Editorial by Editor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · May 19, 1904

Editorial

By Editor

A Call to Repentance

To the church of the last generation, the church which will welcome her blessed Lord at his coming, the counsel of “the Faithful and True Witness” is, “I counsel thee to buy of me gold refined by fire, that thou mayest become rich; and white garments, that thou mayest clothe thyself, and that the shame of thy nakedness be not made manifest; and eyesalve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I reprove and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.” This is the last and the most urgent call to repentance. Of those who heed this call and obey this counsel it will be said, “Here is the steadfastness of the saints, they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” The shortness of the time before it will be too late to repent emphasizes the danger, always great enough, of putting off a genuine and heartfelt repentance for sin and the acceptance of the forgiveness now so freely offered. The fact that we are now so near to the time when the angel of mercy will take her flight, never to return, gives double weight to these solemn words: “Beware of procrastination. Do not put off the work of forsaking your sins, and seeking purity of heart through Jesus. . . . There is a terrible danger—a danger not sufficiently understood—in delaying to yield to the pleading voice of God’s Holy Spirit, in choosing to live in sin; for such this delay really is. . . . Even one wrong trait of character, one sinful desire, persistently cherished, will eventually neutralize all the power of the gospel. . . . In all the Bible there is not a more fearful warning against trifling with evil than the words of the wise man, that the sinner ‘shall be holden with the cords of his sins.’ To every half-hearted, professed believer, who is really no believer at all, these words of warning are now spoken, “Be zealous therefore, and repent.” “Repent ye therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord; and that he may send the Christ who hath been appointed for you, even Jesus.” A repentant church will hasten the coming of Jesus.