DANGERS AND DUTIES OF OUR TIME.
By James White
The dangers and duties of our time are of that character to fully justify a pointed appeal to our people, whether located in our own good country or in other lands. To the minister of the word of God is given the oversight of the flock of God to watch for souls as “they that must give account.” Heb. 13:17. We would faithfully call attention to the duties of the present time, and warn you, in view of the impending Judgment, of the dangers to which you are exposed. Individually we must give account to God of the manner we have severally performed duty. The righteous judgment of God, with its final decisions, is upon us. It will then appear whether we have scripturally and faithfully warned you; and also whether you have taken careful heed to these admonitions. Our duty is expressed in the solemn charge of the great apostle to Timothy:— “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom: Preach the word. Be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.” 2 Tim. 4:1–5.
This charge was not given to Timothy alone, to cease with that generation; but it was to be passed down in the ministry, as a ruling principle in the gospel of the Son of God, until the close of human probation. This important fact is fully substantiated by Paul’s previous charge to his son in the gospel in these paternal terms: “Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” 2 Tim. 2:1, 2.
The youthful Timothy is here charged to commit the things he has heard from Paul to faithful men who should arise in his day, who should be able to teach them to others, and thus the great apostle’s charge is handed down to us. Every minister of the gospel since Paul addressed his epistle to Timothy has been virtually charged, in the presence of the great God and his Son Jesus Christ, and in full view of the awful decisions of the last Judgment, to faithfulness in the duties named. And as the apostle cites a future period, especially marked by preferences on the part of the people for popular fables, and the rejection of the sound doctrine of the word of God, we may safely conclude that this solemn charge to preach the word should be regarded as of increasing importance as the church nears the perils of the last days. In fact, the very period, and the very state of things, with those who have a form of godliness, has arrived, which is described in the previous chapter as follows:— “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away.”
The perils of the last days are upon us. There is no want of that class of teachers who would turn the ears of the people from the word of God to fables. And the charge to preach the word applies to this time with redoubled force. The great central idea in this charge is expressed in the phrase, “Preach the word.” The words, “be instant,” convey the idea of perpetual readiness, the mind and heart ever full of the words of life, whether “in season,” at regular appointments before the assembled people, or “out of season,” from house to house, or by the wayside. It is the minister’s duty to reprove; but in doing this he must preach the word. In the previous chapter, Paul states that the inspired Scriptures are “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” The faithful minister of Christ must even rebuke the people for their sins; but in the performance of this unpleasant duty, he may add to the influence which the gospel gives him the authority of the living word of God, which is “quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Heb. 4:12. “Preach the word,” says the Holy Ghost. The man of God can do this in the spirit of all long-suffering in his exhortations. He may appeal to the people with the doctrine of the word of God. This is far better than for one to exhort from the impulses of his own spirit, with words that irritate and distract the mind. Wounds made by a saw are more painful, and require more time in healing, than those made by a sharp surgical instrument. The ambassador for Christ, who in his Master’s stead beseeches the people to be reconciled to God, must preach the word “for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” In his righteous ministrations, he is thoroughly furnished in the word of God unto all good works. Dear reader, we appeal to you from the word of God. And we beseech you to let the “sword of the Spirit” cut its way to your conscience. You are satisfied with the correctness of our doctrinal positions. This is well as far as it goes. You accept the Bible not only as a general exposition of salvation through Jesus Christ and a rule of Christian duty, but as a prophetic guide down the stream of time to the close of the grand scheme of redemption. May you ever be grounded and established on this foundation. But we fear, judging from your apparent devotion to the things of this life, and your want of fervor and activity in the cause of present truth, that you are not standing where the Spirit of God can impress upon your minds the importance of the truths you profess, and the dangers and duties of this time. You profess to believe that the great lines of prophecy in the books of Daniel and of John terminate in our day with the close of human probation, the vials of God’s wrath upon those who reject the truth, the second coming of Christ, the resurrection of the just, and the destruction of all the living wicked. You also hold that the history of those who, by the will of God, look for the glorious appearing of Christ is given in outline in the three angels’ messages of Rev. 14:6–12. That the first message has gone forth, that the second has followed, and that for a quarter of a century the great testing truths of the last message have been shining forth from the word of God with increasing light and power, you also believe. We might here speak of the great work accomplished in our organization, and the harmony of the great truths connected with our specific message which, with the special blessing of God, has secured to our people unparalleled unity. With pleasure we make mention of our publications, which alone are bringing hundreds to the knowledge of the theory of truth held by us, and to Christ. Our groaning presses are almost daily throwing off sheets in the French, German, Swedish, and Danish languages, besides the great amount in the English language. God has given us, just at this time, to assist in the preparation for the coming of the Son of man, the subject of Christian temperance in the great health reformation. And with gratitude to God, and to his dear people who have given of their means cheerfully, we speak of our first College, where men and women are being qualified to teach the present truth in our own and in other countries. But in view of the wonderful work of God in raising up bodies of S. D. Adventists in different parts of Europe without our instrumentality, we repeat the words of Eld. Andrews: “God has gone out before us. It is most certainly a call to us to follow.” The way is fast preparing for the world-wide, powerful, closing work of God to be cut short in righteousness, symbolized by the loud voice of the third angel. And we are evidently far advanced in the period allotted to the work of the last message.