Church Federation and Adventism
By L. A. S.
Under the strange spell which is cast over minds by the fascinating idea of church federation, the editor of the World’s Crisis writes the following:— If a historian of later years shall look back to our own time, seeking to discern its distinctive character, probably not doctrinal controversy, nor even revivals, will appeal to him as the paramount issue of these times, but church federation. This is a movement which has been brought to the front in recent years, and it constantly gathers momentum, and it has risen to the dignity of a great movement which characterizes our time. Is the Crisis prepared to surrender the second advent ground upon which it has stood from the beginning of its history, to take up now with the idea of church federation? If not, why does it talk of the “historian of later years” looking back “to our own time”? The second advent doctrine that Christ is to come again in this generation must be abandoned before any enthusiasm can be felt for the idea of church federation. The second advent movement and the church federation movement do not go together; they are fundamentally opposed to each other. If Christ is to come and overthrow all earthly governments and terminate all worldly activities in this generation, the one great mission of the church is to send her messengers out to all the world to proclaim the fact, and the church federation movement has no future, and is worse than a waste of effort. And if church federation were right, on the other hand, then it would be useless to hold that Christ is to come at the time and in the manner proclaimed by the advent people since the days of William Miller. If the churches had received the advent message proclaimed by William Miller and others, they would not now be entering into a church federation; that message would have brought Christian unity instead; and evidently it will remain for those who have been true to that message and to the light into which it led, to stand alone at the last in opposition to confederacies of every sort.