A Sermon on a Card by Dudley Marvin Canright

California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists · Oakland, Cal. · Mar 25, 1875

A Sermon on a Card.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

In the good providence of God, wonderful facilities are rapidly being brought into operation whereby his last message of warning can be quickly and cheaply heralded to the world. The steam printing press, the railroad, the steamboat, the wonderfully cheap postal service, all combine to carry forward this work.

I have written out and had printed on a postal card the following article. It is printed in nonpareil type solid. It could be in agate, one size finer type, and still be plain. Then a card would contain much more. It costs only one-half cent a piece by the hundred, and much cheaper by the thousand. I also have one on the Sabbath and one on the nature of man. It is so easy to drop one of these to a friend or to an address you may see in a paper. The cost is a mere trifle. I have already received several responses to them. Could not the Tract Society use them well? Here is the sermon:

"Dear Friend:—I send you this, not to solicit trade or money, but to call your attention to important Bible facts. Is not the whole Bible a revelation from God? Are not the prophecies a part of it? Will they ever be fulfilled? Certainly; and they plainly teach the following facts: 1. The very same Jesus who was once upon earth will return again personally, literally. Acts 1:9-11; 1 Thess. 4:16. 2. The Lord will give signs to show when that event is near. Luke 21:25-31. It is our duty to "discern the signs of the times" when fulfilled. Matt. 16:1-3. If it was a sin for the Pharisees to disbelieve them, will not the same course in us now be equally wrong? 3. A warning message will be given to the last generation; the same as in the days of Noah, Lot, Jonah, John, etc. Luke 17:26-30; Rev. 14:6-16. Those who rejected the warning of those men perished. So, when the Lord shall cause this last warning to be given, will it not be equally wrong to disregard it? Yes, verily. 4. While no man will know the day, yet the saints will know when it is near, and will be looking for it. Matt. 24:32, 33. But it will overtake the wicked as a thief. 1 Thess. 5:1-6. 5. Formal professors and the ungodly will put afar off, and mock at the second advent when it is right at hand. 2 Pet. 3:3-5; Matt. 24:48-51.

6. All nations are preparing for a mighty war as foretold. Joel 3:9-16. The world is becoming alarmingly corrupt morally, and violence fills the earth as in the days of Noah. Matt. 24:37. See the terrible record of crime in the papers. The professed church of Christ is fast departing from the simplicity and spirituality of the gospel. Wealth, pride, and formality are taking their place, while the poor are shut out. This is also a sign of the end. 2 Tim. 3:1-5. The gospel was to be preached to all nations. "Then," says Jesus, "shall the end come." Matt. 24:14. Says the Christian Union: "There is not now a corner of the globe where Christianity is unknown." This prophecy is fulfilled. All nations have heard. The end is here. The whole world is troubled and fearful of what is coming. All are anxiously expecting some great revolution. Some think it is one thing, some another; but the Bible shows that it is the coming of the great King. For nearly 40 years a solemn warning of the end at hand has been sounding to this generation. Earnest men have gone to every part of the world proclaiming the second advent, as John did the first. Hundreds of ministers are this day giving the warning everywhere. More than 100,000 souls are looking for that event. More than a score of papers are exclusively devoted to this proclamation, while millions of tracts are being scattered like the leaves of autumn. If Noah, without a tract, a paper, a Bible, or a single man to help him, condemned the world then, what excuse can we have now? You do not believe the warning is of God! Did they believe Noah, or Lot, or John, or Christ? Yet God sent them. Have you examined this work? Are you sure it is not true? We entreat you pass it not by so lightly.

The Seventh-day Adventists have several publishing houses, (the Review and Herald, Battle Creek, Mich., Signs of the Times, Oakland, Cal.), where we publish tons of books and seven periodicals in the English and other languages, devoted to this subject. If you wish to learn more about it, we will send you a free sample of these with our catalogue. Please preserve this card and read the passages cited. Address either as above, or Eld. D. M. Canright, Oakland, Cal.