Have we a Message? by R. F. Cottrell

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 4, 1873

Have we a Message?

By R. F. Cottrell

THE word of God being reliable, at some time the last warning to mankind, the message of the “third angel,” Rev. 14:9, will be proclaimed. It will be a final test; the salvation or condemnation of those who hear it will depend upon its reception or rejection. The fulfillment of other prophecies and promised signs shows conclusively that we have reached the last days, even the very time when this message of warning is due and should be expected. At the present time, just where this message has become due, a proclamation is being made which is held, by those proclaiming it, to be the genuine message—the fulfillment in fact of that which was promised eighteen hundred years ago in prophecy. This work has been gradually rising to the knowledge of the people for some twenty-five years. This movement is the genuine fulfillment of that which was promised, or it is utterly false and delusive, and is deserving of nothing from the people but opposition, exposure, and condemnation. It should be heartily received and cherished as a Heaven-sent message, or rejected and condemned as a most subtle delusion of Satan. It should not be dallied with—partly encouraged

partly opposed, and chiefly rejected.

There is no reasonable ground of neutrality. It is either true or false. It is either from Heaven, or of men prompted and led by the devil. It professes to be the message promised of God in his sacred word; it is therefore deserving of a hearty reception, or a bold and decisive rejection by all who venerate the word of God.

Twenty-two years ago, when this movement was in its infancy, the writer of this, after eight months’ careful and prayerful study of the prophecies, and observing the manner of their fulfillment hitherto in the providence of God, came to the deliberate conclusion that the time had come and that the genuine message had appeared. From this decision, I have seen no reason to swerve. I accept the message as from Heaven, and not of men. And I hope that should my faith in it ever fail, I will have sense enough left to renounce and denounce it as decidedly. We are either preaching a stupendous lie in the name of the Lord, or God has in his providence sent the promised message and committed to us a most solemn and fearful dispensation of the gospel, even the closing message of probation.

The reasons for our faith in the present movement as the fulfillment of the promised message, may be briefly stated as follows:—

Those great consecutive lines of descriptive prophecy, contained in Dan. 2 and 7, and Rev. 12 and 13, which describe the four great kingdoms of the world, Babylon, Persia, Grecia, and Rome, including the papacy, its rise, its work, its duration, its deadly wound, and decay, or the consummation of its civil power, show, by their fulfillment, that we have reached the last days of the world’s history, since the only events yet unfulfilled in the history of these powers is the dashing in pieces of the nations in the battle of the great day, and the destruction of the papal power by the brightness of Christ’s second coming. Dan. 7:26; 2 Thess. 2:8.
The signs in the sun, moon, and stars, which were predicted by Christ himself as the tokens that his coming is near, even at the door, have been fulfilled.
The 2300 days of Dan. 8:14, which were to reach to the cleansing of the sanctuary, which is in fact that part of the judgment which precedes the second advent—the blotting out of the sins of all the saved—have already terminated.
The state of the nations, their preparations for war, the prevailing wickedness in the world, and the absence of the power of godliness with those who still maintain the form, perfectly answers the description of the last days, as given in all the Scriptures.
The three messages of Rev. 14:6–12, have all been announced in the given order; and the effect of the third and last of these proclamations has been to turn many thousands from following the traditions of men, brought in by the great apostasy, to the command of God, which has so long been made void by this tradition.

In addition to the above reasons for our faith in the genuineness of these messages, we believe they are genuine, because, 1. The word of God cannot be broken—the prophecies are sure to have their fulfillment. 2. God’s providence is not only pledged to the fulfillment of his word, but also to guard it from a false fulfillment. The time for these messages to be given is evidently come, the third and last is now in order. But if the time is come, the message is in the world; and if it is already in the world, it is no other than this proclamation now being given which claims to be the third angel’s message. Therefore, unless we deny God’s word and providence, we are shut up to the conclusion that the last message of probation is actually here—that this is the genuine work of God. The prophecies in general prove that we are in the last days; therefore it is time to expect the last warning promised in the word of God. The best additional evidence is that the message is actually being proclaimed. It is perfectly safe to believe and trust in the fulfillment of prophecy. But if its fulfillment were not guided and guarded by Providence, there could be no safety in trusting, and doubt and unbelief would be wise and virtuous, instead of sinful, as they actually are.

The fulfillment of the closing message, so long foretold by the Spirit of God, must be a special object of divine care. And as our God is a God of order, he must make choice of some to lead in its fulfillment. It is as much a matter of special providence as the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage, in fulfillment of a promise made long before; and as God saw best to call out and constitute leaders for that work, so would he for this. Without order and rule among the people of God, nothing could save them from the confusion that Satan would foist in among them, and amid the confusion of discordant voices the greater number would soon have their faces toward Egypt.

But during the twenty-two years of my experience and observation in this cause, there have been many cases of persons professedly embracing the message, whose conduct is convincing to me that their heads are not sound, or their hearts not right. While professing to prize very highly the truth, they have despised God’s chosen instrumentality through which they received it. They have battled more valiantly against our leaders than they have against sin. They have acted as if they thought that the greatest obstacles in the way of the advancement of the cause were the very persons that, by God’s providence, had done the most for its advancement hitherto.

If these chosen servants could be removed out of the way, they have fancied that the cause would prosper greatly. Like Absalom, they have thought, “Oh! that I were made a judge in the land;” things would then go right. And though those that have taken this course have fallen away, one after another, giving up the distinguishing features of our faith, and many of them turning to fight against the commandments of God, yet others come in who cannot be satisfied till they have tried the same experiment for themselves. To me, this is marvelous. Am I insane? or are they? Either God has sent the message, or he has not. If he has not, why pretend to believe that he has? and if he has, why say to receive it, and still fight against it?

Our work being a special work of the Lord, is the special object of Satanic hatred; and the most effectual way to hinder the progress of the work, is to destroy confidence in those who lead. Hence the special warfare against them. And when they are compelled, for the information of those who sincerely desire to know the truth, to make a statement of facts concerning their own labors in the cause, some one of the Diotrephesian family is ready to exclaim, Egotism! and engage in efforts to set them aside.

When those whom God has chosen to lead in his work depart from him, he himself will set them aside and put others in their places. It did not devolve upon David to depose Saul, though God had anointed him to be his successor. God had made Saul king; it was for him alone to remove him. “And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king.” Acts 13:22. While Saul was hunting David to take his life, more than once he was put into David’s power, but he would not slay him. He waited the Lord’s time. Said he, “The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth my hand against the Lord’s anointed.”

Now I am not aware that our leaders have committed any thing worthy of death or of bonds, or that they desire to take the life of any one. If they have departed from God, and therefore ought to be removed, God will remove them in his own time and way. God forbid that I should lift my hand against them. God has again and again preserved their lives in a remarkable manner. May they yet live to see the hosts of God pass over Jordan dry shod!

Have we a message, even the last message? It calls us to unity—unity of faith, of spirit, and of effort, to enlighten and save men. If we walk in the light which God has graciously given, this will be the effect. Let us press together, and press forward in an unbroken phalanx, and the victory shall be ours, a victory that shall be celebrated on the sea of glass. Rev. 15. May God grant that the reader and the writer may share in the grand triumph.

R. F. Cottrell.