Go Forward by L. D. Santee

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 30, 1870

Go Forward.

By L. D. Santee

“SPEAK unto the children of Israel that they go forward.” Ex. 14:15. We have chosen these words for our text, for they are just as applicable to us as they were to the children of Israel, when they stood wavering on the margin of the Red Sea. My heart is filled with a solemn awe, as I see great events converging to the consummation of all things. Day after day the heavings and groanings of this sin-cursed earth, speak its approaching dissolution. The great lines of prophecy have swept into the past, and those who were students of prophecy supposed years ago that the predictions concerning our dispensation were all fulfilled, and that the coming of the Just One would cut short the measure of iniquity, and the angels would gather the harvest of the earth; and yet the year 1870 finds us still probationers. The vision lingers. The long suffering of God is still offering mercy to all that will forsake their sins and accept pardon through the atoning blood of Jesus. For years the last angel that will precede the coming of Christ has been uttering his solemn warning. The commandments of God and the faith of Jesus have been preached, gaining a few followers and a host of opposers.

The last sands of time are crumbling away beneath our feet, and the scenes of eternity are almost upon us.

There is an old proverb that the way to judge of the future, is by the past. If we adopt this as a criterion, we should expect upon our nation and upon our earth speedy destruction. In all past ages when men have filled their cup of iniquity, God has destroyed them. We might call your attention to the deluge, to the cities of the plain, to the destruction of the Egyptian host, to the judgments visited on the Jewish people as evidence that the Almighty will not permit sin to go unpunished forever.

How is it with us to-day? Almost every secular journal brings to us dark records of violence and crime. Murder and rapine abound; and the murderer, to serve party ends, is sometimes screened from justice. Trials have occurred recently that will be a dark blot on our judicial code as long as there is a criminal tribunal. Truly in the language of the prophet, Judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. In the political horizon we can clearly discern a gathering tempest. The nations of the old world are arming for the conflict. Now and then comes a rumor of actual war, but it is only a breath that precedes the bursting of the storm. The vast immigration to our shores from all countries, makes our broad land a point of interest, to all the nations of the old world. Many of the presses predict that Catholicism will soon contend for the supremacy, and that the ships that weekly land scores of Irish, are bringing to our shores a mental element that shall deluge our land with blood from sea to sea. We cannot speak with certainty of this, but in the tone of the Catholic journals, and in increasing Catholic immigration, we see indications that may well cause alarm.

There is one thing more I wish to notice while speaking of political disturbances. We, as a people, believe that the prophecy found in Rev. 13:15–18, will be fulfilled by the enactment of a law enforcing the observance of Sunday. The enactment of this law as a general law, will be just before the coming of Christ, and will probably mark the close of probation. And is not woman suffrage, (which will undoubtedly be carried) to act an important part in the passage of this law? Woman has more of a religious element in her character than has man. She was, as has often been remarked, last at the cross and first at the sepulchre, and she will labor earnestly for moral and religious laws. Thus it is that those who are conscientiously acting from a false application of ideas, will strive to rivet on all the fetters forged by popery, and to extinguish forever the sacred memorial instituted by the Almighty.

We have reached that point when the Revelator says, The nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged. The investigative Judgment is now going on. As soon as the cases of the dead are decided, judgment passes to the living. Those who are accounted worthy to stand, are sealed with the seal of God. Command is given to the angels to hold the winds until the sealing work is accomplished. Rev. 7:3. Will the sealing angel come to us, or will he pass us by as unworthy? May the words of our text ring in our ears. Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward. Cast off every hinderance. Put away every besetting sin. Add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge temperance. Let your hearts be solemn before God. Walk carefully from day to day. Crucify the lusts of the flesh. Go forward until you are entirely consecrated to God. Then while men's hearts are failing them for fear of the things that shall come upon the earth, while men drunk with the wine of Babylon are rushing down to perdition, when signs in the heavens, the earth, and the sea, tell that the day of his wrath is come, you can claim the precious promise found in the prophecy of Joel 3:16: “The heavens and the earth shall shake, but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.”

We might mention a thousand other things, insignificant in themselves, but having a direct bearing upon the great events just before us. When we leave the political, and turn to the physical features of our world, we are no less struck with wonder and amazement. We cannot use the old proverb already quoted, here; for the throes and convulsions of our earth within the last three or four years are without precedent. Tidal waves have carried death and ruin to many a shore. How often has the wail of despair gone up from falling cities and a trembling earth! Volcanoes that have slumbered for ages, have burst forth, and in their terrible activity, present a vivid representation of the day when the elements shall melt with fervent heat. We will not sadden you by a recital of the long list of casualties that have occurred from storm and lightning, whirlwind, fire, and flood. Thank the Lord, we can say in the language of the poet:

“Oh storm and earthquake—wind, and warning thunder, Your hour is coming—one wild outburst more, One other day of war, and wreck, and plunder, And then your desolating reign is o’er.”

It is terrible to think that the world is so careless and thoughtless while destruction is swiftly approaching. They heed not the warning voice that thunders in the tempest, that is heard in the earthquake, and that resounds in the waves that wash every shore. Their Bibles they do not read, and their ministers preach pleasing fables, instead of pointing to the darkly-brooding heavens, and warning sinners to seek shelter before the day of wrath. Oh! could there be some awakening agency that could rouse the careless, some resistless power that could stir the hearts of men, then might we hope for better days. But alas! God’s truth is unheeded, his law is trampled upon, and his name mocked.

I wish to notice what is necessary for us to do that we may escape the dangers that are coming upon the earth, and enjoy life in the eternal future. We have a great work to do before we can stand without fault before the Judge of quick and dead. The apostle Peter, in showing how strict that Judgment will be, asks the question, “If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” Many of us are covetous. Some seem to think if their s. b. is promptly paid, that the Lord has no further claim upon them. And they add farm to farm, increasing their possessions to be swept away in the day of the Lord’s anger. Give liberally of your abundance,

not carelessly, but where you are sure that the blessing of God will attend it. The apostle says that covetousness is idolatry, and oh! that his earnest warning might sink deep into the hearts of those who are trying to live out present truth, and whose hearts are filled with the cares of this world and the love of gain. Paul says, I tell you before as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Gal. 5:21.

Pride is another evil that, like a hidden cancer, eats out all that is pure and noble. Oh! what multitudes are going down to eternal death because they lack humility. It is the greatest cause of dissensions and troubles in the church; but it will soon cease forever. Those that will not bow must break. Listen to the words of the prophet Isaiah: The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up, and he shall be brought low. May the Lord give us humble and contrite hearts, that at his coming we may be glorified.

Indifference is a failing that prevails to an alarming extent among us who profess to be looking for the revelation of the Lord Jesus. How careless we are! Are the roads bad, or the weather inclement? our meetings are not attended. Spiritual lethargy is to be fought against. Watch and be sober. Pray much. Pray earnestly. There is no heart so lowly but that an altar may be erected there that shall burn with a sacred fire, and from which the soul’s petition may arise as sweet incense to God. Eternity is almost upon us. Shall our portion be for weal or woe? Shall we sit with hands idly folded while the battle rages around us, and at last be swallowed up in the fiery vortex! Or shall we fight the good fight of faith, and lay hold on eternal life? Oh! let us present our bodies to God, a sacrifice holy and acceptable. The Lord forbid that we remain lukewarm until probation closes, and we are lost forever. Oh! that we could point out all the faults that hinder the Christian in the work of overcoming; but space forbids, and our knowledge is too limited. Pray for more strength. Die to self. Live for Christ. My heart is full. Oh! that I could write something that should lift up the lowest heads, and confirm the feeblest knees. The most of those whose eyes meet these pages I shall never see upon this earth.

“Shall we meet beyond the river, Where the surges cease to roll?”

May the Lord give to you and me, dear reader, a home where there shall be no end or diminution of joy. Amen. L. D. SANTEE.