Untitled article by JOSIAH PHILBRICK

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Third-day, March 17, 1868

FromReview and Herald, Vol. XXXI, No. 14

From Bro. Philbrick.

By JOSIAH PHILBRICK

BRO. SMITH; May I be permitted to add my testimony for the Lord and his truth? I do highly esteem the Review. How cheering the news it brings of the work of the Lord. My prayer is, that his blessing may rest upon all that have had, and still have, the burden and charge of the great work of the third angel, and that they may have heavenly wisdom to send out the last warning to all that have ears to hear.

With your permission, I would say a few words to the dear brethren through the Conference Department. I always love the conference meeting, especially when I can hear the brethren talk a living experience. How it feeds and cheers the hungry soul! I feel that I am an unworthy creature; unworthy of the least of all his mercies; yet my poor heart has been often elated with holy joy, while I have realized that the heavenly angels have such a watchcare over the Lord’s afflicted, tempted, and tried people. And their interest will increase as dangers thicken around them. Blessed be God for his great love, and for what he has done, and for what he is doing for his humble, obedient, confiding children. So sure as the angels ministered unto the dear Son of God while fasting and being tempted of the Devil forty days and nights, fulfilling the great work he came to do, and was strengthened by them, so sure will the angels minister to the dear saints, all the way through to the time of trouble, and by miraculous interposition of heavenly angels, will they be kept through the awful hour of temptation, until the dear Saviour comes and brings deliverance. And as I view probation closing, and the love of God toward me, I am led to realize, in some degree, what it is to be a Christian. Having put on Christ, it is our privilege to “abide in the Vine,” to walk as he walked, and to “rejoice in the Lord always.” Yes, how blessed and heavenly it is to exalt and magnify his great name; constantly feeling our entire dependence upon the efficacy of his blood so freely shed on the cross, and the power of his matchless love filling the entire being, that we may be kept from the strong power and influence of this world, and have a surety against Satan and his angels. And as his devices are so cunning, and his power so much stronger than ever before, how grateful I should be, and how great is my indebtedness to the Lord, for the precious means he has provided for me through his word, and the ministration of his Spirit in the gifts of the church. How could I ever have understood the strong power of the enemy and his satanic devices, without this very means. It is no wonder that he hates the very name of Jesus and his followers, and that he despises the Testimonies. Again and again have I felt thankful for them. I love their sweet, exalted, heavenly influence.

I now desire, as never before, to feel the sad effects of transgression of law relating to my mental and physical being, and my daily dependence upon the atoning merits of Christ, and a fresh application of the virtue of his blood, that I, so unworthy, may have eternal life. I sometimes mourn and am sad, to think how weak I am, compared to what I might have been, had I always lived a holy life. And now can Jesus own me? Can he save me, so sinful, so depraved as I have been, at this late hour? Oh yes! I believe he can; I believe he will; I believe he does. Blessed be his dear name! The angels rejoice and sing when we believe in his sweet name. O brethren, how sweet the name of Jesus sounds! I do love to feel my need of him. How blessed the evidence that he owns and loves his unworthy child! Hallelujah to the Lamb forever! He is coming to take his children home. Sweet home, sweet home! I long for a complete preparation to meet my Saviour, and all the redeemed, and to hear the angels sing, and to join redemption’s song.

JOSIAH PHILBRICK. Kent Co., Mich., Feb. 29, 1868.