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PRESENT TRUTH

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 21, 1878

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 52, No. 21.

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PRESENT TRUTH.

By S. N. HASKELL

There is much danger that we may lose the spirit of the work of present truth. It not only requires faith in the general principles of the Christian religion, and a theoretical knowledge of the truth, but there is an importance attached to the work of God itself. Says the prophet, “I will work a work in your days which ye will not believe, though it be told you.” God was to work a work, and men would not believe. Men who profess to believe in God, and the principles of faith in Jesus Christ, often think it a light thing to oppose a religious work which they do not fully understand. Those who have little or no knowledge of a work, unless it be in open violation of the principles of godliness, would do well to heed the counsel of Gamaliel: “Refrain from these men, and let them alone; for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to naught; but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it, lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.”
The work of God varies in character, while the principles of faith and obedience are ever the same. The special work of Noah and those living in the antediluvian age was to build an ark, and thus prepare for the flood. It required a knowledge on their part of the events about to transpire, and then the work of preparing for that event was present truth, and it was the special work for the time. Those who did not cast their influence in its favor were against it. However high their profession, nothing could save them but an interest in the ark. The flood destroyed them all. Salvation is found alone in the present truth. This has been exemplified over and over again in the history of the past, as Infinite Wisdom has seen fit to test the people upon a present truth. The apostle Peter writes: “I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.”
Just before the second coming of Christ, there will be a present truth. “As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” Luke 17: 26-30.
In Rev. 14: 6-12 we have a threefold warning to be given to the inhabitants of this world just before the Son of man takes his seat upon the white cloud. See verses 13, 14. This message will be given. Some will have all their interests identified with this work. They will give the warning, whether men will hear or forbear. They will have faith in it. They will lay their plans, invest their means, and shape all their interests as though they believed this work was of God. Scoffers will arise and say, “Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” 2 Peter 3:4. Some of our own brethren will become exceedingly cautious, and say in their hearts, “My Lord delayeth his coming, and will begin to smite their fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken.” “But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matt. 24: 48-51.
The Saviour’s words in Luke 21: 34-36 are as follows: “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”
These scriptures clearly show that the lives of God’s people who have saving faith will be a living rebuke to the habits of the people in the last generation respecting eating and drinking. They will also conduct the affairs of this life differently from those who have no faith in the proclamation of the solemn truths which pertain to this time.
Our work is an aggressive work. It is making inroads into the ranks of the enemy by advocating, both by example and precept, the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Christ. The Lord is coming, and to prepare to meet him is the work for this time. Happy are they who can hear and understand the voice of God’s providence, and bear a part, by a self-denying life, in warning the world of its approaching doom. We look upon the present facilities for labor, such as the cheapness of stationery and postage, the art of printing, and the various modes of travel, and the facilities for learning to prepare ourselves for this work, as special providences of God to enable every one to act a part in this closing work. Those who become overcharged with the cares of this life, earnest in seeking their own interests, and anxious to avoid self-denial and self-sacrificing labor, will find that they have made a great mistake. On the other hand, those who take up life’s burdens, and constantly keep before their minds the present work, always upholding the hands of God’s servants in seconding their efforts with their means and influence, will find in the day of Judgment that God is not unrighteous to forget their work and labor of love, which they have showed towards his name, in that they have ministered to his saints; but he will place upon the heads of such a crown of everlasting life in the kingdom of God. S. N. HASKELL.