AN ALARM SOUNDED | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 26, 1879

AN ALARM SOUNDED.

We find the following in Messiah's Herald:—

We have received from a friend in the West a copy of the Wisconsin State Journal of April 8. It contains a sermon preached at Oregon, Wis., March 30, 1879, by Rev. Matthew A. Fox. We do not know his denominational standing, but suppose him to be a Congregationalist. Basing his remarks on Isaiah's prediction of the treatment of Messiah (Isa. 53:3), “He is despised and rejected of men,” etc., he proceeds to speak of Strauss, Renan, Ingersoll, and other modern opponents of Christianity, and in a way to show that he is not looking for a golden millennial age soon to be introduced through the preaching of the gospel. He says of

THE RISING STORM:

“As a minister of Christ, thankful for the privilege of being his witness, and charged in his providence with the ministration of the gospel in this place, I deem it my duty to sound an alarm, and warn the people of what they may expect. Let no one be deceived; the strong delusion of the latter days will prevail to an extent little thought of. The belief of the lie of those days will wonderfully obtain ascendancy. The ‘unclean spirits like frogs,’ going out to the whole world (Rev. 16:13) will arouse to a conflict, which will force the conviction of an antagonism involving strategy and skill, and power and intensity, beyond the conception of the many, vainly dreaming of progress and advancement to a golden age, who will find instead the blackest and thickest storm. It is quite possible that in the views I present I may be regarded as a visionary enthusiast, proclaiming what some have caricatured as ‘the gospel of despair;’ be it so—we cannot put darkness for light, nor mistake bitter for sweet: there may be a few, however, who will give my words a passing consideration, and if these few live a very few years, when they shall be in the midst of the storm, my words will have weight.

“Bitter opposition to Christ and to Christ's people is becoming so intense, so clamorous, and so bold, that we are compelled to recognize it; we do not intend, however, to engage in discussions with these scorners; we think the very best refutation of their principles is the practical working of those principles; ‘the tree is known by its fruit.’ In the columns of the leading papers, in public lectures—in the obtruded volume, are violent and bitter attacks upon the Bible, upon the church and its ministry, which convince us that we are now in the intense wickedness that Revelation has assured us shall mark the latter day (Matt. 24:12; Luke 17:26); and to this fact we would fain arouse attention, and to the duty to which Christ's witnesses are immediately called.”

DANGER AND SAFETY.

After showing what the tendency and aims of infidelity are, Mr. Fox justly continues:—

“Despoil man of all religious emotions, and what is he? Take away from social life the principles, the Bible principles, that are the safeguard and the bond of home, and what becomes of the sacredness of the family and the tender reciprocities of affection? Blot out the Lord's day, crush the Bible, turn your churches into lyceums, and let the ministry of the gospel be succeeded by wandering lecturers, blatant reformers, and shallow, frothy and disgusting necromancers, and the world would speedily become a realm of the bottomless pit.

“There is an aspect of the matter, however, that is very solemn. It is that of man contending with his Maker. There will come an end to this. God will vindicate his cause sooner or later. He will crush out all opposition. ‘Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker; let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth.’ We have wept beside the open grave; we have followed in thought our loved ones as borne by angels to the realms of bliss; we have been comforted in the hope of the resurrection, and have looked forward to restored companionship in the kingdom of our God. Shall we write upon the grave-stone, ‘Death, an eternal sleep’? shall I suffer infidelity to rob me of all that is sweet and tender and precious in Christian faith and hope? or shall I cling in all the warmth of my soul's affections to Him who is the resurrection and the life? My heart, my judgment, my sympathies cry out,

‘Jesus, Saviour of my soul, Let me to thy bosom fly,’ etc.

We hold forth the word of our testimony: ‘Christ, the incarnate God; Christ our suffering and accepted substitute; receive him, and you must be saved; reject him, and you must be lost.’