CHOOSE YE THIS DAY WHOM YE WILL SERVE by Editor

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 4, 1856

CHOOSE YE THIS DAY WHOM YE WILL SERVE.

By Editor

BRO. SMITH:—We arrived at this place the 21st, in usual health. The Lord has greatly blessed us with the brethren here. Sabbath we spoke on the "Seven Churches." It is generally admitted here that the testimony to the Laodiceans, [Rev. iii, 14–21] applies to the remnant who profess the Third Angel's Message. Our brethren East and West admit this. But,

Will they act upon the Message?
Will they follow the counsel of the Son of God?
Will they be zealous and repent, and leave their lukewarm state?
Can they go any further in the old way, most of them serving mammon and at the same time making feeble efforts to serve God?
Can believers in the Third Message serve God and mammon?
What did Jesus say about it?
Can they go any further in this way?
Have we not come to the forks of the road?
Is not one of these roads to be zealous and repent, and forsake, and in future show faith by works? and is not the other to be spued out of the Lord's mouth?

Dear brother, these are solemn questions, and of the deepest interest to believers of the Third Message at this time. We should be gratified if you would answer them. It might relieve many anxious minds, and stir up the lukewarm. JAMES WHITE. Round Grove, Ills., Nov. 24th, 1856.

ANSWERS.—To the first three questions proposed above, while we sincerely hope that all our brethren will take it upon themselves, relying upon divine aid, to work out a speedy answer in the affirmative, we cannot reply definitely. They are questions which must be answered by the religious course of every one concerned. As an individual we can make known our own desires and determinations; for others we can hope; but time alone must declare the result.

We have evidently reached a period in our history when decision must be manifested in the ranks of God's people. Through the development of the truth of God's word, a voice is heard, no less distinctly than as if spoken from heaven, "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve." We wait to hear from how many fervent lips a hearty response shall come back, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

The arguments which show that the present is the period for the manifestation of the last state of the church, and that the counsel of the true Witness, with the blessing if we heed it, and the penalty if we heed it not, applies to us, have been already presented; and therefore we need not repeat them here. It is to those who already admit this, and therefore need not a repetition of these arguments, that we speak. It is to them that the appeal comes home, "How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him." To this appeal we hope for a different response than was given on the ancient mount of sacrifice. Then the people answered not a word; but shall we not now hear many responses from one end of the land to the other, "The Lord, he is God; we will follow him."

Will they rise from their lukewarm state? is the question proposed. Though it is a question which concerns the hidden future, yet conditionally we can respond: If they heed the counsel of the Son of God, they will. If they suffer not a deceitful feeling of spiritual security to blind their eyes to their true and necessitous condition, they will. If they are willing to account themselves but pilgrims and strangers here, and have respect unto the recompense of reward, they will. If they are unwilling to attempt a journey to heaven with a Bible in one hand, and a text-book of worldly policy in the other, they will. If they are unwilling to be among those who are ready to make large investments, verbally, in the bank of heaven, but who are nevertheless careful to secure a comfortable treasure here, apparently in case of failure there, they will. In short, if it does not "seem evil unto them to serve the Lord," if they are willing to count all things dross for heaven, if they realize that God and mammon can have no part together, and that an attempted compromise will deprive them of the joys of both, then will they arise and be wholly God's.

As we have said before, the definite answer to the questions we are now considering, each one must work out for himself. Time is hurrying us rapidly on to the result; and unless we shall each, by acts as well as words, give answer in the affirmative, fearful will be that result. If neglected privileges shall finally hear witness against any of us, that we would not heed the counsel of the True Witness, we have no reason to expect a commutation of that sentence, which says, "I will spue thee out of my mouth."

We have stated our hopes: we will also state our belief. We believe then that our brethren will heed the message, and speedily rise from their lukewarm condition. There are various reasons which we think furnish good ground for such an opinion.

1. That there will be a class of persons who will be redeemed from the earth is evident. As was shown to John in prophetic vision, there will be a company who, clothed in glorious immortality, will stand finally on mount Zion with the Lamb. In the short interval that now remains between us and that period, therefore, there will be those who will struggle earnestly for, and assuredly gain, the victory.

2. From what church will there be overcomers? From the church of Laodicea. "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." Who, or how many these will be, is not for us to inquire. It is sufficient for our purpose that there will be some; while every one must ask himself this question, and for himself decide it. Shall I be one to sit with Christ in his throne, or shall I soon be cast off as a nauseous and disgusting thing?

3. Says the true Shepherd, "My sheep hear my voice." It is no less true now than anciently. Is the Shepherd, then, saying to his flock, "This is the way, walk ye in it?" and will they not heed it? They will; for he also adds, "And they follow me." Is he knocking at the door of their hearts? and will they not let him in? They will. We do not point to any individuals and say that they will do this. All we wish to state is the fact that the true flock, to whom it is the Father's good pleasure to give the kingdom, will heed the voice of the true Shepherd.

4. The fourth reason we have for believing that a move will now be made, and a reform effected, is the indications which we are already receiving of such a work. The testimony is taking hold upon the hearts of our people. As a representation of the feelings that are beginning to pervade our ranks, the following from our correspondence may be to the point:

Sr. Sarah Haselton writes from Berkshire, Vt., Nov. 24th, 1856:—"It is painful for me to think that the Laodicean church is to represent the condition of the remnant. I hope the little flock are not in that condition; but I fear it is a true representation. Can it be that the people who claim to be a peculiar people, zealous of good works, and through whom the message of the Third Angel is to be given to a wicked world; who are living in the time when the patience and the faith of the saints will be tried, and who soon expect to see Jesus coming in all his glory, should be lukewarm? O if this be so, if we have the Laodicean spirit, 'neither cold nor hot,' living with the door closed against our Saviour, O for his sake and for the sake of this perishing generation, and our own salvation, awake. 'Awake thou that sleepest!' lest thou drink at the Lord's hand the cup of his fury. Let the earthquake of his threatenings shake thee. If he is knocking at the door, open unto him. Let not destroying hypocrisy be thy destruction. It has like a worm gnawed at the vitals of the church in all ages. I would rather be a zealous bigot, than a cold hypocrite; but I pray the Lord to save us from either; to open our eyes to see the truth, and stir us up to a new engagedness in his work."

Again: Bro. Leonard W. Hastings writes from New Ipswich, N. H., Nov. 27th, 1856:—"I believe the truth has been given us in regard to the Laodicean church. My spirit has been stirred by it. God being my helper, I will be zealous and repent. I want the tried gold, and the white raiment, and the eye-salve. It seems to me that this is the last call to the church. I expect it will produce a reform. The loved ones will be chastened, rebuked, and will repent. All others will be spued out. I want the kingdom, the blessed kingdom; and I feel like striving for it more and more."

These are but two from many testimonies that might be given. A greater spirit of sacrifice, also, if we rightly interpret certain indications, is beginning to be cherished in the bosom of the church. More attention is beginning to be paid to the injunction of the Saviour to love one another; and more attention to the wants and requirements of the cause of truth. A breath of life is beginning to animate the church; and may we not safely consider all these things as the preliminary movements of the marshaling of God's elect?

To the fourth, fifth and seventh questions of the above series, we would append an emphatic No, and an affirmative answer, equally emphatic, to the eighth and ninth. That these are the correct answers, must, we think, be apparent to every one; and in the realization of this lies the hope of the church. Prophecy is rushing into fulfillment. All the elements, moral and political, which God has seen fit to use as precursors of the final crisis, are fast leaving their impress upon the nations and the world. And, shall the church, those who alone bear the torch of truth, those who walk in the light, and are not in darkness that that day should overtake them as a thief—shall they alone be stupid and stagnant, and still? No: this must not, this cannot, this will not, longer be. Onward and overcome, is now the watchword. "Ye cannot," says Christ, "serve God and mammon." For the future it must be God or mammon. Every one must now choose his master, and to the master of his choice, henceforth give all his energies. Therefore we would say again, if there are any who are doubting and wavering, "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. If the Lord be God, serve him; but if Baal, then follow him!"