NOT AS THEY WERE by Editor

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 7, 1857

NOT AS THEY WERE.

By Editor

"THERE shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the creation." 2 Pet. iii, 3, 4. That all things continue as they were from the creation is the assertion of those who in their darkness are inquiring for a promise of Christ's coming. The proposition which we affirm is that all things do not continue as they were. There is no standing still. All things are moving on; and they who assert to the contrary only add falsehood to their mockery.

Things do not continue as they were. This is a great fact upon which we may surely depend. Day after day adds to its strength by additional testimony, and every new development reveals more clearly the approach of the great day, and lessens the ground which people might before imagine they had for the inquiry, Where is the promise of his coming? Gliding unconsciously along with the current, the people of the world may not perceive, without special observation, the rapidity with which matters are progressing; but as we see that the hands of a clock have moved, though we do not see them move, and as we can easily note how far a plant has grown, though we do not see it grow, so can any people, will they but give the subject their attention, easily perceive, yea, and be astonished at, the depth to which the world has suddenly fallen in every religious virtue.

Things have not continued as they were. There has been a change. And before our faith can waver, this fact must be broken down. Upon this, a basis which time has already wrought for us, we may plant our feet. There has been a change. The change is working still. It is working in just such a manner as the Scriptures describe. Have we not faith to believe also that the results will be such as the Scriptures point us to?

Bear these facts in mind, while we bring forward some testimony which illustrates our position; testimony by which, from some few points the vail is lifted, and we behold things as they are.

Spiritualism we have frequently shown to be a delusion of the last days, a special precursor of the consummation. Of the recent impulse which that move has taken, the Spiritual Telegraph says:

"Its march from the first has been marked by alternate periods of culmination and quiescence. If, six and nine months ago, this reform of reforms and development of developments, was comparatively at rest, it was only that it might gather strength for still wider conquests. The present Winter, and the present time, show the roll of an onward wave, deeper, broader, higher and mightier, than ever before. All men, so to speak, are compelled to stop and ponder. The priest and layman, the merchant, the mechanic—every class and grade of life, have had their attention arrested, and have paused to examine and inquire. 'I know of no family in New York,' observed a prominent citizen, the other day, 'that is not interested in Spiritualism.'

"Out of New York, it is substantially the same. In Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and other places near and far, comprising essentially the area of the United States, the swelling flood has been noted; a 'revival' among Spiritualists has occurred. . . ."

"Of Boston, a correspondent of the Tribune says, that the believers in modern Spiritualism in that city, 'are already respectable in numbers, far above mediocrity in talent, and are found among the most exclusive circles of our upper and literary classes.' In addition to this, according to the same authority, many men, 'influential in the church, in political life, in literature and business,' are secret believers in the new faith; while others, like Festus, are 'half persuaded' and send for some Apostle of the new doctrine, or like Nicodemus by night, to 'whisper their belief, and ask, How these things can be?' The Spiritualists in Boston, says this writer, are estimated on reliable authority at 25,000."

"The churches are making up their minds that a Spiritualist may even be a Christian."

"But the striking advance of our cause within the last few months, of which we have made mention, has by no means been confined to our own country in its sweep, even to the far South and the Pacific. . . . We recently announced the establishment of a journal at Caracas—El Espiritualista—for the dissemination of the new doctrines."

"Europe shares in the outpouring to a still greater extent. England, Scotland, France, Germany and Switzerland, at least, have more or less spiritual publications. A journal of the new faith has recently been started at Geneva, the venerable mother of Protestant dogmatic theology; and many ardent workers, and multitudes of believers in the higher as well as the lower ranks of life, are to be found on every part of the continent."

In the same catalogue with the above, and spoken of in the same strain, are "Asia, Japan, Africa, the Indian and the Pacific Isles." They shall go forth to the kings of the earth, says the prophecy.

But there is another class of people connected with this subject. Another prophecy states that great Babylon, the city of confusion, is become the habitation of devils, the hold of every foul spirit, the cage of hateful birds. As the churches at first very generally took a stand against Spiritualism, this has been looked upon by many as an improbable result. But as the teachings of the churches, concerning man in death and the immortality of the soul, are the main bulwark of the Spiritual faith, so the members of these churches to maintain their consistency unless they change their views, must acknowledge the results of their teaching and enroll themselves in the ranks of Spiritualists. A fact to prove that this is now fulfilling. We will quote again from the same Telegraph. A lecturer writing from Vermont, speaking of the advance that Spiritualism has made in that State since its first introduction there, scarcely five years ago, says:

"Thus Spiritualism has advanced, and thus has fallen the opposition, until, in Vermont alone, seventy churches (built by, or embracing, nearly all of our sects) have been opened for the use of Spiritualists. Here is a fact which eloquently pleads the Divinity of Spiritualism, while it sternly asserts the inferiority of dogmatism. The writer has cause to remember when the first effort was made to open a meeting-house in Vermont, for Spiritualism, as that effort was made to allow him, for the first time, to stand before an audience to be influenced by spirits. The attempt failed. . . . But to return to the general fact, the writer humbly admits that he can hardly explain why seventy churches have been opened; he can only cite the power of the spirit; he will not be deemed assuming or excited when he claims that his knowledge of these things is certain. After traveling in nearly all parts of the State, and meeting with thousands of intelligent men and women, and occupying (by invitation) more than sixty of the seventy desks, he must know something of the condition of his State."

But the spread of this crowning deception is not the only aspect of the times. A general declension in the last days is the repeated declaration of prophecy—a declension to such a degree that it may finally be said that "the whole world lieth in wickedness; or, in the arms of the wicked one. 1 John v, 19. Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse."

Says the Hornellsville Times, "The records of the past have never presented a more fearful and corrupt state of society than now exists throughout most parts of the United States. The newspapers from every quarter are becoming more and more loaded with the records of crime, and it would seem as though Satan had actually been let loose for a little season, and was improving his liberty."

The New York Chronicle speaking of crime in that city, says:

"Never was crime more rampant than now. Garroting, burglary, stabbing, fraud, lewdness, forgery, embezzlement, and every imaginable form of wrong, cruelty, and murder meet us at every turn. The morning and evening journals are encumbered with disgusting details. Police has become impotent. Indeed crime enters the sanctuary of law and presides on the bench of justice. Rulers have lost the public respect and confidence. Wrong-doers laugh them in the face, and chuckle over the imbecility and wickedness which are set to preserve the public order. There is no such respect for rulers as was felt in the earlier years of our city. Our doors are entered, and our halls stripped of hats, cloaks and furs; our necks are grappled, or our voices stifled as we pass along the streets while our pockets are relieved of their contents; and it has come to pass that a man who walks out at night feels himself surrounded by robber hands just ready to pounce upon him with fatal results to limb and life."

No, brethren, all things have not continued as they were. The word of God is fulfilling before us. Many, many, are the signs of his coming.

"Clouds of darkness gathering o'er us, awful tidings with them bear, Scenes of misery spread before us—rumors reaching us from far— All in one loud piercing chorus, tell us that the end is near."