In Old London Once Again by William Ambrose Spicer

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Mar 1, 1906

In Old London Once Again

By William Ambrose Spicer

AN hour ashore in good old England, and the miseries and discomforts of sea travel to a poor sailor were all but forgotten. It has been an open winter in England, and though it was but the first of February, the fields were green. At Aston Hall, near Birmingham, where I stopped off to see a site which the brethren are considering as a headquarters for the British field, snowdrops were growing in the open, along the lakeside.

On Sabbath I met with the old North London church, in Duncombe Hall. It was just twenty years ago this spring that Elder Haskell and three Bible workers, Sisters Hurd, Owen, and McKinnon, and myself came to London and held the first Sabbath meeting with Sister Marsh, the one lone Seventh-day Adventist in all the great city.

There was a little company of Seventh-day Baptists meeting in East London, led by Dr. Wm. Mead Jones. Dr. Jones was a good friend of ours, and I well remember his telling us that we would find that it was not possible to get people to leave their old churches in London and come out and keep the Sabbath, as people might do in the newer American cities. But all we Seventh-day Adventists know is to present the message that God has given us to carry to every nation and to every people, high or low, far or near, equally for the greatest city in the world as for the smallest hamlet.

The three young sisters began to go out, reading the Bible among the people. They studied the prophecies of Daniel and of Revelation around the firesides, and people began to understand these truths of Christ's soon coming, of the Sabbath reform, of the new earth, and the nature of man. They saw a great system of truth, every part fitting into the general plan, and all so simple and clear and definite that all they could consistently do, was to accept it. So they came out, one after another, keeping God's Sabbath, and joining heart and soul with this advent people. As I looked into the faces of the old friends who came out in those early days, and who through the years have helped in the building up of the work, I thanked God again for the simplicity of this third angel's message.

The thing that made us all Seventh-day Adventists was the simple story of the fulfilment of prophecy, the sound doctrines as to the advent, the sanctuary and its cleansing, the Sabbath, and the nature of man. That is what made our fathers in this message Seventh-day Adventists. These foundation principles created the advent movement. And these truths which made us all Seventh-day Adventists are the truths that will make other people Seventh-day Adventists. There is no other message that will do it.

We see more and more in these truths, but it is not in the preaching of the refinements, as it were, of the advent doctrines that truth's most powerful advocacy consists. The plain and straightforward evidence of the fulfilment of the prophecies and the setting of the Sabbath and other truths in the advent movement is the thing that convinced us and made us Seventh-day Adventists. That is the thing for others to build upon also. Thank God for the simple, fundamental, definite platform of truth. Let us hold to the main line of the advent doctrine, for there are yet many who must hear it, and then comes the end.

The Seventh-day Baptists had begun their work in London centuries ago. God used that people to keep the torch of Sabbath truth burning through the ages of darkness. When the third angel's message began to be proclaimed in London, our Seventh-day Baptist friends had all that learning and talent and devotion could give to their Sabbath reform advocacy. But this third angel's message is the Sabbath reform message for these last days. And as our three lady Bible workers went out in human weakness to present it in the homes of the people, the power of God was present to convict hearts, and to lead souls to accept the message. In about a year we had more Sabbath-keeping believers in London than our Seventh-day Baptist brethren. I would not at all suggest any comparisons as a matter of disparagement of their earnestness and zeal, for they were good friends of ours. But the third angel's message, the preaching of the prophetic message God has given us, is the strength of the Sabbath cause. We are a people of the prophecy. This movement itself is the fulfilment of prophecy.

And wherever it goes, it brings forth the same fruit. Here are the old believers in London, growing in love for the message, new ones coming in, the work moving forward, the "blessed hope" as dear to their hearts as to those of the believers in America. The children of the early days in the London work are now grown up, and a goodly number are in turn bearing burdens in the work, and successfully preaching and teaching the truth in this populous British field.

I was thankful to meet with friends, old and new, here. To some of us London is still home, for here we grew into the work and service of this blessed message. Instead of the one lone Seventh-day Adventist in London, of twenty years ago, there are now nearly four hundred believers in the great city.

W. A. S.

London.