Communication from Bro. Cottrell.
By R. F. Cottrell
DEAR BRO. WHITE:—The Lord is opening the way for the spread of the truth in this vicinity. Last First-day there was a discourse delivered to a large congregation at the Disciples' house in Clarence, on the subject of the seals, trumpets, and vials of the book of Revelation. The speaker took the position that the seals have all been opened, the trumpets all sounded, and that we are living under the sixth vial, when the nations will be gathered to the battle of the great day of God Almighty; that the prophetic history contained in the twelfth and thirteenth chapters was all in the past, and that the place that we occupy is in the sixteenth chapter, where it is said, Behold, I come as a thief. This coming of the Lord, he thought, might mean his coming in his providences, in the fulfillment of these predicted judgments upon the nations, and he thought all Europe would be involved in war. And though the wrath of God upon the nations was to be filled up, completed, finished, in these seven vials, yet he seemed to see no danger this side of the Atlantic. It seemed that he had forgotten that Jeremiah had said that all the kingdoms of the world that are upon the face of the earth, should drink of the wine cup of the wrath of God. Chap. xxv. For all that he said, his hearers might think that "this wicked, ambitious, idolatrous, Sabbath-breaking and slave-holding nation" (to use the words of K. D. Nettleton,) might escape. As to the coming of the Lord, it might be soon or it might be many years in the future. He trusted that he and his brethren were prepared for that event now, or would be, whenever it shall come. And though he fully believed that we were under the sixth vial, yet he was very careful not to excite the fears of his audience. Said he, "I am not an alarmist." He knew not whether Christ would come literally and reign, or we should have a thousand years spiritual reign. Now, I have not a word to say against this man; he is a stranger in this place, and he may be one that loves our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Perhaps he is seeking for the truth as for hidden treasure. But this I am confident of, that he is not one that the Lord has called forth by the prophet Joel to preach to the people that the battle of the day of the Lord is immediately impending. He is too fearful of alarming the people. The Lord says, "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble." Why, what is the matter? "For the day of the Lord cometh; it is nigh at hand." When my friend gets this commission he will not so careful not to alarm the people. The Lord is over-ruling all things for the good of his people, and for the spread of the third message. The subject of the prophecies is being agitated; the spirit of inquiry is in the minds of the lovers of truth, and it will not be satisfied with anything but the truth. It will not be hard to convince the candid that this government has something to do in the fulfillment of the prophecies that relate to the last days. That the vials of wrath containing the seven last plagues are the wrath without mixture threatened by the third angel; and consequently not one of them can be poured out till Mercy has ceased to plead, and probation is ended. Oh, Lord! speed on the message, and seal thy servants before the day of wrath shall come—before the four winds are loosed, and the great day of his wrath is come, when none will be able to stand but those that have the sign of the living God in their foreheads. R. F. COTTRELL.
Mill Grove, N. Y., Aug. 28th, 1855.