Sabbath Reform and Adventism.
By Editor
PROF. A. H. LEWIS, in an article on "The Philosophy of Reform," in the Sabbath Recorder, speaks of the current Sabbath reform and says many good things. The following paragraph particularly interested us:-- "It is useless to compare ourselves with the Seventh-day Adventists, in the matter of building churches. The ability to do what they are doing comes from other causes more than from their views concerning Sabbath. The doctrine of the immediate coming of Christ, probably has more to do with their success than any other, if not more than all others combined. We have no doctrines nor general characteristics which will enable us to do what they are doing, in some particulars. All strength and time are lost which are spent in favorable or unfavorable comparisons as between the two bodies. Whatever part each is destined to bear in the work of Sabbath reform, each must do in the way befitting their means and make-up." We feel like thanking Brother Lewis for setting this truth so plainly before the readers of the Recorder. It is just what we have claimed for years, and proclaimed on all suitable occasions. We have always considered that our special strength in the Sabbath reform is found in the "third angel's message" of Rev. 14:9-12. This message we preach as the closing link of a chain of prophecy covering about 2500 years--from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon to the reign of Jesus King of kings. In this we find the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus connected together to the end of time, and they who keep them all are saved from the threatened seven last plagues, and preserved unto the coming of the Lord when he shall come to reap the harvest of the earth. It is the clear light on this soul-stirring and heart-cheering truth which has brought thousands within the last few years to a joyful observance of all the commandments of God, including the holy Sabbath. We are hopeful that all who love the Sabbath--to whom it is "a delight, the holy of the Lord"--will yet see and appreciate the power of this truth, and unite with us in proclaiming that which Paul so highly esteemed as to call it "that blessed hope." Titus 2:13. By careful examination of the prophetic word--the "sure word of prophecy," 2 Peter 1:19--we have come to the confident assurance that this blessed hope will soon be realized; that "to them that look for him"--"that love his appearing"--will he soon appear "without sin unto salvation." Heb. 9:28; 2 Tim. 4:8. An examination of these prophecies relieved us of the taint of antinomianism, and led us to accept the seventh-day Sabbath. Can any one who sympathises with our love of the Sabbath chide us for loving the third angel's message, the prophecies, the doctrine of the Lord's coming? These truths blend in harmony. We only pray that our love for them all may be increased.