Holiness and Renewal in Elmira
By John A. Laughhead
DEAR BRO. WHITE: I address these lines to you to show how good the Lord has been to us here in Elmira. I will give our experience since last spring. The church, numbering nine at that time, were striving to obey God, and keep his commandments as far as they had light and understanding; but the cloud of moral darkness that covers the world, covered us also. The question was asked, What must we do to be prepared to meet the Lord in peace, and we felt that this exhortation of Peter was to us, "Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness." 2 Peter iii, 11. Also, "But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation: because it is written, be ye holy for I am holy." 1 Pet. i, 15, 16. We saw from these passages, that it was necessary for us to be holy, and to live holy, in order to meet the Lord in peace. We were searching the scriptures to learn what we must do, in order to be found, at the appearing of our Lord, without spot and blameless. We saw that we must be obedient to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Apostles, and that we must love one another with a pure heart fervently, not using vain and unprofitable words, but giving thanks, praising the Lord, speaking to ourselves in psalms, and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody in our hearts to the Lord. We felt our weakness, and inability to come to a knowledge of all the requirements of God, and we asked him, in the name of Jesus, to guide us into all truth, and send his servants to speak to us, and show us the truth. And blessed be God forever and ever, for his ear is ever open to the cry of his people, and he will answer and bless them when they ask according to his will. Dear brother, God did answer our prayers, praise his holy name; for while we were searching to know the truth, and earnestly praying the Lord to guide and direct, he permitted our good Brn. Rhodes and Case to bring us the third angel's message. The question then arose, does this message belong to us? The first message, proclaiming the hour of His judgment is come, had its fulfillment, we believed, in the preaching of Bro. Miller and those associated with him. The second message, proclaiming the fall of Babylon, had its fulfillment when the churches rejected the first message. And the third angel FOLLOWED THEM. If the first two are located right, then the third should be given now, for John saw nothing intervening between the second and the third. I believe it should be given now, and that it is the duty of every servant of God to lift up his voice like a trumpet, and show the people their sins and transgressions. We clearly saw that the keeping of all the commandments of God, was a very important item in the duty of his servants; for Solomon says, "Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." We all thought that we were keeping the commandments; but found upon investigation, that we were breaking them, by not obeying the fourth; for "whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." We now saw that in order to be holy, we must keep all the commandments of God, and, seven of us stepped into the straight and narrow path that leads to life, praying to our Heavenly Father, for Jesus sake, to forgive us our transgressions, and to strengthen, and enable us to keep his holy law. And we feel that God is with us. The other two refused to go with us, in obeying the Lord. They were undecided until three or four weeks since, when they took the position that the Sabbath was abolished. They were confirmed in this view by a sermon from C. F. Sweet, of Ulster, (Penn.,) in which he attempted to show, that the law of God written in stone, that Paul calls holy, just, and good, was nailed to the cross, abolished, taken out of the way; for it was against us. All that heard him, with the exception of two, say that he completely failed to show that Jesus had abolished the law of God, and re-enacted nine of its precepts, for this was his position. We have had some trials, and we expect more; but God has blest us, and we know he will continue to, if we trust in him. Our little band of seven has increased to thirteen, four young converts, who were baptized by Bro. Stockings of Bath, and two from Martin Hill. I rejoice in God for his goodness towards his people, in blessing the efforts put forth by them for the salvation of others. My heart's desire, and prayer to God is, that the message may go in the strength of Abraham's God, until all that have "an ear to hear," may hear, and escape the wrath of God that is soon to be poured out upon the transgressors of his holy law. My dear brother, be strong for God is with us, and we shall soon receive the reward if we faint not. Your brother in patient waiting for the Lord to come, and give us rest. Amen. Elmira, (N. Y.), Nov. 23d, 1851.