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PROTESTANTISM

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 11, 1875

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 45, No. 11.

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PROTESTANTISM

By D. T. Bourdeau

BY ELD. D. T. BOURDEAU.
(Concluded.)
TEXT: “It was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” Jude 3.
And no less clear and forcible is the doctrine of the personal second coming of Christ to punish the ungodly and reward the saints, and bring in the reign of peace, and thus effect the redemption and restitution of all things which God hath spoken by his holy prophets since the world began. Protestantism as a vindication of Bible doctrines, as the religion of the Bible, teaches this doctrine: Job 19:23; Isa. 1:12–22; 13:9; 25:9; Acts 1:10, 11; 3:21; Luke 21:28; 1 Thess. 4:16, 17; Heb. 9:28; Rev. 1:7; 22:20, etc., etc. The second coming of Christ has been the hope of God’s people in all ages. Protestants of all denominations have believed and taught it, and leading men and reformers in the Protestant churches in ages past, following the light of prophecy, looked for the coming of Christ to take place about this time just as we believe and teach.
Martin Luther near the time of his death said: “I persuade myself verily that the day of Judgment will not be absent full three hundred years more.” Richard Baxter said: “Would it not rejoice your hearts if you were sure to live to see the coming of the Lord? . . . Oh! that I might see his kingdom come.” Works, Vol. xvii, p. 555. Matthew Henry on 2 Pet. 3, says: “How much more should they (the righteous) wait with expectation and earnestness for his second coming, which will be the day of their complete redemption.” “They (the wicked) will still attack us till the end of time; till our Lord is come; they will not believe that he will come, nay, they will laugh at the very notion of his second coming, and do all they can to put all out of countenance who seriously believe and wait for it.” Isaac Newton in his Observations of Prophecy, says: “About the time of the end, in all probability a body of men will be raised up, who will turn their attention to the prophecies, and insist upon their literal interpretation in the midst of much clamor and opposition.” John Wesley expected that the millennium would commence in this century. He said: “In a short time those who say they (the thousand years) are now at hand, will appear to have spoken the truth.” On “adding to the prophecy,” he says: “And doubtless this guilt is incurred by all those who lay hindrances in the way of the faithful, which prevents them from hearing the Lord’s, ‘I come!’ and answering, ‘Come, Lord Jesus.’”—Wesley’s Notes.
George Whitfield often used the expressions, “In these last days,” “in a little while,” “very shortly Christ will come.”—Memoirs and Sermons. Robert Hall, a Baptist preacher and author of great talent, says, “Everything in the condition of mankind announces the approach of some great crisis.”—Hale’s Works, vol. iv, p. 404. Thomas Scott, who died A. D. 1821, on Dan. 8:14, says: “No doubt the end of the 2300 days, or years, is not very distant.” Such testimonies might be greatly multiplied.
Surely, if such men had lived in our day they would have joined with us in proclaiming the near coming of Christ. As Abraham rejoiced to see the day of Christ’s first coming, so these rejoiced to see the day of his second coming. But how differently did the descendants of Abraham act when Christ appeared the first time, and how differently do many of those act at the present time who claim to be the children and followers of the great lights in the Protestant world whose testimonies we have just quoted. Yet the evidences of the near coming of Christ are numerous and very forcible. As a halo of light shone from the prophetic word on the period of the first advent of the Saviour, so a flood of light now shines from the sure word of prophecy on the period of his second advent. We have not less than eleven long chains of prophecy spanning the whole period of the Christian dispensation, and some of them reaching back ages before Christ, and as we follow these wonderful chains one by one and link after link, we find ourselves each time occupying the last link and on the verge of the day of God. See (1) Dan. 2; (2) 7; (3) 8, 9; (4) 11; 12:1, 2; (5) 12:5–13; (6) Matt. 24; 25; (7) Rev. 1–3; (8) 4–6; (9) 8–14; (10) 12–16; (11) 17–19. Read also works on the prophecies published at the REVIEW Office, Battle Creek, Michigan. Think of this: Eleven times has the great and good God gone over the ground from different standpoints, that the subject might be to us a matter of certainty. Can we doubt with all this evidence? In one of these interesting chains, Christ himself, after giving the signs of his near coming, says: “When ye shall see all these things, know that it (or he, margin) is near, even at the doors.” Matt. 24:33. And besides all this, that assurance may be doubly certain, we have scores of short and pointed prophecies interspersed like precious pearls in the Sacred Volume, setting forth striking tokens of the swift-approaching day of Christ: and here and there are prophecies representing the church responding to the fulfilled and fulfilling signs, by proclaiming the proximity of the Judgment and the coming of the Bridegroom, and by preparing to meet Christ in peace at his coming. See Matt. 24:45–51; 25:1–6; Rev. 10; 14:6–14, etc. Now how can we stand by the Protestant principle which leads us not only to believe what the Bible teaches, but also to do what it prescribes, and yet refuse to earnestly engage in this important work.
The work of Protestantism is progressive and reformatory. It involves the forsaking of sin and error and advancing in the truth. Such is also emphatically the nature of the work of preparation to meet the Lord. The advent doctrine is highly practical. When the day of the Lord is near and hasteth greatly an alarm should be sounded in the church, and all the inhabitants of the land should tremble, and even the meek, the best of earth, are exhorted to seek meekness and righteousness. Joel 2; Zeph. 2. The near coming of Christ is a strong incentive to thoroughness in reform and holy living. And what better platform can we have to reform upon than the last message of mercy, embracing the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus? Rev. 14:9–12. Can we have a better rule to work by in reforming than the law of ten commandments, which condemns every sin and approves every virtue?
And is there another remedy for sin than the faith of Jesus, or the gospel, which presents to the repenting sinner the healing fountain opened for uncleanness, and all those means of grace and restoring ordinances that cluster around the death, resurrection, and intercession, of the blessed Saviour?
Protestantism as a vindication of God’s truth against the aggressions of error is not a new religion. It antedates the reformation of the sixteenth century. We see it since the fall in all those who have faithfully defended the truth of God against the opposition of its enemies. As faithful defenders of God’s will and protestors against sin, Abel, Enoch and Noah were true Protestants; so were Abraham, Moses and the Judges, and so were the good and reformatory kings of Israel and the holy prophets, who were very jealous for the glory of God, and zealously pointed out and reproved the departures of the people from the word of the Lord.
The Saviour stands forth in his teachings, life and death as a model Protestant. The law of God was in his heart. He faithfully taught the will of the Father who sent him, and reproved those who made void the commandments of God. It was more than his meat to do the will of his Father, and he resisted unto blood in striving against sin. The apostles did the work of true Protestants in planting the gospel amid the fiercest opposition in Judea and in heathen lands. The Hebrew people were a nation of Protestants so long as they by carrying out the teachings of the word of God maintained their peculiar character and a conflict with the powers of darkness; but when they apostatized through unfaithfulness to God and his word, they ceased to be Protestants, and their course was protested against by those who were true Protestants.
In the main, the remonstrances of the reformers of the sixteenth century justly entitled them to the name of Protestants; and only so far as we by standing nobly for the truth, and engaging in the reform for these times carry out the great principles that led them, are we deserving of the name of Protestants.
A fierce moral contest may be expected relative to the commandments of God and the speedy second advent of Christ. We would reach this conclusion were we left to reason simply from analogy, regarding the present movement on these subjects as an advance movement in reform. Looking at the past, we see that every movement that has called on the people to advance in reform, against custom, public opinion and at a sacrifice, has been opposed. And would it be otherwise in regard to the last great reform which is designed to prepare a people for the closing scenes of this dispensation? Is the human heart naturally better in these last days than it was in past ages? Will Satan be less active and less hostile to the cause of God when he sees that his time is short?
We see that at the close of each dispensation the masses have disregarded and opposed the message sent them from Heaven that they might reform and avert coming judgments. Such has also generally been the case when nations have been threatened of God with chastisement and overthrow. Look at the world just before the flood, and at the inhabitants of the cities of the plain in the days of Lot. Was the word of God designed to meet the exigencies of the times regarded by the people generally at those solemn and important periods? Nay, verily. Had it been, the awful, threatened wrath of God would not have been realized. Now the Saviour says that the days of the Son of man shall be like the days of Noah and like the days of Lot. Luke 17. The people in those times gave way to unbelief and steeled their hearts against the testimony of God’s faithful servants, making their labors more difficult, and solemn protestations necessary.
It was so when God undertook to deliver his ancient people from Egyptian bondage to give them a possession of the land of Canaan. And speaking of what then occurred Paul says: “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples [types, margin]: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” 1 Cor. 10:11. And what fierce contests God’s chosen leaders then had with the people whom they were trying to reform, even princes of the people, men of renown and influence raised themselves in stubborn rebellion against them and their testimony.
Such was the case in the days of Elijah, who is a proper representative of John the Baptist and of those who will engage in a work similar to that of Elijah and of John the Baptist before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Mal. 3:5. What desperate opposition was urged by the acknowledged teachers of Israel in those days, against this bold advocate of truth and the reform of the commandments of God which he enforced. Although he had the salvation of the people and the glory of God at heart, yet he was compelled to flee for his life from those who should have stood by him in his work.
Just before the first destruction of Jerusalem, Jeremiah, the affectionate, weeping prophet, was chosen of God to warn his people of the coming calamity. In his charge to him, God says: “Behold I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, . . . and against the people of the land. And they shall fight against thee.” Jer. 1. And they did fight, going so far as to burn the original copy of his prophecy, imprison him, and seek to destroy him; and at a critical moment, when, according to the injunction of the Lord, he put on his own neck yokes to prefigure the forthcoming captivity, Hananiah, an influential prophet, withstood him in the presence of the people, breaking the yokes, and opposing his message. Jer. 28.
John the Baptist was the greatest of prophets. As a forerunner of Christ, he was well qualified for the duties of his important mission. He was noted for humility, temperance and self-denial. He was a burning as well as a shining light. As a reformer, he was bold and uncompromising, called sin by its right name, laying the ax unto the root of the tree, and honoring the law of God. His work was to make the crooked places straight, and the rough places plain, and to restore those things in point of doctrine that had been lost; and he performed his work in a masterly manner. Now it would seem that the message of a man thus sent and approved of God, and so faithful to the duties of his calling, would be generally received, that a general reform would be effected, and that the entire Jewish people would receive the Messiah. But these glorious results were far from being realized. Christ came to his own, but his own received him not. And the teachers of his people in his day were the first to oppose him and his doctrine, until they through envy led the people to cry for his blood.
This case presents a true picture of the state of things that will exist just prior to Christ’s second coming. The coming of Christ will then be preached as it was in the days of John; for Christ is as precious and honorable when he comes the second time as he was when he came the first time. His second coming is as important as was his first. Without his second coming, the work of his first coming would be incomplete; for he comes the second time to save those for whom he died at his first coming.
A people will be made ready to meet the Lord; and a part of their preparation for that event will consist in showing their love for Christ by loving and proclaiming his coming near. It will be as impossible to silence those who see the force of this doctrine as it was to silence the disciples and the children when Christ rode into Jerusalem. Prophecy must be fulfilled, if it takes the stones of the streets to do it. Jesus must be honored by his people. But this glorious doctrine, the joy and hope of the children of God, will be bitterly opposed even by professors. While the faithful and wise servant shall be giving to the household of faith meat in due season, spiritual food adapted to the times, the evil servant shall smite his fellow-servant, saying, “My Lord delayeth his coming,” and scoffers shall arise, saying, “Where is the promise of his coming?” Matt. 24; 2 Pet. 3. Especially shall these oppose the idea of positiveness in regard to his being near. But without positiveness, how can a definite message relative to the immediate coming of Christ be given according to the sure word of prophecy? This lack of positiveness, when the numerous signs of the end are fairly and forcibly broughtbefore us in the light of prophecy, and when we are commanded to know that Christ is near, is but a deceptive form of unbelief which disqualifies many, as in the days of Noah and in the days of John, to meet coming events.
Amid this opposition, and faithful to the great truths committed to their trust, the waiting, watching ones will patiently toil on, until they shall see the Saviour coming in the clouds of heaven, and exclaim: “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us.” Isa. 25:9.
Not only does the prophetic word represent that the last message before the appearing of Christ on the white cloud shall develop a people keeping the commandments of God, but it also clearly teaches that war shall be made with the last church, the remnant of the woman’s seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Rev. 14:9–13; 12:1, 17.
But the unerring word of prophecy does not stop here. It singles out the Sabbath, clearly indicating a Sabbath reform. It teaches that those who turn away their foot from the Sabbath, calling it a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, shall be called the repairers of the breach, the restorers of paths to dwell in, and shall raise up the foundations of many generations. Isa. 58:12, 13. Read also Isa. 56:1, 2. It teaches that following the signs of Christ’s second coming and of the day of wrath, the seal, sign, or mark of the living God is published in the earth, and put in the foreheads or minds of God’s servants. Rev. 6:12–17; Matt. 24:3, 29–33; Rev. 7:1–3.
The words seal, sign, and mark, are convertible terms, and may be applied to the same thing. See Rom. 4:12, etc. Hence, some versions render the original word in this passage seal, others render it sign, and others, mark. The seal of an earthly monarch is the sign or mark of his authority. It is that which makes valid those laws or decrees which he promulgates. It shows his title of royalty, the extent of his dominion, and his right to reign. Now the Sabbath makes valid the law of God. It is the only part of the law that shows who the lawgiver is, and that distinguishes him from other gods. It shows him to be the Lord thy God, the Creator of heaven and earth and all that in them is, and thus furnishes us with his title of royalty, the extent of his dominion, and his right to reign. Therefore the Sabbath may with propriety be called the seal or sign of God. Indeed, it is the only thing in the Bible that is said to be a sign between God and his people that they may know that he is the Lord. Read Eze. 20:12, 20; Ex. 31:13, 17. And whenever the sacred writers, whether under the old or new dispensation, undertake to distinguish the living God from false gods, an appeal is invariably made to the fact that the true God made heaven and earth, which fact lies at the foundation of the Sabbath institution. Read Ps. 115; Jer. 10; Acts 14:8–15; 17:22–29.
In truth, it were impossible to distinguish the true God from idol gods by any portion of the law of God except the fourth commandment. You can test this matter by taking the law of ten commandments, and following us in your minds to a Chinese temple in one of the back streets of San Francisco. We enter this building, and behold an idol to which several Chinamen are bowing. Our hearts are grieved, and we undertake the task of turning them to the true God by an appeal to the ten commandments. We read the first commandment: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me;” and they answer: “Are you the God that we should worship?” Unable to convince them by this precept, we read the second commandment: “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. . . Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God.” And they ask again: “Are you the God who requires our obedience?” Frustrated in these two efforts, we read the next precept: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” “Oh!” they reply, “we would not be guilty of taking the name of our God in vain.”
Up to this point we have failed to convince them. These commandments are good in their place; but their object is not to show who is the true God. We pass the fourth commandment; for some say that this commandment is abolished. And the fifth commandment is the only commandment of the second table of the law that mentions the name of God. We therefore tell these idolaters to honor their parents that their days may be long upon the land which the Lord their God giveth them; and this time they answer: “Our gods enjoin this duty; and, moreover, they have given us land. We have, while trying to honor our parents, consulted them when going to battle against our enemies, and they have given us success, and have given us land.”
What shall we now do? Shall we leave these poor heathen without giving them the true means by which to determine who is the God of whom we speak? Unless we do, the law we are reading from is imperfect and may be applied to heathen gods, or the force of its precepts may be successfully avoided by idol worshipers.
We return to the despised fourth commandment: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work. . . . For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Ex. 20:8–11.
“Ah! we now understand you,” exclaim our attentive and anxious listeners. “It is the Lord thy God, the Creator of the heavens and of the earth, and of the substance of our God, who has given this law and demands our obedience.” And possibly some poor soul may forsake his idolatry, and accept the God and religion of the Bible.
But as forcible as is the Sabbath in prophecy, as well as from the standpoint of the law and example of Jehovah, and the example and teachings of Christ and the apostles, the most obstinate opposition will be urged against it in the last struggle on the commandments of God.
While the seal of the living God is being made prominent in the earth, and the servants of God in every nation are receiving it, an opposing seal or mark is enforced by strong penalties, Rev. 13:11–17, so that a threatening against receiving this mark forms the burden of the solemn warning of the last message. As those who obey this message keep the commandments of God, which contain the true Sabbath as the seal or mark of the living God, how easy the conclusion that the mark that is opposed by this message is a Sabbath that is opposed to the Lord’s Sabbath. And this conclusion is confirmed by the fact that Roman Catholics freely admit that the Sunday Sabbath rests on, and is a mark of, the authority of their church.
Let us illustrate the sinfulness of now substituting the papal Sabbath for the Sabbath of the Most High, and the importance of restoring the ancient Sabbath to its proper position. For this purpose we will use a similitude. We will suppose that a just and virtuous man is under the necessity of leaving his family for awhile, that he may earn means with which to make them happy on his return. Before parting with his family he takes a ring from his own finger with his name engraved upon it, and places it upon the hand of his wife, and tells her: This is a sign between you and me, showing that I am your lawful husband. Every time you look upon this ring, think of me. (We use this figure simply to illustrate the subject, and not to encourage the wearing of gold.) He leaves regulations for the entire family, enjoining upon them to be faithful. A regular correspondence is kept up between him and the family for a season; after which, for some reason, he does not write home during quite a lapse of time, at least the family do not hear from him. Finally a stranger calls on this family, and states that the absent husband and father is dead. So correct is the description that he gives of the man, and so minute is he in giving the particulars of his death, that the wife and most of the children regard the whole account as truthful. The stranger ingratiates himself into the affections of this woman and marries her, with the intention of governing the family and controlling the property in the place of her first husband. Some of the children are suspicious, but he disposes of them in a deceitful manner. He takes the ring of the woman’s first husband off from her finger and puts in its stead his own ring with his name written upon it.
But after awhile, suddenly the first husband makes his appearance, claiming, in the name of justice and of all that is sacred, his lawful position in his family. What will the wife and remaining children do if they are true? They will repulse the intruder, as a deceiver, accusing him of being guilty of the death of the children who disappeared in so mysterious a manner. The wife with inexpressible joy will return to the husband of her youth, and the children to their dear and lamented father. The wife will cast away as an unclean thing, the ring that was through guile put on her finger, and will put in its place the ring of her own husband.
But what should we say were this woman to meet her husband with no demonstrations of joy, saying, I know you are my true husband, and I find myself in a dilemma; but I have another husband now, and business goes on the same as before. I have as good a ring on my finger as the one you left me. It will not pay to change things now. We would say, and justly too, that she was not true. Yet this illustration comes far short of fully showing up the heinousness of the sin of making light of and opposing the sign of the living God, when God is, through his word, restoring it to his people.
But it is a matter of encouragement that many of the different nations are cheerfully engaging in the present reform. God is no respecter of persons, and this reform, being world-wide in its applications, will test the world. All will be invited to honor the God of Heaven by keeping all his commandments, and to honor his divine Son by receiving and rejoicing in the doctrine of his immediate second coming. Opposition will not terrify the servants of God or retard their work, but will give them another evidence that the Bible is true, and thereby give an impetus to the work, and afford them an opportunity to show that they are governed by the fear and love of God, and not by selfishness, and the fear, friendship and applause of men.

GOD SPEED THE WORK.