Sincere, Are You? by Wm. S. FOOTE

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 5, 1867

Sincere, Are You?

By Wm. S. FOOTE

ACTING conscientiously? So are the worshippers of Bramah or Boodh; so are the deluded followers of Jo Smith, and millions of others who are groveling in error and darkness. But will sincerity be our passport to Heaven? If the way to life is through the strait gate, which is Christ; and the journey to the celestial city is through the narrow way, which is holiness, or a consecration of all that we are and have to God; and if the moral law is the rule of action, by which we ought to be guided through life; will the Lord accept of any other way, and at last number us among the sanctified? Our Saviour says, “If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments.” Here is the test of our love. Is there any difference between the commandments of our Saviour, and those of his Father? Is there any discord or confusion on the Throne of the universe? Reader, If Satan can persuade us to violate one precept of God’s holy law, and that habitually, it is all that he asks of us; he knows as well as did the Apostle James, that “he that offendeth in one point is guilty of all.” If we pursue a course which is destructive to our health, and which may bring us down to a premature grave; do we not violate the law, “Thou shalt not kill?” If God tells us to “remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy,” and that “the Seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God;” and if we cannot find any evidence in the Bible to the contrary; will the Lord accept of our service in offering him Sunday-keeping as a substitute, although through the influence of false teachers we may be sincere in thus doing? Dare you affirm that the Sabbath was made for the Jews, and for them only, when the Saviour has told us that “the Sabbath was made for man,” told us so in kindness, and knowing that in these last days men would thus violate the law of God?

A friend of mine, who is led by those who teach for doctrine the commandments of men, read the tract, entitled, “The end of the wicked.” His mind was disturbed, and his faith in the eternal misery of the wicked was shaken. I gave him the tract, and he said that he wished to show it to his preacher, Mr. S., and see what he said about it. I asked the Romanist, where in the Bible he found the doctrine of a purgatory? Said he, “I do not know, but if you will go to our priest, he will willingly tell you all about it.” So it is; thousands of both Catholics and Protestants, instead of going to the word of God for instruction, have a priest, or Mr. S., to consult with, who is very sure to confirm them in error, in which they will remain until the light of eternity reveals to them the fact that they have not “the testimony of Jesus.” We would refer such persons to Acts iii, 22, 23. Truly Moses said: “A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass that every soul which will not hear that Prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.”

Wm. S. FOOTE.

Pendleton, O.