THE LOUD CRY | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 31, 1878

THE LOUD CRY.

In the prophecy of the message of the third angel, Rev. 14: 9-12, it is said that it is proclaimed with a loud voice. In accordance with this prediction, all believers in the present fulfillment of this message have looked forward with expectation to the time when the message would be given in this manner, or as it is generally expressed, “Would go with a loud cry.” We inquire what this loud cry is to be, or what will be a fulfillment of it?

The angel is not a literal angel, and we are not to suppose that we are to hear a literal voice sounding through the land, giving the warning of this proclamation. It is to be simply the truth making its way into all parts of the earth, affecting the hearts of men, calling their attention to this subject, creating a demand for publications, and bringing many to take their stand upon the truth here uttered.

And all this may be done, and yet many people know scarcely anything about it; or, at least, not recognize in it the great work of the fulfillment of the last prophecy. The prophet speaks of a class of people who are like the heath in the desert and do not know when good cometh. Paul speaks of a work which the Lord shall accomplish in the earth which men will behold with wonder, but will not believe, and so will perish; and Christ says of John the Baptist, that although he came in the spirit and power of Elias, the people knew him not. So have we need to be very careful lest we fail to appreciate the work of God, and this message be fulfilled before our eyes and we know it not.

Twenty-five years ago this cause was in its infancy. Two rented office rooms and a hand press were about all the visible means then in existence for carrying on this work; yet the theory of what we denominate the “present truth,” was defined with considerable distinctness, and the future loud cry of the message was frequently talked of.

The condition of the work at the present time, compared with what it was then, presents a very suggestive contrast. Suppose some one had then asked us, What will you think when the message has so far progressed that three large office buildings will be needed to carry on the work of publication, and will be owned by this people, when four power presses run by steam will be striking off sheets upon the present truth by hundreds of thousands, and Conferences will be organized in sixteen different States in the Union, a College be established with between three and four hundred students in attendance, a Health Institute with accommodations for between two and three hundred patients will be in active operation calling thousands of people every year within the sound and influence of the present truth, when an office of publication will be established in California with its steam power presses supplying reading matter upon these momentous themes to all the Pacific coast, and another office of publication be established in Europe issuing a paper in French for the millions to be enlightened in that part of the world, when papers will be published in Danish and Swedish in this country, and Sabbath-keepers will be found in every State of the Union, and in almost every country in Europe, and when books will be going out from the central office of publication alone, at the rate of from five hundred to a thousand dollars’ worth per week,—what will you think then? How will that compare with your ideas of the loud cry of the message?

Any one then would have been ready to answer, That will never be. The message will never reach a degree of strength to accomplish all this. Yet we see all this accomplished before our eyes to-day. Do we appreciate it, and understand its significance?

As this work has grown upon our hands, we have been led to larger views, and we see a still greater work to be wrought by this message in the near future; but, as we have said, all this may be going on in the land and people be comparatively ignorant of it, and fail to understand its meaning. If they do without the REVIEW, if they fail to acquaint themselves from week to week with what is being done in the land, and do not learn what progress the truth is making, nor inform themselves in regard to the manifestations of the power of God, they will not realize the magnitude of the work,—they cannot enter into its spirit, their interest will wane away, and they will not be prepared for the refreshing which is to come upon the faithful laborers in the cause as the message closes. This is the thought to which we wish to call the especial attention of the reader.

There is no going backward to this work. There is no limitation to the power of God’s Spirit. The first message went with a loud voice; and probably so far as the issuing of publications is concerned, as much is already being done under this message as was done under the first. So while we look for a more mighty work yet to be done, its fulfillment may be nearer than we suppose. A short work will the Lord make upon the earth. He will cut it short in righteousness.

Let us understand what he is doing, and prepare for the glorious issue just before us.