Our Faith and Hope by James White

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Aug 8, 1878

Our Faith and Hope.

By James White

SERMON ONE—CONTINUED.

TEXT: "Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear." 1 Pet. 3:15.

The text not only suggests that we should always be ready wherever we may be to give the reasons of our hope, but it also suggests the manner in which we should give them, "with meekness and fear." Christ in his ministry was a pattern to all those who should go forth as his ambassadors. He prayed for his enemies. He says, "Resist not evil." He farther says, Blessed are they that mourn. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the peacemakers. He bids those rejoice greatly when persecuted and when the tongue of slander shall cast calumny upon their work and upon the words of life which they preach. The gospel of Jesus Christ when clothed with that meekness which is exhibited by Christ, Paul, and his fellow-apostles, is most powerful. Scoffing, whether it comes from the world or the popular churches, can not injure the work of God, but will tend to the furtherance of the gospel. "Now I pray to God," says the apostle, "that we do no evil, not that we should appear approved, but that ye should do that which is honest, though we be as reprobates. For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth." 2 Cor. 13:7, 8.

From Peter's manifestation of human nature as recorded in his life, he has the reputation of being impetuous, rash, and dauntless; yet he would impress upon the ministry of the last days the importance of performing the work of the gospel minister with fear and trembling. Paul says, "Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved and in them that perish. To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as of God in the sight of God speak we in Christ." Triumphant Paul! He was a profound scholar, and his wonderful experience has been looked upon by the church ever since his time as most remarkable. If any man was prepared to preach the gospel it was Paul; but in consideration of the fact that the preaching of the word seals the destiny of men, either fitting them for eternal life or for destruction, the minister should be led to fear and tremble lest he after preaching to others might himself become a castaway, and lead others from heaven down to the gates of death. What a solemn and responsible work! a savour of life unto eternal life with the saved, and a savour of death unto everlasting destruction in those that are lost.

In Lee, General Grant before Richmond had a wily foe; but the minister of Jesus Christ has not only before him perverse minds and hearts as hard as steel in the sinner, but he has also Satan to contend with, who has had the experience of six thousand years in deceiving souls and leading them to destruction. The nicest work that ever mortal man engaged in was to deal with minds; but when a minister labors not only to meet human sophistry but Satanic reason also, his duty and work becomes most difficult and important.

Revivalists report the conversion of hundreds and thousands. They appeal to the feelings and excite the nerves by the use of strong and over-wrought figures, and the relation of touching anecdotes; but not five per cent of these conversions endure for a single year. After the labors of Mr. Hammond the revivalist, at Oakland and San Francisco, Cal., which drew the attention of the multitudes and secured the influence of all the popular ministers, these very ministers under a sense of duty each preached a sermon upon the real results of Mr. Hammond's labors; and without a single exception they stated before their congregations that on the whole they regarded the labors of Mr. Hammond as injurious to the cause of truth and piety.

As we have stated, the apostle Peter has the reputation of being impulsive; and if any one of the holy twelve could be expected to encourage a fanatical style of presenting the word of God, such as has been seen among first-day Adventists and other rash persons, we might suppose it to be Peter. We have long since become disgusted with the course of some who would use the strong language of certain scriptures as a sort of whip to punish the people because they would not believe and act just as they profess to believe and act. These seem to think it their duty to crowd the truth down the throats of the people whether they wish to hear it or not. But the apostle exhorts to holy living, which is the power of the ministry and the strength of the church of Christ. He would even have us wait until the spirit of inquiry is waked up among the people to that degree that they ask for the reasons of our hope before we give them. And what course would be so efficient in waking up a spirit of inquiry as a godly life, which is sure to impress any community that those who maintain that life are godly persons. The inquiry at once is raised in their minds, To what church do these good people belong? What do they believe? And thus they are led to inquire, and next they invite the minister to give the reasons why he believes as he does. Now the way is fully open, and the people come to hear. The minister spreads out the sacred scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. He reads the prophecies of the Old Testament, and shows their fulfillment in the New, and also shows the fulfillment of the different lines of prophecy which reach down to the end, by secular history. This he does with meekness and fear, lest some careless word or act of his shall prove a savour of death to some soul that might be gathered into the fold of Christ.

The people who attend the church hear the minister as he takes his text. He does not confine himself to the text, but departs from it, leaving them as ignorant of what the scriptures do say and mean as though they never attended a popular church. Our ministers, educated particularly in the word of God, become giants. Many of those who receive papers of commendation from our Conferences to improve their gifts as teachers of the word, are but youths. These go out into the rural districts where, although the people may have the Bible on their shelves, yet they know but little of its contents. There they are looked upon with astonishment as men who know more of the Bible than all the popular ministers of the age. The people become charmed with the harmony and plainness of the Scriptures, and God by his spirit, through the influence of the preaching, moves on their hearts and they are gathered into the fold of Jesus Christ. There is power in the Scriptures when they are taken as meaning just what they say. It is true there are parables and figures used in the Scriptures; but these are given for a better elucidation of divine truth; and in every case where a figure or parable is introduced the context explains the meaning. We adopt the simple rule of taking every text of Scripture as meaning just what it says, excepting in these cases where it is evident that a parable or figure is introduced. And why should we not understand the Bible as we would any other book? If the Bible does not mean what it says, pray tell us what it does mean? If God does not mean what he says in his word, it ceases to be a revelation until he gives another book to tell us what this one means. But this is the very book in which God has appealed to us in reference to our duty in this life, and the glorious reward in reserve for the overcomers.

The field is world-wide, and the work of giving the last message to the world is vast. Those young men who are preparing to enter the ministry, should become thoroughly acquainted with the Scriptures. We have been greatly surprised and encouraged to see the success of some of our ministers who are not educated in the simple rules of their mother-tongue. What we witnessed at the Sparta camp-meeting in 1876 well illustrates the subject. Four of our preachers in that State went forth to the reaping with our publications, and gathered hundreds to the churches, and not one of the four could speak or write the English language correctly. At that camp-meeting during a very busy season of the year there assembled three hundred Sabbath-keepers, most of whom were from the northern part of Wisconsin. Among that number were about fifty school-teachers, one justice of the peace, several who had been clerks of county courts, and one county superintendent of schools; and yet, these four unlettered men with our books which are written in good, plain English, had gathered these men and women of education and great moral worth. J. W.