A Distinctive Movement and a Distinctive People
By Francis M. Wilcox
God designed that his church should always be a distinctive people. Of the place which they were to occupy in the world Balaam speaks by word of prophecy: "From the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations." There was a reason for this separation. The world at large was in sin and rebellion against God. Enmity filled the minds of men. God designed that his church should be a bearer of light and blessing, his ambassador to reconcile rebellious man to the government of heaven. He has never designed that his church should isolate itself from mankind. This was shown when he planted Israel in the land of Canaan, upon the great highway of the nations, with the populous land of Egypt on the south and the hosts of Midian, Moab, and Syria on the east and north. When Israel failed of meeting the purpose of God in its national existence, then God scattered them among the nations, not alone for their punishment and chastening, but in order that as individuals they might diffuse abroad the knowledge of the true God, which they had failed to do in a national sense. This distinctive character which Israel of old maintained, God designs that his church in every age shall preserve. The Israel of God are now scattered abroad. God no longer has a peculiar people made up of one nationality, but here and there throughout the nations of men he has established centers from which radiate the light of the gospel message. It was to the general church—to the "strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia," and in every place where the gospel had taken root—that Peter addresses his epistle. Of the church he says: "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, . . . a peculiar people." The reason they are called to this distinctive position in the world he declares to be "that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." Recreant will the church of God be to its high calling and sacred trust if it lowers the standard and fails to maintain the distinctive character to which God calls it. In a peculiar sense at various times in the history of the church God has raised up a people to act the part of reformers. This was true in the days of Noah, of John the Baptist, of the Reformation period, of the times of the Wesleys, in connection with the giving of the first angel's message, and in the work that Seventh-day Adventists are carrying on in the world at the present time. These reformers have been called to carry forward a distinctive movement. Particularly is this true of this movement and of this people above any people who have come before them. This must be apparent to every one who will carefully read the commission as found in the fourteenth chapter of Revelation. Here is brought to view an emphatic and distinctive message which must be borne to the world, a message embracing a great reform in faith and practise, carrying with it a stern protest against evil principles and wicked combinations. In the very nature of the case, the people engaged in this movement must constitute a distinctive people. They have a special work to do. Their danger will consist in minimizing the importance of that work, in failing to recognize its holy and exalted character, in effecting a compromise with worldly principles. They will be tempted to lower the standard, to permit motives of policy and self-interest rather than their love of the truth to influence their course. Some have done this, and from their lives the power of the message has departed. Others are wavering, parleying with the inclination of the natural heart as against the call of conscientious conviction. Our only safety is in maintaining our integrity, in preserving in our own lives the simplicity of this message which we have espoused. To turn from it is to turn from God, to lose the brightness of our hope, to mingle with the careless, indifferent throng, and to permit our faith to be extinguished in darkness. We have espoused a distinctive message, a special cause, a great work of reform. This of necessity must make us a distinctive people. We are not called to oddness and eccentricity. There is no peculiar physical mark which will distinguish us from our fellows. But those who are looking for the coming of the Lord in power and glory should be distinguished in that they occupy a higher plane of Christianity than the average standard of the great Christian church. We are called to be true, to be noble; we are called to largeness of heart, to breadth of sympathy, to depth of love, to kindness, to gentleness, to Christian labor, to meekness, to faith. We are called to exemplify the practical Christianity of the blessed Lord, whose servants we profess to be. It is to this distinctive position in the world today that Seventh-day Adventists are called by the faith they hold, by the message they have espoused. Let us prove true to our high and holy calling.