The Advent Faith and Its Trials
By Mary E. Flower
BRO. SMITH:—I have for some time felt disposed to direct a few lines to the dear, tried children, scattered abroad, to comfort them, and with them share a humble part in bearing testimony to the unpopular truths we love and cherish. I have never been ashamed of the gospel of Christ since I embraced it, thirty years ago; it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. Since 1843, I have been a believer in the second coming of Christ at hand, and that that coming will be as literal as the disciples saw him go away. I did not so firmly believe (as some others did) that the coming of our Lord would take place in '44. The idea that the earth was the Sanctuary was not clear to my mind, and that there was not space of time sufficient for some things to be fulfilled; admitting these, we all thought our blessed Lord would come. Well, we were disappointed. We were suffered to be mistaken, and it served to humble us before the world. Says one, You had better give it up. Said another, You had better go back into the church from whence you came out; you can do more good there. Well, we strove to put our trust in the Lord, believing, if we were faithful, he would show why we were thus led; for I thus believed with all my heart, and do now, that the proclamation by Bro. Miller was of the Lord, and the burden of the First Angel's Message. Rev. xiv. We had taken the Herald, and liked it until it seemed to depart from the Advent faith. After Daniel's 2300 days had expired in 1844, it seemed to be in a gradual decline, forgetting that the Lord had led them, denying their former teachings to be of the Lord, forming into a sect, &c. Then there was a mighty scattering: I was tried and humbled. We leaned upon the arm of Jehovah, and hung by faith upon his Word, praying that we might not be led out of the way to the right hand or to the left, believing that truth was mighty and would prevail. It seemed that we had not ground sufficient to stand upon. I prayed the Lord to open his Word to our understanding, that we might learn all his truth and our duty, and I would do it wherever it might lead. Soon the Sabbath question arose. At first it had but little force upon my mind. I had previously learned that the seventh-day was the Sabbath, but did not know that I was required to keep it, until I saw it in the Third Angel's Message. Then it was like a cordial to my fainting mind. O how blessed it looked! It shone bright upon our past experience, and was a revival of the Advent faith. Then we saw more clearly why we were called out from the sects; for the Sabbath could never be restored there, neither could we have kept it; for we were in bondage. I desire to walk consistent with the truth, and show my faith by my works, and call the Sabbath a delight, holy of the Lord, honorable. Dear brethren and sisters, be patient unto the coming of the Lord. Let us not exalt ourselves nor be discouraged, but giving all diligence, add to our faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly-kindness, charity; for if these things be in us, and abound, they make us that we shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Your companion in tribulation, yet rejoicing in hope.
MARY E. FLOWER.
Ionia Co., Mich. Feb. 1856.