p. 150 | A Point Overlooked

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

A Point Overlooked.

ONE of that unfortunate class of persons who are indulging in very unamiable feelings toward Seventh-day Adventists, appears to be extremely anxious to show from the prophecies that we are apostates from the truth. To do this he claims that we are the evil servants, who are saying in their hearts, My Lord delayeth his coming. And how are we saying this? Oh, by inaugurating a new movement, the Health Reform, and starting a Health Institute, and proposing to erect a large new building in furtherance of the enterprise. All this, according to this individual's opinion, is going to take a great while, hence we cannot be expecting the Lord very soon, hence are saying in our hearts, My Lord delayeth his coming; hence are the evil servants, who are soon to be cut asunder and have our portion with hypocrites and unbelievers.

Our friend carries the argument no further; but he should see that if left here, it amounts to nothing, for his work is but half done. The prophecy concerning the evil servant asserts that he will not only say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming, but will “eat and drink with the drunken.” Now we care not what characteristics a person bears in other respects, if he is not beginning to eat and drink with the drunken, he is not one of the evil servants mentioned in the prophecy. This point seems to have been entirely overlooked.

Now we inquire, Are Seventh-day Adventists eating and drinking with the drunken? We say, No. Why? Because they are adopting the Health Reform, a system diametrically opposed to this evil work; a system which enjoins the strictest temperance in all things; temperance in labor, temperance in regard to the cares of this life, temperance in eating and drinking, temperance in the use of every faculty, and the indulgence of every appetite; a system, in short, which is the embodiment of the Bible doctrine of temperance applied to every-day life.

This is the move by which S. D. Adventists are endeavoring to avoid that prominent characteristic of the evil servant, eating and drinking with the drunken, and to obey the injunction given by the Saviour, to take heed lest their hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and so the day of the Lord come upon them unawares. Yet the individual above referred to, has the inconsistency to take this very work which shows that we are not the evil servants, and bring it up as an evidence that we are! We think we can now see pretty clearly on which side the evil servants will be developed, and what it is that will bring them out. If we mistake not, they will be found among the opposers of this very work of Health Reform; and in making all manner of fun of it, as some are tempted to do, they will be urged on by the carnal heart to all lengths in the indulgence of depraved appetites, and the use of rich and unwholesome articles of food and drink.

But is it a fact that the movement on Health Reform virtually puts off the coming of the Lord? Is it going to take a great while to perfect a reform on this point? and do those who engage in it, thereby say that they do not believe that the coming of the Lord is very near? Just the opposite of all this. In no way could they more effectually say that the coming of Christ is at the very door. Can any be so deceived as to regard it otherwise? What! are not the people of God to cleanse themselves “from filthiness of the flesh” as well as spirit? Are they not to “glorify God in their bodies?” Are they not to present their “bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,” as well as to be “transformed by the renewing of their minds?” Are they not to first gain an acceptable position in body, soul, and spirit, in order that they may be preserved in this condition “*blameless, unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ?”

And can they do this, while taking no healthful care of their bodies, while indulging in perverted and evil appetites, and following wrong and depressing habits of life, which war against both body and mind? And is there not therefore a great work of preparation to be done in this respect by that people who would be ready for translation when the Lord appears? And when the necessity for this work opens before us in all its vivid reality, and there is a spontaneous uprising on the part of the people of God, almost as one man, and an earnest laying hold of this work—are we thereby putting off the coming of the day of the Lord? Heaven pity such blindness. Is not the fact that our minds have been so forcibly called to this long-neglected work at this time, one of the most thrilling evidences that the day of Christ is right upon us, and that no item of the work of preparation must longer be neglected? And by entering into the work, do we not say that we believe it, and that we want to be ready? By neglecting it, should we not virtually say either that the coming of Christ was not very near, or that we cared nothing about getting ready for the event?

But what about the Institute? Is it going to take such a great while to complete this enterprise? Unless there is a withholding of means, which, from the confidence we have in those who love the truth, we do not believe there will be, there can, by another autumn, be accommodations for one hundred and fifty or two hundred patients at that Institution. And with the influence and practical instruction to be derived from such an institution, and the teachings of the Review and Reformer, how long before all can become fully established in the principles and practice of this great reform? It can be done speedily. We verily believe that this is the last great step to be taken in preparation for the solemn events before us. And those who make this a pretext for putting off the coming of the Lord, and neglecting a preparation, will, ere they are aware of it, find the work done, the harvest past, the summer ended, and they not saved.

It is a proud position to be ever found in the foremost rank of reform, striving to perfect holiness in the fear of God. There let us ever be found, though those who are sensual, having not the Spirit, may separate themselves, and those who are carnal, sold under sin, may mock at and deride our efforts. They may say that we are leaving Christ out of the question; but so far from this, we do not truly and in reality follow him, and prove our love to him, until we endeavor to live according to his example, obey his directions for bodily and spiritual purification, deny ourselves, and bear our daily cross in his humble footsteps. Men may cry, Christ, Christ; but unless they live as he lived, and purge away the lusts and filthiness of the flesh, all their talk is but blatant hypocrisy. Faith without works is dead. And he who thinks to be benefited by theory alone, is a spiritual fool.

Yes, let us haste to remedy every defect in life, character, or belief, so soon as we shall discover it; not frightened by the cry that we are thus saying, My Lord delayeth his coming, but knowing that thus only can we be ready for that great day, the rumbling of whose swift approach, with all its momentous and eternal realities, now rises loud and clear upon our listening ears.