Monthly Meeting in Jackson.
By J. H. Waggoner
THIS was the best meeting I ever attended in Jackson County. 1. The difficulties in Leslie, which have so long perplexed and oppressed this church, have been amicably settled, so far as time and opportunity have allowed, and the meeting in Jackson ratified the action of the branch in Leslie taken when Bro. Van Horn was there. This, we sincerely hope, may be permanent; and if it shall be, it will be a great relief to the whole church. 2. Some who have newly come to the Advent faith in Grass Lake were present, and added much to the interest of the meeting. Bro. and sister Casselman have great reason to rejoice that the Spirit of the Lord has led them, by the study of the Bible alone, into the full faith of the present truth. Truly the Lord is working for his cause and people. “Light is sown for the righteous;” and if we are humble and devoted, he will bring us to the knowledge of saving truth, even as he did Cornelius. 3. There are some earnest, honest souls who are inquiring the reasons of our hope, and gladly receiving the truth as they learn it from the word of the Lord. Some, who are looking for the Lord, and have been taught that the “everlasting gospel” message of Rev. 14 was given in the great Advent movement of 1844, and that the fall of Babylon indicates the declension of piety in the churches of the present day, cannot see why the “third angel,” which “followed them,” just before the Son of Man comes on the white cloud, must not now be in order of fulfillment. And we can but approve their judgment. An incident related to me there reminded me of a similar one in Maine. Said a brother, “I asked one of our preachers what the ‘third angel’s message’ was, and if it must not be fulfilled before the Lord comes; and he turned away with the reply, ‘I don’t know anything about it; go to the seventh-day folks; they claim to know what that is.’” “And,” said the brother, “I did go to them, and am happy to say I found out what it is.” The incident in Maine was as follows: A sister in Richmond asked Israel Damman, some two years ago, what the mark of the beast was, in the third angel’s message of Rev. 14. Turning away, he only said, “That’s a political question.” We can have no doubt that his word is fast coming true; and it is a political question in which all have a deep interest who love God’s commandments, and desire to escape the seven last plagues. My visit to Jackson was a season of constant labor, public and private, early and late; but it was an opportunity for which I feel grateful, and I pray that the inquiring souls may find all the truth, and that mourning ones may soon find the comfort the Saviour promised to such. One thing I had an opportunity to notice which is worthy of remark. As soon as persons become interested in the third angel’s message they begin to talk of the great work of preparation for the Lord’s coming. Immediately they begin to search their hearts, and to humble themselves before God; while they, who deny this message, talk with great confidence of their own readiness to meet their coming Lord. When we consider what the Scriptures teach concerning the coming persecution and time of trouble, we greatly fear they will meet a sad disappointment in that day. But the Lord will “avenge his own elect that cry unto him day and night.” May he, by his own Spirit, give us a spirit of crying before him.