine and our work.

J. N. A.