The Book of books, the Gift of gifts to fallen man! Much is said about this book. It is prized of men and held up as a precious treasure to the world; but at the same time, its principles are denied by mankind at large, as if they belonged only to angels or to other ages than this.
My soul is stirred within me while I see its thrilling and blessed truths trampled under foot. The mass of teaching at this time is peace and safety, blinding the minds of the people, lulling the world to sleep, and leading them on to destruction; while the Saviour says, As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of man. But ministers say, Not so. How do they say this? By saying that the world is to be converted, and therefore all will believe. But did all believe in the days of Noah? If so, then all will believe in the days of the coming of the Son of man. If the world was not converted then, it will not be when Christ comes.
Again, our Saviour says, "When the Son of man cometh shall he find faith on the earth?" The plain inference is, there will be but few who will have true, living faith. But according to the teachings of the day, the world will be full of faith. Such teaching is calculated to drown men in perdition.
God in his wisdom has given us a Bible that is plain and consistent; and plain teaching will bring out its plain truths; and while he is closing the plan of salvation, every plant that he has not planted, is being rooted up; so that man can see the beauty and harmony of his work if he will. And while the blessed truths are shining out of his Word, men draw back; yet they cry, Bible, but away with its truths which they say are new things or new revelations; whereas it is old things restored.
God’s Sabbath old as creation is, with them, a new wind of doctrine. If we have the Bible, we must have the Bible Sabbath, and if we have the Bible Sabbath, we must have the Bible day for the Sabbath, which is the seventh day and no other. And as Bible truths come up one after another, rooting up traditions and principles of wrong, men draw back. The closing work of the Gentile Church is represented and symbolized, not by one angel only, but three, which have their time, and each a specific work, and they follow each other; but the third completes the work. The third will continue to uproot all things which are unlike the great Pattern.
All the qualifications of Christ, our example, will be found in the remnant. All the gifts of the Spirit will be in exercise. The Spirit of the whole gospel will there be exhibited. God will not find a body out and mangled, maimed, halt and blind; but perfectly joined together. The tree may have all its branches, but it is the fruit that makes it fair and beautiful; so the church may have all the theories, but the gifts will make her clear as the sun, and fair as the moon. Instead of the gifts being the root, foundation or trunk, they are the legitimate fruit, that hang out on the branches.
We wish to notice the nature and object of these gifts; and while we plead Bible, let us remember these gifts are Bible as much as the Sabbath. Some say they are done away: so it is said of the Sabbath; but this does not make it so. These are so extensive with the commission to preach the gospel. Mark xvi, 15-18.
Man is of that nature that God cannot speak to him face to face, and therefore he has used means to communicate to him through the gifts of his Spirit. This is a revelation of God to man, and I desire more of the same kind. But some say the Bible is all the revelation we want; but it is the Spirit that brings these truths to our remembrance. We may observe the precepts or have a form of them, and still be destitute of the power and spirit of them. It was said in old time, "Fear God and keep his Commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." If the ten commandments were the whole duty, what further testimony need we by our Saviour? Under the Third Angel we find we must keep the Commandments of God and the Faith or Testimony of Jesus. Now the Testimony of Jesus is a revelation of no new principle; but a new combination of circumstances, brings new items of duty, growing out of the same principle; therefore our Saviour spake and magnified the law. It is said in reference to our Saviour, that he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. Deut. xviii, 18. We might suppose that a Prophet like him, would speak all things necessary for our salvation; and so he says, Whosoever shall hear these sayings of mine and do them shall never fall. Luke vi.
But still the apostles had revelations, were caught up to the third heavens, had visions containing new ideas and duties, but no new principle; nothing that would conflict with the principles of God, or his Son. The Saviour gave no direction about going to the Gentiles, and told them expressly not to go in the way of the Gentiles; so a new revelation was given for this purpose, through the gift of the Spirit. The gifts, many of them, have been lost, or nearly so, in the church; but they will be restored.
"And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams, and on my servants and on my hand-maidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy, and I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor of smoke, the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood before that great and notable day of the Lord come." Acts ii, 17, 20.
Some people do not count these signs in the heavens of any importance, others do. Now if we are to witness these signs in the heavens before the Lord comes, we shall see also God’s Spirit poured out, and witness these signs in the church. If we deny the latter we may the former. As the signs in the heavens will fulfill their designs, so those in the church will also answer their object.
From the scripture above, I must conclude that the whole church will have a part to act in this work. Some contend that visions must be confined to young men; but if this is the strict meaning, then dreams are confined to old men and none else. But to my mind it shows that no one is exempt from acting a part in the last work.
Some acknowledge that prophecy is one of the gifts of Eph. iv, that are to exist in the remnant. If so, we learn that it comes through visions and dreams in general, but is sometimes manifested in other ways. Nearly all the prophecy of Daniel came through visions. We might mention many other like instances. There are diversities of operations by the same Spirit, not by the wisdom of man, nor the spirit of man, but it is God that worketh all in all.