Present Truth by Francis Gould

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 1, 1874

Present Truth.

By Francis Gould

TRUTH is a unit; it harmonizes in every part; it has several branches; and when by an eye of faith we trace those branches to their respective ends, we have found a unit or one. Like the merchant who sought for goodly pearls, we have found the pearl of great price. Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. They lived in different periods of the world's history, they have spoken from different standpoints, and under different influences, and to the Bible student it is truly wonderful to see what harmony they maintain, being inspired by the one great and cheering hope of redemption through the blood of Christ, the Son of God.

The men who desire truth above everything else will not be found among those who read the Bible to build up some darling theory; but they will be of that class who will bring out of the treasury of God's word things new and old, rightly dividing the word of truth, giving each a portion of meat in due season.

Present truth is that portion of truth which is applicable only to those to whom it is addressed. Those prophecies which have had a fulfillment in the past are not present truth to us. They have become subjects of history, although we can look back upon them and learn something of the wisdom of God, and his dealings from time to time with the children of men. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Rom. 15:4.

The great burden of Noah's preaching to the antediluvians was a coming flood. It was the present truth and a special message to that age, as was also the preaching of Jonah to the Ninevites and of John the Baptist to the Jews. John's message was to prepare the way of the Lord by proclaiming a coming Messiah. He came, and was baptized of him in Jordan. John's course was fulfilled.

The people of this generation have a world-wide message—a present, saving truth, which is in process of fulfillment. We look back upon the history of the church in the past, and find that Bible truth has been crushed out, and the standard of Christianity has trailed in the dust. They have been usurped by the wicked and antichristian powers of earth. But we believe the time has come when Bible truth is being restored and is the present truth for this age. Let us hear Peter on this point. “Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you, whom the heaven must receive, until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets since the world began.” Acts. 3:19-21.

The apostle places the restitution in connection with the second coming of Christ and the refreshing, or latter rain, which is to perfect the people of God, and prepare them for the glorious harvest. A restitution pre-supposes something lost, and is the act of restoring a thing to

its former condition or state. The question now arises, What portion of the truth of God has been lost from the church which is to be restored? We believe among the many things to be restored is the Bible Sabbath. See Isa. 58:12. “And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places; thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in.” This implies that God will raise up a class of people that will inquire for the good way and ask for the old paths, and seek to elevate upon a Bible basis the principles of Christianity which have been desolate and laid waste, raise up the foundations of God's moral government which has been broken down, and restore the breach.

The definition of breach is a gap, an opening, a space made by the separation of parts, by violence or force. How is it with the law of God? The papal church has usurped authority over it by expunging the second commandment from the decalogue, changing the fourth, and dividing the tenth into two parts. We are shown by the next verse of the same chapter quite conclusively that the breach refers more particularly to the change of the fourth commandment. “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shall honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father.” Isa. 58:13, 14.

With these facts before us, may we fully realize the position we occupy, and understand the magnitude of the work and the duties which devolve upon us. We are living in the closing hours of probation, and in them we have truths which will stir the honest seeker after truth, and move the people of God to make a covenant with him by sacrifice, to seek righteousness, to seek meekness, that they may find a hiding place in the day of the Lord's anger. “Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14:12.

FRANCIS GOULD.

Stone, Vt.