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ADVERTISING

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Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 3, 1856

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 7, No. 14.

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ADVERTISING.

By Editor

Some professedly Advent papers have adopted the practice of inserting common advertisements into their columns as a means of procuring subsistence, and the question is often asked us, if we advertise. To this we reply, that we intend that our sheet shall be emphatically an advertising medium, and having said this, it is proper that we state what we intend to advertise, and who for.
We have no room for “Cod Liver Oil,” or “Ayer’s Pills,” or “Cherry Pectoral,” for we do not consider these “meat in due season.” There are other things of more importance to a dying world of which the people should be well advertised and well warned.
Living as we are in the last moments of time, with a reasonable hope well grounded upon the Holy Scriptures, we intend as far as in our power to advertise the world of the fact; to proclaim in the ears of the drowsy multitude the last message of mercy; if by any means some may be aroused from their dangerous slumbers. When we see the Scriptures verified before us, and the signs of the times fulfilling all around us as clear as the noon day sun, we cannot hold our peace, lest we be like the watchman of Eze. xxxiii, 6, who see the sword coming, and blow not the trumpet, and the people are not warned. If that watchman's hand, says the word of the Lord, their blood shall be required; therefore we intend to sound the trumpet, and “advertise” the people of their present condition and the coming future.
Were destruction impending over a certain place, and a messenger should announce the fact to its inhabitants, without exception they would heed that message, and seek to avert, or prepare for, the coming calamity, while they would bestow upon the messenger a just reward for his timely warning. But people will treat with abuse and contempt the messengers who announce the approach of that day which “shall come as a destruction from the Almighty;” so singularly dull and unbelieving have they become in regard to the declarations and threatenings of the word of God. Nevertheless we shall continue to “advertise” them of its approach, as we find it pointed out in the volume of revealed truth. Then if they take not warning their “blood shall be upon their own head.”
Should an advertisement appear in some of the papers of the day, that a discovery had veritably been made, whereby the fear of death might be banished, and unending life obtained: how would all the world rush after it, even though they would yet be attended with all the other evils of this fallen state. But we “advertise” them of a way to obtain eternal life upon the earth, not blighted as it now is, but when it shall have been restored to its Eden glory; not in the present state with all its evils, but in the “beautiful hereafter,” yet they regard it as an idle tale, and dance on to ruin. Nevertheless we shall continue to “advertise” them of the way to life and happiness, by keeping the Commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus; if by any means some may be induced to take heed to their ways and turn and live.
But we do not advertise for the world or sinners only. Satan with ten thousand of his angels, and each of these with a thousand devices, is continually besetting the people of God, to impede their progress, bewilder their mind, dampen their faith and destroy their courage, and so decoy them from the straight and narrow path, the high and holy standing, in which all must be found who would secure a safe transition from the present dispensation to that which is about to be ushered in. As far as in our power, therefore, we shall endeavor,
1. To advertise you of every new development in the fulfillment of prophecy whereby our faith and hope may be strengthened, and our courage renewed.
2. To advertise you of every new point on which the light of truth may shine, by which our present position, and present duty, may be made more clear.
3. To advertise you of all the signs of the times which indicate our nearness to the final consummation.
4. To advertise you whenever we detect a scheme of the enemy whereby he would sow discord and distraction in the ranks of the brethren.
5. To advertise fully and fearlessly the way of life, and the only conditions on which life can be obtained.
6. To advertise you of the many and precious promises of God which are given
“To cheer the heart of the lowly one
In the narrow way to heaven.”
7. To advertise you of the judgments prepared for those “who know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
8. And in short, to advertise you of every thing which may be of interest to the people of God, to aid in detecting and resisting the specious designs of the enemy, to aid in keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, and in preparing for the great and coming day.
These are our advertisements; and in all these, the Bible shall be our text-book, the signs of the times our index, and the sure promises of God our foundation and our hope. We are engaged in this work for Him who bids us, “Cry aloud and spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins.” Isa. lviii, 1. And when he “cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah,” when the day of vengeance is in his heart and the “year of his redeemed is come,” we expect our reward.