p. 63 | The Two Warnings by E. M. Warren

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 7, 1871

The Two Warnings.

By E. M. Warren

When Noah built his ponderous ark upon the solid land, Do you not think the people laughed, and cried, “That foolish man”? No doubt but some at first believed the message Noah brought: But as the years rolled slowly by, their faith all came to naught.

“Who, Noah, of our wisest men, thinks that it will be so? Who is there, now, of all the world? But very few you know.” “Are you so wise that you know more than all the world beside? Or good, that true light comes to you, to all the rest denied?”

Perhaps their great men reasoned thus, “The world is thriving fast, The arts and sciences progress, and genius does its best; God meant these things should all unfold, else they had not been planned, As yet there lies, all unimproved, a great extent of land.”

“Now what if Noah has a dream, shall all men faint and fear? That monsters’ boat shall never float, decay shall waste it there.” But, reader, did good Noah cease for argument or scorn? No, God had said, “I bring a flood,” he must not fail to warn.

So on he hammered, planned, and preached, and thus condemned the world. It showed his faith in God’s sure word, though bitter lips were curled. And did it come—that dreadful flood—to which so few gave heed? Ah! yes; they could not stay the wrath against their sins decreed.

But Noah and his family, through all that dreadful storm, Triumphant rode upon the waves, within the ark’s huge form, “God shut them in;” he held them safe, though heav- ing billows tossed, Though all else died upon the earth, not one of them was lost.

Again the Lord Jehovah speaks, “The elements shall melt,” “Also the earth;” and even now the pent-up fires are felt. They shake the earth and rend it oft, and dart forth tongues of flame, Which in their hissing, frightful voice, the coming doom proclaim.

When Christ’s disciples asked of him, the signs that should appear, He said the darkened sun and moon, should show the end was near. The falling stars, too, should attest it “even at the door,” “This generation shall not pass,” till all these things are o’er.

These signs have all appeared, we know, and strange enough that some Should tell us that the end may be a thousand years to come. And many look for happiness and universal peace, Though earth is filled with violence, and sin and crime increase.

But all this Jesus did foresee; he told us long before, That when he came, the days would be, as were “the days of Noah.” And in the days before the flood, feasting and mirth held sway, “They knew not till the waters came, and swept them all away.

So now for pleasure reaching forth, the multitudes we see; The dance, the picnic, festival; eat, drink, and merry be. But oh! the few who sigh and cry, for crimes that now abound, Believe God’s sure prophetic word, and haste the alarm to sound,

Shall, when the rioters all fall, in that soon-coming day, Be carried up by angel hands to God’s blest home on high? Lord, speed the message, and increase the all-prevail- ing power Of thine own chosen little flock, in this eventful hour.

Reader, are you and I among those who believe the Lord? Whose spotless lives and earnest calls lead others to his word? Oh! think of the unending life, of love, and joy, and song, They may enjoy with all the good, eternal ages long.

E. M. Warren.