Letter from D. P. Curtis.
By D. P. Curtis
To my Brn. of the Seventh-day [Baptist] denomination. DEAR BRETHREN: My sense of justice, and respect for both myself and you, impels me to address a few words to you in relation to a change of position which my convictions of truth and duty constrain me to make. It is a fact, with which the most of you are acquainted, that for many years I have entertained some views of Bible teachings different from those which are held by the majority of you, particularly upon the nature of man, the destiny of the wicked, the nature and location of the everlasting kingdom, and the near approach of the second advent of Christ. Out of deference to the feelings of my brethren, I have refrained from the public advocacy of these views as fully and freely as I should otherwise have done. I had not come to consider them as being of such immediate importance as to demand a separation from you on account of them. Besides, I had indulged the hope that my brethren might, in time, come to look at these questions in the light that I saw them, and so there would be no necessity for a separation. But, while I can see progress in that direction, on the part of some, the lapse of time, and a clearer insight into the workings of the human mind, in the direction of a radical change in the religious convictions and sentiments of any considerable body of people, as a body, has convinced me that I need no longer indulge the hope that the mass of the Seventh-day Baptist church, nor any other denomination as a whole, will ever come to acknowledge the claims of these and kindred truths, to the extent that they will love them, and hold those in esteem who labor to propagate them as God's truth, and become willing to sacrifice their good name among men, and devote their time and energies and means, to the work of spreading them abroad in the earth. In addition to this, I have, within the last year, come to see other truths intimately connected with those before mentioned, which appear to me to be of such moment and of such vital importance to the church and to the world, as to require of me, not only a belief of them, but a consecration of myself to the work of proclaiming them, as the Lord may open the way before me, to the world. But while you, as a body, entertain the views and feelings that you do in relation to these questions, I feel that it would be highly improper for me to undertake to impose them upon you, by virtue of my position as a minister among you; for I hold that every church has an undisputed right to say what teacher and what forms of doctrine it will listen to and accept, and what it will not, while, at the same time, it is the duty of him who preaches to preach only what he is convinced is truth, and is his duty to preach; and, if the people to which he belongs are not willing to hear, then it is clearly his duty to leave them and go to those who will hear his message. I would, brethren, that you could all see these important truths for the last days, in the light in which they are presented to me in the word of God; then would you be ready to enter with me into the work of spreading the knowledge of them in the world without, and among the churches that are manifestly, though many of them, doubtless, ignorantly, doing the work of the “man of sin.” But I blame you not, I censure you not, because you do not see as I see. I know what it costs to take the steps that I have taken. I have not come to this point without a desperate struggle. No man of sound sense ever yet ranged himself on the side of an unpopular truth, for the truth’s sake, without costing him many a heart-ache. It is only by the exercise of strong faith in God that such a one will walk out on the naked promises, and face the stern realities of the situation. Brethren, I do not leave you because I do not love you. Said Brutus, when speaking of his slaying Cæsar, “If any one demand why Brutus rose against him, this is my answer, ‘Not that I loved Cæsar less, but Rome more.’” So I say in relation to leaving you, ’Tis not that I love you less, but truth more. I believe that the message of the first angel has already gone forth: “Fear God and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come” (Rev. 14:7), and that the work of cleansing the sanctuary is now going on, while the message of the third angel (Rev. 14:9-12) is being proclaimed in the earth, and that consequently we are down very near to the time of the end; and I feel that those whose business it is to proclaim the message have no time to lose in waiting for the slothful, or in parleying with the loquacious or the querulous. I feel that I have already wasted much precious time, and that I cannot afford, in view of the imminent danger of being found a slothful servant when the Lord shall come, to longer delay, to range myself on the side of those who are “looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God.” Therefore, my brethren, thanking God for all that he has given me to enjoy in your fellowship in days past, and for the privilege of laboring among you and enjoying your confidence for so many years, and thanking you for all your sympathy and forbearance and brotherly kindness, and carrying the remembrance of these with me, I go forth from among you, and identify myself with that people among whom I feel that I can do more for my God than I can among you, the Seventh-day Adventist people. Affectionately yours, D. P. CURTIS. Alden, Minn., July 3, 1874. —Sabbath Recorder, July 16, 1874.