DEAR BRO. WHITE:—The clock has this morning struck three, and I have been thinking this hour of that time, "when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder." Ex. xix, 19.—When some six hundred thousand witnesses stood before the mountain, to receive "the lively oracles to give unto us." Acts vii, 38. Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, "Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven." See Heb. xii, 26-29.
I have been thinking, also, of my dear brethren and sisters, who are laboring in the cause of truth. Do I say, the cause of truth? Yea, the cause of truth.—David said, "Thy law is the truth—and all thy commandments are truth." And though men may say the law of God is done away—the truth is done away; and though they may try to make void the commandments of God, in order to teach for doctrine the commandments of men; and though they may "turn away their ears from the truth, and be turned to fables," even such fables as the "Sunday-Sabbath" fable, and the "no Sabbath" fable, yet the voice of God, is now calling attention to the "commandments of God," as well as to the "faith of Jesus;" and while this voice is being sounded long; and while we know that it is to wax louder and louder, until the words of the Most High shall be heard above all other words, and his law above all human laws and commandments of men, we, therefore, thank God, and take courage dear saints of the Most High.
But who are the worshipers of the beast and his image? It cannot be those who "worship God in spirit and in truth." Compare John iv, 24; Phil. iii, 3.
But, "howbeit, in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For, laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men." Mark vii, 7. Now this language of Christ may as well apply to the Sabbath commandment as any other. Those who teach "no Sabbath," or that "the first day of the week is the Sabbath," they both "lay aside the commandment of God," which says, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." And if they teach that the first day of the week is the Sabbath of the Lord, then they teach for doctrine a commandment of men, (because it is not commanded in the scriptures.) Therefore, they worship the Lord of the Sabbath day in vain! And if this teaching for doctrine the no Sabbath commandment, or the first day of the week Sabbath commandment is worshipping Christ in vain; then I would respectfully ask, where does this kind of worship go, if207Christ will not receive it, but to the beast, the changer of "times and laws?" Dan. vii, 25. B. CLARK.
Alden, N. Y., April 20th, 1853.