Untitled article by Dudley Marvin Canright

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 31, 1868

CONVERSATIONS ON IMPORTANT SUBJECTS. NO. 7.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

BY ELD. D. M. CANRIGHT.

Minister. Well, brethren, we will now proceed again with our conversation. Who can tell where we left off?

Bro. D. You were saying that the health reform was to prepare us to stand during the seven last plagues; that God is now giving us a warning of what is coming, and telling us how to get ready to meet it, and that by living healthfully we should be prepared, by the blessing of God, to stand during the pouring out of the plagues.

Bro. B. Then you think that the saints will be on the earth while the plagues are being poured out?

Min. Oh, yes! this is very plain, as you all see by reading Rev. xvi, 12-15; under the pouring out of the sixth plague, Jesus says, “Behold I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garment.” This certainly shows that Christ has not come when the sixth plague is poured out.

Bro. A. If that is so, it will be a dreadful time for the people of God, certainly.

Min. Very true; but God will deliver his people. I understand Psalm xci, to apply at this time. Let us read it: “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress; my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.” This you will see is just the same as the first plague. “There fell a noisome and grievous sore.” Rev. xvi, 2. “He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust; his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.” David says, “Thy law is the truth;” hence this refers to the people who have kept God’s truth. “Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.” This I understand to be when the wicked are falling by the plagues on every hand. “Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.” Here you see are the plagues spoken of. “For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.” Thus will God save his people during this fearful time. Of that time Daniel says, “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince, which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.” Dan. xii, 1.

Bro. D. Do we not understand that there will be a great famine, as well as pestilence and war, just before the coming of the Lord? Will not all the fruit and every green herb of the field wither? and does it not say that the seed shall rot in the ground, and that there will be no water to drink?

Bro. A. You know that during the pouring out of the plagues, it says that all the water was turned into blood, and that the sun scorched men with great heat.

Min. Yes, that is all true. In the first chapter of Joel we have a description of that awful time. Look over the chapter and you will see that he says that the palmerworm, the locust, the cankerworm, and caterpillar will come up in great numbers, and devour everything. He says that they have laid the vine waste, and barked the fig-tree and made the branches white. It says the field is wasted; the land mourneth, for the corn is wasted, the new wine is dried up; the oil languisheth. Then he says that the wheat and barley faileth, because the harvest of the field is perished. Joy is withered away from the sons of men. Farther on he says that the meat is cut off from before our eyes, and the seed is rotten under their clods; the garner is laid desolate. How do the beasts groan, the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture. The fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the rivers of water are dried up, &c.

Bro. B. But how do you know that this applies where you say it does?

Min. Read the connection. The 15th verse says, “Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.” And again, “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.”

Bro. B. Yes, that does seem to show where it is.

Bro. A. But, if this be so, how will the people of God be fed?

Min. Did I not just read where the Lord said that he would give his angels charge over them, and keep them at this time?

Bro. A. Oh! yes. I had forgotten that.

Bro. D. Do you think that Elijah is the type of the people of God in the last days, who will be translated to Heaven when Christ comes?

Min. I certainly do, and think that there is plenty of evidence to prove it.

Bro. B. I have always thought so, and hence have read his history with much interest.

Min. Let us look at Elijah’s history for a few moments. It is introduced in 1 Kings xvii, where the Lord tells him to prophesy to Ahab that there should be a great dearth in the land. In the eighteenth chapter we have an account of the wickedness of Ahab and Jezebel his wife, and how all Israel had forsaken God, and had become worshipers of Baal. Then at length, verses 17-23, Elijah goes to Ahab and rebukes him for forsaking the commandments of God. Then he exhorts the people to return to God and obey him by keeping all his law. He was a commandment-keeper, and preached the restoration of the commandments of God among his people Israel. In chapter nineteen, Jezebel told Elijah that she had determined to take away his life. Then he arose and fled for his life into the wilderness. Then he sat down under a tree and requested that he might die. As he lay asleep under the juniper tree, behold an angel touched him and said unto him, “Arise and eat.” He looked, “and behold, there was a cake baked on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head; and he did eat and drink and laid him down again.” The same thing was repeated again, and he went on the strength of that for forty days. For this, Elijah was translated to Heaven. Just so it will be with the people of God in these last days. The prophets of Israel have forsaken the Lord’s commandments; but, like Elijah, God’s true people will keep them, and teach others to do them. For this they will be persecuted. Rev. xii, 17. They will be driven out of the cities and villages into the wilderness as was Elijah. See Spiritual Gifts, Vol. 1. God sent his angel to feed Elijah; so he will send his angels to feed his people during the time of trouble.

Bro. D. But what do you believe God will give them for food at that time?

Min. What did he give Elijah?

Bro. A. He gave him bread and water.

Min. Then if he was a type of the people of God down here, will they not have the same fare?

Bro. A. Well I declare I never saw that point before. That does look as though it was so, I confess.

Bro. D. Yes, that is just what I believe.

Min. Read Isa. xxxiii, and you will see that it applies to the last days, to the coming of Christ. The Lord tells who will be saved at that time, and says to him, verse 16, “He shall dwell on high; his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks, bread shall be given him, his water shall be sure.” Now Bro. B., if this is so, we have got to come to a pretty plain diet before the Lord comes, haven’t we? even to bread and water.

Bro. B. I begin to believe it.

Bro. A. I suppose we shall be glad to get even that, when others are perishing with hunger and thirst.

Bro. D. Well, brethren, if this is so it is very important that we know it, and be preparing for it, is it not? I believe it with all my heart, and hence it is that I can so freely enter into the health reform.

Bro. A. I confess that there is more to this than I had thought. It makes the health reform look very different to me, indeed.

Sr. C. These things look very plausible, yet there are some things which I cannot understand. I don’t see how they agree with the Bible. Jesus said it was not that which went into the mouth that defileth the man. From this it seems to me that he was not so particular what he ate. Health reformers think that it is a sin to eat certain kinds of food. Paul says that we should eat that which is set before us, asking no questions for conscience’ sake.

Min. But both these declarations must have a limitation, as you yourself will admit. The use of liquor does very certainly defile a man, as we all know; so much so that the Bible says that no drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of God. Paul also said, “Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” 1 Cor. x, 31. This shows that our eating and drinking has something to do with our religion. Again he says, “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.” By this we see that we should govern our appetites, and not give way to a perverted taste, which simply gratifies the lusts of the flesh.

Bro. D. Let me read what Paul has said of some on this subject. Phil. iii, 18, 19. “For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.”

Min. Thank you, Bro. D., that is right to the point, as are many others which we might quote.

Sr. C. But if others could be good Christians without the health reform, why could not we?

Min. I am surprised to hear you use that argument. The same is often used against the Sabbath, and many other parts of the truth which you believe as well as we.

Sr. C. Yes, but it was the subject of prophecy that the Sabbath and those other truths should be restored in the last days.

Bro. D. So the health reform is the subject of prophecy. Christ foretold it.

Sr. C. I should like to see it.

Bro. D. Here it is in Luke xxi, 34, 36. Speaking of his second coming, Jesus says, “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.” Surfeiting means eating to excess. This is addressed to the people of God who should live at that time; a warning to them to beware what they eat and drink. If this does not refer to the health reform, then I can see no meaning in it.

Min. And Christ also said that the wicked should be eating and drinking as they were in the days of Noah; and so that day should come upon them unawares. This is as much as to say that his people will be acting in a different manner.

Sr. C. According to that, then, you think it wrong to eat and drink. How do you think we shall live, I wonder? I don’t believe that the Lord wants us to starve ourselves to death.

Min. Neither do I, Sr. C. The idea is that we should be careful what we eat and drink, and how we do it, lest it lead us into a snare. It simply shows this, that it is not right to eat everything, and to any degree.

Sr. C. I believe that fine flour is better than your graham; and that is why I eat it. This is according to what the Lord has promised: to feed his people with the finest flour.

Min. You have made a little mistake, Sr. C. It does not say the finest of flour, but the finest wheat; Ps. cxlvii, 14. Moreover the eating of fine flour is one of the sins of Babylon in the last days. Rev. xviii.

Bro. B. Well, Sr. C., it is hard to break off all our old habits; but I rather guess we shall have to give it up on the health question. The more I look at it, the more reasonable and important it looks to me.

Bro. A. Yes, I think it about time for us to take hold of this question in earnest, and I think I shall do it.

Bro. E. Come, brethren, let us walk out and have some dinner, and then talk on the matter further.

Min. Yes, come Sr. C., and have a good hygienic dinner, and you will think better of it.