Development in the Work of God
The fifth session of the ministerial institute was held at eleven o'clock, May 17, when Elder M. C. Wilcox read a paper on “The Development in the Work of God,” the larger part of which follows:— In every advance movement in the work of God, in every regenerating work of the ages, that movement has invariably had for its aggressive and potential center either some truth trodden under foot of past generations, or some truth new to the world, but belonging to that generation alone to which it is preached. Such revelation is needed not merely because it is due, but for the twofold purpose of awakening God's church from its lethargy and bringing to it clearer, broader vision and new hope and new life. To reject this central truth is to fossilize, to retrograde, to apostatize, and to die; to accept it is not alone to meet the opprobrium of the world as narrow literalists, and finally, from the apostate, persecution, but it is to go forward with the remnant church to greener pastures, to richer experiences, and to final victory with God's celestial army. This manifestly central truth may not in itself alone have within it saving power, nevertheless it demands saving faith of all to whom the Spirit reveals it; and ever connected with it, as the circumference is to the center, is the great everlasting gospel. Concrete examples of this work in the past will illustrate my meaning. First, the deluge. The dominant thing in that message in the eyes of the people was, the coming flood. Second, the one central word which came from Moses to Pharaoh was, the serving of God. “Let my people go that they may serve me,” was repeated again and again by Moses, the messenger of the Lord. Third, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” was the great manifest side of the message of John the Baptist. Fourth, the central theme of the message of Jesus was his mission as the Christ; and in him was the fulness of the Godhead. Fifth, the great central truth of the Reformation was the justification by faith in a personal Christ. Sixth, the mighty manifest truth of the great threefold message due to this generation alone is, Christ is coming, the hour of his judgment impends. The third angel's proclamation, embracing the others, came to a confused, a divided, a despairing people who would not yield their faith. They examined anew the ground of their faith in the great prophetic period of the twenty-three hundred days, and they came from their examination with hearts confirmed that the ending of those days in 1844 was correct. And to the waiting company, like a vision from heaven, was revealed, aye, a vision veritable from heaven revealed, the disappointment, and lighted the way to the central truth of all truth, the holy of holies in the sanctuary of God. There they saw the ark of the covenant, the eternal law of God, the glory of his mercy-seat, and the great High Priest, the God-man our Advocate, our Brother-Saviour in the presence of our Father-God. There centered the Sabbath truth; there was clearer light thrown on man's nature and the price of his redemption; there faith saw the law of life in Christ Jesus our Lord, and the great time-table of prophecy shone in a clearer, holier, sublimer light than ever before. There is a multitude of denominations believing in almost every imaginable theory, true and untrue, but we are singular and alone respecting one great central truth. Seventh-day Baptists have for unknown years before us kept the Sabbath day and taught it, and for it praised God. Adventists there have been in all denominations who believe in the Lord's soon coming and in the fulfilment of prophecy, and who are in general agreement with us in this respect. All evangelical churches, so-called, believe in the divinity of Christ, and that he alone is Saviour. Whole denominations and many in the great popular churches, notably the Baptist and the Episcopal, do not believe in the inherent immortality of man, but hold that everlasting life and immortality come only through faith in Christ Jesus. Many there are who believe the earth made new to be the eternal inheritance of the people of God. Every phase of the great threefold message, save one, is held by some of all of the various denominations, and that is the doctrine of the sanctuary, old in its revelation, new in its significance and specific application. It is the great central truth of the great cluster of truths of this message. It is the harmonizing, arranging, unifying truth of the message. It enabled this people to place before the world the most glorious cosmos of gospel light and truth this world ever saw, in contrast to the chaos of error found in the world's great Babylon. God has predicted the times and the thing, and the people who accepted fulfilled the prophecy. How the Sabbath truth shines out in clear luster in the light of the revelations of the sanctuary! How the various phases of our Lord's coming, the apokalupsis, the parousia, the epiphany,—the revelation of God's Son, the personal presence of our divine Lord, the forth-shining of his eternal glory,—each find a fitting and important place in the setting given by the sanctuary. Instead of sinking into utterly insignificant proportions as needless, how the transcending importance of the great judgment day stands revealed in all its infinite and awful majesty. How clearly it reveals our Lord's last work of ministry in the antitypical day of atonement, the close of that work in the finishing of the mystery of God, the reception of the redeemed kingdom by its Redeemer, the coming to each one to judgment, the close of the day of probation, the beginning of the great and awful day of Jehovah, the place of the seven last plagues, and the death of the wicked and the resurrection and translation of the righteous at the shining forth of the Son of God. How free grace and eternal election blend in a teaching of transcendent beauty. How the church and the individual are transformed into temples of God through the glorious sublimity of the same truth of our Lord's priesthood over a holy law for the redemption of souls to eternally elected character. And there is much more to be said concerning this wonderful truth which God has given us in his Book, and revealed through prophecy as especially applicable to this time, and in which and around which has developed the great harmonious threefold message we are giving to the world. Shall we relinquish this glorious note in the major chord in the great diapason of truth? Shall we cast aside this glorious gem in the coronet of truth God has given us?—No; a thousand times, no. Or shall we be content to hold it as a mere theory, to measure its boards and coverings, to count its rings, its hooks, its staples, to weigh its sockets and reckon its material value? Shall we limit the heavenly by the earthly? O brothers beloved! We are even yet on the border land of light and power and gladness. We see the mighty pillars and outlines of truth's grand system; we are too prone to be content therewith. There is light, clearer light, power, greater power, beyond. But not until our humility, our consecration, our faith, shall equal the truth already revealed, will God give more truth. Earnestly seeking, faithfully serving, God's people will be given more and more light and truth; “for light is sown for the righteous,” and clothed in that ever-developing, increasing light, God's church shall go forward to certain victory, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners! The discussion was led by Elder O. A. Olsen, who spoke substantially as follows:— God's messengers have always had a message. And so our work is in fulfilment of prophecy, and we have a definite work to accomplish, a work which has been definitely outlined by the Spirit of God. William Miller was moved upon by the Spirit of God to study the very line of truth, and by that study developed the prophecies indicating our work and message. The time had come when the message should be given, and God raised up men to do the work. We to-day are representatives of the third angel's message, and there is no truth in all the Bible so fully and strongly established as this last closing work. We are not following cunningly devised fables. Take Seventh-day Adventists out of the world, and there would be nothing to represent the threefold message of Revelation 14. There is no other people, work, or message that claims to be doing this work. God will carry this work through gloriously, and its end will be triumphant. D. T. Bourdeau: This message came to us in demonstration of the Spirit and with power. Disconnect power from it, and it is worthless. This message is the power of God unto salvation. S. N. Haskell: We have two unanswerable arguments regarding present truth; namely, our existence as a people, distinct and separate, which was brought about by the truth of the sanctuary; and the fact that there has been increasing light from the beginning of our existence. God never gives light that destroys or weakens the truth that he first gave; but his truth constantly unfolds, and separates his people farther and farther from the world.29New light is not to study up something new that will upset what the Lord has already revealed; increasing light only establishes and confirms what he has already given. The light will continue to increase more and more until the end. G. I. Butler: I do not believe there is a minister in the world outside of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination who could intelligently give an explanation of the fourteenth chapter of Revelation; and another point is that if we do not have the third angel's message to-day, the world will never have it. Notice: the first message brings to view that the hour of his judgment is come, which is the same thing as the cleansing of the sanctuary, which was to come at the end of the twenty-three hundred days. The beginning of that period is marked by the decree to restore and build Jerusalem, given in B. C. 457. And without this definite date as a starting-point, we could not determine the date of the message. J. N. Loughborough: It was my privilege to hear the first angel's message, and I know that there was a power that went with it. What moved me was a sermon on the judgment. The power of God was there. Some have said to me at this meeting, “I wish we could make an effort to get the power of God.” I say, If the Spirit of God was not here on this ground yesterday afternoon when Sister White spoke to us, when do you expect to receive it? I remember some of the experiences we had in the early days of this message, and how God was with us. I remember the experience of Hiram Edson, a man of earnest devotion and sincere piety. He is the one who first received light on the sanctuary question. He received this light on the twenty-third day of the seventh month in 1844, and he got it on his knees in answer to prayer. God has been in this message from the beginning. Persons have arisen who have some ideas that would seem to upset the sanctuary question. We had that same thing in 1858, and a party arose back there that attempted to remodel the whole third angel's message; but their work came to naught, as will every other such effort to overthrow this glorious truth. And back at that time when this question was brought forward by these persons, and they had met with the brethren to present these matters, and to talk with Brother and Sister White, Sister White was given a vision before them, and this was the statement she made while in vision: “That past message was given just as the Lord wanted it given; stir not a pin, move not a block.” I heard that said more than once when she was in vision. This was spoken through her by the angel of God. And so now, when people come up with some new light that is calculated to upset this whole truth, God says to us, Stir not a pin, move not a block.