Testimony No. 23 on Heeding Divine Instruction
By D. T. Bourdeau
I have read this testimony with care and great interest, and my prayer is that we, as a people, may lay its instructions to heart. I, for one, mean to profit thereby, for I believe them to be of more than human authority. God has spoken to us again through his weak, but favored instrumentality, and it becomes those who profess to believe in the exercise of the gift of prophecy among us, to stop and consider. Of course, we cannot expect that those who have not had opportunity to test the merits of the productions of this gift will attach that importance to them that we do. This would be unreasonable. But those of us who believe that God in mercy and great condescension does speak to us from time to time by way of instruction, reproof, and encouragement in harmony with the Scriptures as he spoke to his people anciently through the prophets, cannot neglect these productions without sinning against their own consciences and profession, and thereby manifesting great ingratitude, irreverence, and inconsistency. Twenty-three written testimonies to us as a people! Why so many? Is it to flatter us? No, but to point out the defects of our characters in the light of God’s word, that we may overcome them and stand the test of the Judgment. This looks like God’s dealings with his people in ancient times. He never flatters them in their sins, but reproves them for their sins. And how humbling is the thought that reproof has come to us as a people twenty-three times. What an exhibition of God’s mercy and long-suffering! But we should remember that every additional testimony that comes, adds to our guilt, unless we reform. God forbid that we should pass by this call at the eleventh hour with indifference, and therefore become guilty of sinning against his grace. I fear that the exceeding sinfulness of this sin is not realized by many of us. It is as if a man were in danger of losing his life by accident or sickness and would refuse means and agencies which he knows and acknowledges would, if improved upon, prove his salvation. Would not such a man be guilty of murder in a special sense? How forcible is that part of the testimony that shows the message to the Laodiceans to be applicable to us! For eighteen years, have we, as a people, known that this message applies to Seventh-day Adventists, and yet we are shown to be very deficient. Many of us are backslidden. We are greatly deficient in zeal that is according to our profession, in faith, love, patience, humility, and in the enjoyment of the blessings and mighty workings of God’s Spirit. Truly, this is a character message. Its fruits will not consist in mere flights of feeling, but will be seen in thorough self-examination, closely weighing the motives of the heart to see whether they are selfish or unselfish, in heart-felt confession of wrongs, and self-abasement before God and man, and in thorough reform on those points on which we are deficient. And how pungent is the thought that confessions will be made too late. I most solemnly believe that one great cause of our lukewarm condition has been to murmur against those whom God has appointed to lead out in this work. I was confirmed in this belief in hearing a discourse by Bro. Butler on this subject at the late Michigan Camp-meeting. The Spirit of the Lord was present in power and great solemnity. It was an awfully solemn place to me. And then I observed that the Spirit of the Lord indorsed confessions on this point in a special manner. The people were held to that point. This means something. Even one newly come into the faith, a man of no mean ability, and of cultivated intellect, upon hearing confessions on this point, said, “I was not aware of this. But this seems to be the point. When confessions are made they start my tears.” How forcible was the remark by Bro. Butler that “not a single instance could be found where ancient Israel murmured directly against the Lord. It was against their leaders, whom God had appointed, and whom they had received from God’s appointment. Yet their murmurings were against the Most High.” I fear the full force of these words of the Saviour is not always realized: “He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth Him that sent me.” We all have an influence which effects others more or less, and unless we are right, others will be wrongly affected and sustain a loss, and some may be lost. We think it would be a heinous crime to take a dagger and plunge it into the bosom of a brother, and so it would. But this would be but a small crime compared with the sin of leading others to eternal ruin by our influence or neglect. In one case, the present life is at stake; in the other, eternal life. Upon thorough examination, I confess myself to be a poor Laodicean. True, the Spirit of God has been with me at times, and I have seen a few souls embrace the truth; but how much more I would have enjoyed, and how much more I would have accomplished, had I been fully alive to the work, and had I lived nearer the Lord. I wish all those who have seen defects in my labors, to forgive me. I am determined to cultivate genuine humility, to die wholly to self, to fill any place the Lord would have me, and to have every faculty of my being beat in unison with the work of the third angel, just as God has shaped it. I crave the counsels of my brethren; for in the multitude of counselors there is safety. As I have made an effort to draw near the Lord, light and freedom have broken into my soul, the Judgment and the coming of Christ have seemed near and real, and submission to God has brought great relief. How just the Lord is in all his demands. His ways are best. How sweet to bow to his claims and give him the reins in all that concerns us. My heart is encouraged in seeing the broad plans of operation that are being laid. It seems as though something will be done, and that the saints’ eternal rest is nearing.