Are You in the Faith? by R. F. Cottrell

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 7, 1873

Are You in the Faith?

By R. F. Cottrell

“EXAMINE yourselves,” says an apostle, “whether ye be in the faith.” Faith is essential to salvation; without it, we cannot please God.

Have you faith in present truth? Is this message which we have heard, claiming to be that which was promised in prophecy (Rev. 14: 9-12), genuine? Is this movement, which has brought a few thousand to the observance of the down-trodden Sabbath of the Lord, from Heaven, or of men?

Brethren, is this the work of God, or is it a delusion? We need to have the question settled. It is either of God, or it is a delusion. If it is a delusion, it is of the devil, the father of lies; and the sooner we escape from it the better. But is the devil really engaged to build up that which we know to be the truth of God? The thought is preposterous. We know better. This work is not of the devil—it is not a delusion; then it is of God—it is genuine; and if it is of God, it is what it claims to be—it is the fulfillment of that which God promised.

If we obey the voice of the Saviour, we shall decide the question one way or the other. Said he, “Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by his fruit.” There is no neutral ground. A decision is demanded. To remain undecided and wavering is certainly not to be in the faith. Far from it. Faith is confidence, decided conviction, and not wavering. On a question like this, a question involving God’s word and providence, a decision is demanded for or against. Not to be decided is not of faith.

Suppose we decide against it. Then it is a delusion; and if it is a delusion, it is not of God, but belongs to the father of lies. Satan then has started a delusion the effect of which has been the conversion of some fifteen thousand, scattered in almost every State in the Union, the Canadas, in Switzerland, Italy, and other countries, to the entire law of God, the ten commandments, and also to the faith of the gospel of Christ as written in the New Testament. By this delusion, an office of publication has been established with a capital of over $70,000, for the purpose of publishing papers, books, and tracts, devoted to the advocacy of every commandment of the holy decalogue and every precept of the gospel of Christ! Say you, Satan has not done any such thing? You are right; he has not. Then the Lord has done it. The work is good; therefore it is of God. And if it is of God, it is what it professes to be—the proclamation of the last warning to mankind, as promised of God in prophecy. This is the unavoidable conclusion. To my mind, there is no other reasonable conclusion possible. The doctrine of chance has no place in the working out of the plan of God as foretold in his word. A failure is impossible; for he that promised is fully able to perform.

Brethren, we have accepted this faith. Do we believe it? It is possible that some who have been called out by this message do not believe. “I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.” Jude 5. This Advent movement—the preaching of this message—has brought us out where we are. Are you in the faith that it is of God? If so, we are agreed. But if it is of God, it will not stop in its present state of development; but will go on and increase till the world are thoroughly warned. Thousands upon thousands of good honest souls, in the churches and out, have never heard of it. If God has brought this work so far, he will carry it farther. If the third angel’s message has gathered up a few thousands who accept it, it is destined to go on till it gathers the remnant, that is, what remains, of the believing and true-hearted, to “keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus;” so that the last effort of the dragon, in persecuting the church before their translation, will be directed against that people only who “keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

Is this our faith? And have we a proper view of the magnitude of the work? Corresponding action is the best proof of it.

R. F. COTTRELL.