TRUTH by Mary Stratton

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 31, 1869

TRUTH.

By Mary Stratton

“Truth crushed to earth will rise again; Th’ eternal years of God are hers; But error, wounded, writhes in pain, And dies amid its worshipers.”

I cannot help admiring the beauty and excellency there is in the truth. It is always in time and place. Our Heavenly Father adapts it to all our wants. The doctrine of the sleep of the dead and the destruction of the wicked, was revived just in season to meet Spiritualism; and the commandments of God, and the reform, to fit a people for translation.

It is no use for the world or the churches (if I need make the distinction) to oppose. God has set his seal to these truths, and they must advance till the coming of the Just One. It is mysterious to me why more do not see and embrace the third angel’s message when it is so plain; and more mysterious that those who have embraced it do not see that the reform must be in close proximity to it. For how can we be cleansed, purified, and made perfect, without the aid of the reform?

I will not speak of the filthy habit of using tobacco, nor of the use of pork; such things ought not to be once named among Seventh-day Adventists. But tea, coffee, spices, and, finally, all stimulants, are evil and only evil in their effects. The world is running rampant after these things; and shall we follow in its train? When I hear my brethren and sisters say they are trying to be good and faithful, and mean to be overcomers, and still persist in these pernicious habits, what am I to think? Well, I have not wisdom enough to solve these things, so I will leave them and have all the charity I can, remembering my own infirmities.

It may be that reform in dressing is not so important as in eating; yet it is important, and how glad I would be to see uniformity among our sisters in this. I am not ashamed of the reform dress. It commends itself to every reasonable mind. But when I see my sisters wearing long, heavy skirts, at the cost of health and a great deal of happiness, I do feel sorry. And if they are long enough to drag six or eight inches on the ground, a feeling very near akin to shame comes over me; because the argument is all on one side of this question, and ought to be so understood.

There may be crosses, but there is a crown a little in the distance. There may be bitterness in the cup, but the honey of the truth will sweeten it all. If we do not suffer with Christ, we have no promise of reigning with him.

MARY STRATTON.