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Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, Cal. · May 27, 1875

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 1, No. 29.

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The Sermon.

By J. H. Waggoner

PERPETUITY OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS.

BY ELDER J. H. WAGGONER. (Continued.)
OTHER important evidence of the fulfillment, in this present generation, of the promise of the Saviour and of the prophecy of Joel. We now call attention to what the Scriptures reveal on this subject concerning the times immediately preceding the second advent of our Lord. Neander makes a very interesting statement of the faith of the Montanists of the second century. He says:—
“It appears also to have been the doctrine of the Montanists, that the season of the last and richest outpouring of the Holy Spirit would form the last age of the church, and precede the second coming of Christ, and be the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel.” Rose's Neander, p. 332.
A book written to reproach this faith, and designed to bring the Montanists into disrepute, was read by John Wesley; but it had the effect to convince him that they were a godly people, and that their faith in regard to the perpetuity of the spirit was correct. This, no doubt, prepared his mind to look for and seek those evidences of divine favor which he so largely received in his after experience. So God overrules the work of his enemies to his own praise. Mr. Wesley's notice of this book and of the result to his mind of reading it, is as follows:—
“By reflecting on an odd book, which I had read in this journey, ‘The general delusion of Christians with regard to prophecy,’ I was fully convinced of what I had long suspected: 1. That the Montanists in the second and third centuries, were real Scriptural Christians; and 2. That the grand reason why the miraculous gifts were so soon withdrawn, was not only that faith and holiness were well nigh lost, but that dry, formal orthodox men began, even then to ridicule whatever gifts they had not themselves, and to decry them all as either madness or imposition.” Wesley's Journal, vol. 3, p. 496.
The faith of the Mennonites referred to by Neander, is quite reasonable as we may conclude from a consideration of the use or objects of the gifts, and of the condition of the religious world in the last days.
The object of the gifts, according to Eph. 4, is to carry out the work of the ministry to edify, or build up the church, and to perfect the saints in a complete union of faith and spirit. Now it must be borne in mind that the last generation of the church will be subject to special trials and dangers. The Saviour, speaking of the last days said, “Because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold.” Evil servants will say, “My Lord delayeth his coming.” They will eat and drink with the drunken, and smite their fellow-servants who give “meat in due season.” Formality in religion and destitution of the power of godliness will be almost all-prevailing. Satan will also work with great malignity and power. In such a time, if ever, will the church stand in need of the aid of the Holy Spirit.
Again, the last generation of the church of Christ must pass through the time of trouble; must stand complete in righteousness when Jesus ceases his priestly work in Heaven, as he prepares to come to this earth to take vengeance on the ungodly; they must have a special work wrought in them and for them, to fit them to be translated without tasting death; for their translation must, of course, take place after Jesus ceases his work of mediation. A single sin committed after the priestly work of Christ closes would sink any one to hopeless perdition. And it is not after, but before he comes that he says: “Let him that is unrighteous be unrighteous still.” See Rev. 22: 11, 12. This awful truth is not appreciated, because men refuse to examine the doctrine of the second advent, and therefore they do not understand the nature of the perils which are impending.
In 1 Thess. 4 the apostle gives the true ground of consolation to those who sorrow for their friends who are asleep. He says, the Lord himself shall descend; the dead in Christ shall arise, and the living saints shall be caught up with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Having thus introduced the subject of the coming of the Lord, he proceeds, in chapter five to state circumstances which precede and attend his coming. Many will cry, “Peace and safety” when sudden destruction is impending, and “they shall not escape.” Their hope is delusive—they know not the hour of their visitation. As it was to the people in the days of Noah and of Lot, so it will be to them. As a thief in the night shall their destruction come upon them. “But,” says Paul to the brethren, “ye are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief.” They are watching for the return of their Lord. They have received the words of warning spoken by the prophets, and by those whom God in his providence has raised up to “sound an alarm” when “the day of the Lord is near.” See Joel 2: 1. To the brethren of the time herein set forth, the apostle says:—
“Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” 1 Thess. 5: 19–21.
And to farther show its application, as to time, he adds:—
“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Verse 23.
It is beyond question that they, whose bodies are preserved unto the coming of the Lord are they who do not sleep or die, but are changed and caught up or translated, to meet the Lord in the air. Thus every part of this Scripture shows that it is specially for, and pertaining to, those who are “alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord.”
Prophesyings here denotes the exercise of the gift of prophecy. The admonition not to despise the exercise or manifestation of this gift is sufficient proof that the gift will be manifested at the time of which he is speaking, viz.: when the day of the Lord is near; when the careless and worldly cry “Peace and safety,” or, as translated into the language of these days, they sing the song of delusion, “There's a good time coming.”
Each age has its own peculiar form of unbelief. In the early ages of Christianity all Christians looked with anxiety to the second coming of Christ as the time of their deliverance and their reward. To deny that event was to deny their hope. Jesus had told his disciples not to let their hearts be troubled about his going away, for he would come again and take them unto himself; he said they should be rewarded at the resurrection of the just, which will take place when he comes; and he said he will bring his reward with him when he comes. With them the prayer was a united fervent one. “Come, Lord Jesus.” To them the prophecy pointed out a fearful declension when it said that scoffers shall arise, saying, Where is the promise of his coming? But now we see this prophecy fulfilled. So greatly has the professed church of Christ departed from the primitive faith that they who say, “My Lord delayeth his coming,” are almost universally commended for their prudence and good judgment; while the faithful servants who give meat in due season, who sound the alarm as the prophets say shall be done, are regarded as fanatics and alarmists, if not despised as impostors. A “second advent belief” is, in the estimation of a popular and worldly church, as contemptible as was “a Nazarene” in the days of our Saviour.
And a change fully as great as this has taken place in the church in respect to the gifts of the Spirit. In the early church, while all the gifts were accepted as objects of faith, and received according to that faith, there was a tendency to respect only the larger or more prominent gifts such as apostleship, healing, and prophecy. Those less prominent were lightly esteemed and by some considered almost worthless. This led to the apostle's argument in 1 Cor. 12, where-in he asserts that God often bestows more abundant honor upon that which is lightly esteemed of men. The dependence of the gifts upon each other is shown in this expression, Ye are members one of another; that is, united to Christ in one body by being united to one another. The hand, or the eye, apparently the most useful of all members, cannot say to another or less prominent member, “I have no need of thee.” The hand is useful to the head only as it is connected to the head by other members. Every organ must be in its proper place, or the body is imperfect, and the action of all is obstructed.
We are now prepared to realize the change which has taken place in the church concerning faith in the gifts. While in the early church the more obscure gifts were lightly esteemed, and only the more prominent ones were valued, in the last days the reverse is exactly the truth. Now the less prominent gifts are accepted at least professedly, while the gift of prophecy is regarded with suspicion and even with aversion. And what seems most strange of all, many who teach that we are in the last days; who profess to believe that the coming of the Lord is near; who have had all the Scripture evidences of the truth relative to the second advent plainly set forth to them; and who even profess to believe that a special work of sanctification is necessary to meet the Saviour at his appearing, show the most determined opposition and even hatred to the gift of prophecy. This is sad proof of the strength of self-deception, and shows how deeply man may be blinded when he quenches the Spirit of God, and leans to his own understanding. Surely the injunction is timely for these last days. “Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings.”
In tracing the connection between the law and the gifts of the Spirit we quoted several texts from the New Testament which we must notice again, because they refer to the time of which we are now speaking, viz.: of the last days, or the time immediately preceding the second coming of Christ.
In Rev. 14: 9–12, just before the Son of God is seen upon the white cloud to reap the harvest of the earth, a message of warning is given ending with these words:—
“Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14: 12.
The apostle says in Rom. 5: 3: “Tribulation worketh patience.” Tribulation brings patience into exercise, and exercise perfects all graces. By this text, therefore, we are given to understand that tribulation will be the lot of those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, at the time to which it refers, viz., just before the earth is reaped in the great harvest.
In Rev. 12 the church is brought to view under the symbol of a woman. In prophetic symbol the church is always represented by a woman. This chapter very briefly traces the history of the church from the birth of Christ and the effort of the dragon, or the pagan Roman power to slay him as soon as he was born, and his being caught up to God and his throne, through the long persecution of “a time, times and a half,” or “a thousand two hundred and threescore days,” down to the last persecution of “the remnant of her seed.”
The dragon was, not directly, but indirectly, the persecutor during this great tribulation of the Christians in the “time, times, and the dividing of time.” Pagan Rome had long persecuted the Christians unto death. When the empire professed to become the patron of Christianity it soon beheld a most unchristian strife progressing between the Bishops of different churches. It was another clamor for power, a revival of the question, “who shall be greatest?” The parties entirely ignored the instructions of the Saviour, given to quell just such spirits. The bishop of Rome, the most arrogant and overbearing, and of course the least a Christian, was favored by the empire. Favored, not because the most worthy, not because such self-exaltation was according to the spirit, the example, or the teachings of Christ, but because it was deemed most fitting that Rome should have the ascendency!
Such were the means and such the motives by which an unchristian, persecuting hierarchy was brought into existence. By the power of the Dragon this vast machinery of error and of death was set in motion. The Dragon power made itself responsible for the consequences which it could easily foresee, when it elevated an ambitious and arrogant church ruler to a position which Christ forbade his followers to occupy.
The last persecution will be under “an image to the beast.” This image will cause men to worship the beast, the papal power, which received its authority from the dragon, the pagan power. See Rev. 13. And thus it is shown that the spirit of the dragon has descended down to our own times, and that it will be active in the last persecution. Of this last phase of dragonic power it is said:—
“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Rev. 12: 17.
Having noticed the manner of the rise of the papal hierarchy, it may not be amiss to speak of the formation of the “image of the beast,” for it is through this image that the spirit of the dragon will be manifested in the last persecution.
In the United States great efforts are now being made to secure a “Religious Amendment” to the Constitution, by which, its advocates say, “all Christian laws, usages, and institutions may be placed on an undeniable legal basis in the fundamental law of the land.” “All Christian laws, usages, and institutions” are supposed to embrace all Christianity, and when all these are legalized in the Constitution then Christianity will be established as the religion of the land by the United States government. And, of course, when controversy arises it will be for the courts to decide what are Christian laws and institutions. And this will be an exact “image to the beast,” when Christianity will be enforced by law, and matters of faith must be decided by the civil courts. This will, doubtless, be the manner of the fulfillment of this prophecy; and under such a state of things, with the history of past persecutions in the name of Christianity before us, it is not difficult to foresee how war may be made with those “who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
This prophecy of Rev. 12: 17 is easily located. “The remnant of the seed of the woman,” can mean no other than the last part or last state of the church. They keep the commandments of God as do the saints of Rev. 14: 12, and these behold the Son of God in his second advent. War also is made with them, which calls for patience, which is marked as a characteristic of those who live in the last days. And they “have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” An explanation of this is given in Rev. 19: 10, thus: “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” This is an inspired and decisive definition of the phrase. If further proof were needed it is furnished in the following scripture:—
“Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you so that ye come behind in no gift.” 1 Cor. 1: 6, 7.
By this we learn that the confirmation of “the testimony of Jesus” in a church is the establishing or manifestation of “the gifts of the Spirit” in their midst. And thus are we brought to the unavoidable conclusion that the remnant, the last part or last generation of the church of Christ, who heed the last warning given to man, who keep the commandments of God, who live to see the Son of man appear on the white cloud to reap the harvest of the earth, have the testimony of Jesus Christ—the spirit of prophecy—among them; that is, the gifts of the Spirit will be restored before the Lord comes. These heed the injunction given to those who “are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord,” that they should “Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”
(To be Continued.)