OUR MISSION AND WORK

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 3, 1878

OUR MISSION AND WORK.

Our message is the proclamation of the third angel’s message of Rev. 14, with its associated messages, and its kindred truths. The friends of this message have every reason for encouragement, and every inducement to put on new zeal and energy in the work.

While there are yet some specifications to be fulfilled, it may be said that time has already demonstrated the correctness of our position. The truths we have to present, as all Bible truths always have been, are unpopular; yet they have made progress. The cause has met the most persistent and bitter opposition; yet there has been an increase of strength. The arguments and applications involved in our position have been subjected to the severest criticism; yet they have grown brighter and clearer. We are not obliged to depend on the sensational, or the occurrence of some startling event, to keep up our own interest or that of others, in the work. Broad principles lie at the foundation of it. Prophetic fulfilments covering mighty empires and long generations sustain this last superstructure, which is completing the prophetic edifice. Events now all point in one direction; and that is, to the completion of what remains to be fulfilled. If we are not correct, and what we expect is not about to transpire, then all prospects must be reversed, and the general tendency of events be made to turn in another direction. But this is not to be. We are soon to realize our hope.

There are no lines of prophecy upon which the light does not seem to be shining with sufficient clearness. Every specification finds its place; and harmony and unity appear from beginning to end.

If, for instance, upon such prophecies as the three messages of Rev. 14, especially the third, which is the last religious movement before the coming of Christ upon the great white cloud, there was doubt and uncertainty, so much so that we could not make it the burden of our work, though proclaiming the coming of Christ at hand, well might we lose confidence in our position, and lose our ardor in the work.

If upon such prophecies as that of the two-horned beast of Rev. 13, the last symbol introduced before the saints stand redeemed on Mount Zion, we found no place to make a consistent application, we might again cherish strong misgivings in regard to our position.

If upon the subject of the sanctuary we were obliged to look to the land of Palestine or the earth, as the sanctuary, without a particle of Scripture for making such an application, and no reason to be assigned for it, we could not with much confidence urge our views upon the people.

If we were observing the first day of the week as the Sabbath, and, finding in the Bible no time when, nor events by which, that day was made a day of rest, and no law, example, or instruction for its observance, we should appeal to one learned doctor, and he should give us one reason for it, and another, another, and a third should overthrow the other two, and a hundred voices were raised, but all in contradiction and confusion, how could we with any assurance attempt to teach the people, or with any heart engage in the work?

But how different is it with us on all these and many other subjects! We can give the third message its place. It is rightly connected with the messages that go before, and the coming of Christ that follows after. We can give an intelligent explanation of all the symbols contained therein. It is the burden of our work; and we can consistently declare that the great white cloud bearing down to earth the Divine Reaper, is soon to appear.

We can point to the two-horned beast already far advanced in his work, and show tokens of the coming conflict between his followers and the servants of the Lord.

On the subject of the sanctuary we are enabled to rest with peculiar delight. Viewed in the light of the testimony of the Bible, the only light we know of for Bible subjects, it is all bright and glorious. It throws light on the types, light on the antitype, light on the plan of salvation, light on the present position of Christ, light on the prophecies, light on our past experience, light on the future, light everywhere. Thanks be unto God for the clear truth on the important subject of the sanctuary.

We come to the law of God and the Sabbath, and still find ourselves on firm ground. So long as we keep to the Sabbath of the Bible, we can tell when it was instituted, and why; we can point to the acts that gave it existence, and the law that enforces it; we can tell when it begins and ends all over the earth, and how it should be observed; we can point to blessings for its observance, and judgments for its violation; we can show the immutability and perpetuity of the law which guards it, and point to illustrious examples of its observance, in the New Testament as well as in the Old. There is no uncertainty, doubt, or obscurity upon the question; and those who defend this Sabbath, all bear the same testimony and urge the same arguments in its support. The first day of the week lacks all these, and its supporters are in confusion. As in the case of the false witnesses brought against Christ, their testimony agrees not one with the other.

Our mission is thus shown to be specific and well defined. On these great truths Christendom is either asleep or apostate, and as a consequence the world lies in darkness and wickedness. The true light must shine before the end. “At eventide it shall be light.” The Lord will have a people at his coming who have thrown off all antichristian and papal errors and corruptions. It would not be to the honor of his name or providence to have a people at his coming ignorant of the requirements of his law, which is an expression of his will. Much less can they expect to meet their Lord in peace who are living in rebellion against that law. “Not every one,” says Jesus, “that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven.” Hence in the last message, “the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus,” are set forth as the standard by which the remnant are to regulate their lives. In no other way can a people be made ready, prepared for the Lord.

Such has been our work from the beginning. We have not been obliged to change our base or our aims. “On this line” the campaign is to go through. And the progress already made calls for gratitude of heart. The well-established offices of publication in different parts of the world, the many works issued in different languages, the various missions in successful operation, that powerful agency for both the physical and spiritual good of men, the Health Institute, the good results of the educational enterprise, the increased interest in the missionary work, all show that this message is soon to be what the prophecy declares it, a world-wide message, and that the close of its mission is at hand.

It bears the same relation to the second coming of Christ that the work of John the Baptist bore to the first. It is to go forth in the spirit and power of Elijah. Some of this power has been seen. Let us seek for more. With the Lord God of Elijah to help us, we can accomplish the work that is given us to do.