A DISCOURSE by R. F. Cottrell

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 10, 1858

A DISCOURSE

By R. F. Cottrell

Written for the Seneca Indians, to be delivered through an Interpreter. No. 2.

BY R. F. COTTRELL.

BRETHREN AND FRIENDS: In our first discourse in this place, we spoke of the signs of Christ's second coming. My brother spoke of the signs in the heavens—in the sun, moon and stars. But these are not all. There are other signs which agree with those to prove the same. The Lord says, "I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath." Acts ii, 19. Again, Jesus says, "There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity." Luke xxi, 25.

The signs in the heavens have been seen. After this come troubles and perplexity among the nations of earth. For a few years past, the nations have been perplexed. Their rulers have been in doubt what course to pursue. The nations are angry; and the next event in order is the pouring out of the wrath of God. This wrath will be poured out in the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. Rev. xv, 1. In Rev. xi, 18, it is said, And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged. Thus we see that this angry state of the nations is foretold. This we see fulfilled; and the wrath of God will certainly follow. Have not the nations of Europe been angry for a few years past? And in our own country, have we not been threatened with war at home and abroad? Are we not upon the very eve of the time of trouble foretold by Daniel? He says, Michael shall stand up, and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time; and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. Michael, the great Prince, is Christ. He is the Son of the King of heaven. At the commencement of his reign he will dash the nations in pieces. But he will deliver every one that have their names in the Lamb's book of life. There will be trouble to the wicked, but joy and salvation to the saints of God!

But some will not believe that these things are coming. They tell us that there is peace now among the nations. This is just as Paul said it would be. Says he, When they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, and they shall not escape. 1 Thess. v, 3. The present peace, then, is only the prelude to that swift destruction which is coming. No permanent peace is established. The nations are in an unsettled state still; and like a store of gunpowder they only need the smallest spark to set them all in a blaze again.

But there is another sign of Christ's second coming which I wish to notice. His coming is to be preached in the world; and this preaching is a sign of the end. Says Jesus, This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. This means something more than the preaching of salvation through Christ. The salvation of the gospel has been preached more than 1800 years. This is not the sign of the end. But this gospel of the kingdom, which

is a sign of the end, must be a special preaching about the coming of Christ, and the setting up of his kingdom, when he will reign with his saints a thousand years. This preaching will not convert all nations; but it will be a witness or sign to them. The great mass will not heed it, and to them the coming of Christ will be as a thief in the night, or as the flood upon the old world. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not, until the flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Some dislike our preaching the second advent; but it must be preached or the Scriptures would not be fulfilled. The antediluvians were warned of the coming judgment of God, by the preaching of Noah. They did not believe and were destroyed. The people are now being warned of the day of wrath just before us, but they will not believe, and that day will overtake them as a thief. Noah and his family believed God, and were saved from the flood. So God's true children now will believe and be saved. Paul says, But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Paul's brethren then will know that the Lord is coming, and will be saved. But the unbelieving will not know, and will be lost. Let us believe God's word, and heed the signs, that we may be brethren of Paul!

Christ pronounces a blessing on those servants whom he finds at his coming preaching the truth. At that time the truth that he is coming will be the food in due season. He says, Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season. Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. The food in due season must mean the truth that belongs especially to that time. And the truth at that time will be that the Lord is coming. Just before Christ comes the fact that he is coming will be the truth which belongs to that time. Blessed is that servant that shall be found at the Lord's coming preaching his coming. That this is the true meaning, is evident from what is said of the evil servant. He is represented as saying in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming. The evil servant says the Lord is not soon coming; the faithful servant must teach that he is coming. Let us believe the truth, and not be like the evil servant.

But the preaching of the second coming of Christ is further prophesied of in Rev. xiv. The book of Revelation abounds in symbols. Thus the wicked governments of earth are represented by wild beasts. John sees in the first place a great red dragon. This as a symbol means Pagan Rome. He then sees a beast with seven heads and ten horns. This means Papal Rome. These governments persecuted the saints for many years. Next he sees a beast with two horns like a lamb, but he spake as a dragon. This we believe means the United States. This government is lamb-like in appearance, not dragon-like in action. In profession it is the land of liberty; but in action it is the land of slavery and oppression. Beasts are symbols of governments.

But in chapter xiv, another class of symbols is introduced. They are angels flying through the heavens with messages to the inhabitants of the earth. These we understand to signify messages preached to the world by the servants of God. They symbolize proclamations which are to prepare the people of God for the coming of Christ. Three messages are preached, and then the Son of man is seen coming upon a great white cloud. The gospel of the kingdom is preached in these three messages, and then the end comes. The sickle in the hand of the Son of man is a sign of the harvest. Said Jesus, The harvest is the end of the world. These three messages must be preached to the world before the coming of Jesus; for the Scriptures must be fulfilled. We believe two of them have been preached, and that we are now preaching the third.

The first angel preaches the everlasting gospel to them that dwell upon the earth, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come. This is a proclamation of definite time for the session of Judgment. This we believe was fulfilled in 1844. Wm. Miller and many others preached a definite time for the judgment in the Fall of 1844. But perhaps you say, That preaching was a mistake, for the Lord did not come as they expected. Certainly, the Lord did not come, but who knows that the set time for the judgment did not then come? They had wrong views of the judgment, and perhaps you have. They supposed that Christ must first come, and then judge the world. But when he comes he raises the righteous all at once and rewards them with immortality. All the saints have part in the first resurrection. But the wicked dead do not live again till a thousand years afterwards. From this we see that the cases of all must be decided for the first, or for the second resurrection, before Christ comes. And when he comes he executes judgment for the saints, by rewarding them with eternal life. Not considering these facts, they that preached the judgment hour in 1844 were disappointed. And we might expect they would be, for two other messages must be given after the judgment hour is preached, before the Son of man is seen on the white cloud.

The prophecies must be fulfilled. And those persons by whom God fulfills them are sometimes disappointed in their expectations. This was the case with the first disciples. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem, they spread their garments in the way, and cried, Hosanna to the King that cometh in the name of the Lord! They doubtless expected that Christ was then to take the kingdom, and reign upon the throne of his father David. Within a few days their Lord was crucified and their hope was gone. They were doubtless as much disappointed as those were that expected the second advent in 1844. The first disciples were appointed. But did they not fulfill prophecy? They did. Hundreds of years before, the prophet Zechariah had said, Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem, behold thy King cometh unto thee; he is just and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. The disciples did shout, in fulfillment of this prophecy. The Pharisees were disturbed with the noise, and said to Jesus, Master, rebuke thy disciples. Jesus replied, If these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out. And why? Because the prophecy must be fulfilled. But they did not know what they were doing at the time. John says, These things understood not his disciples at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him.

So we see that the people of God can fulfill his word, and yet be disappointed. But we have a clear explanation of the disappointment of 1844. The set time for the session of the judgment, is found in the book of Daniel. Chap. viii, 14. Unto 2300 days; then shall the Sanctuary be cleansed. The cleansing of the Sanctuary is the work of blotting out sins. It is a judgment work. This work must be done before Christ comes. It is the judgment of God's people. When this is done he will come and give his people their reward. But we cannot speak of this subject now, but would say that the right view of this subject explains the disappointment.

The judgment hour message has been given. People complain of our preaching definite time; but it was necessary for time to be preached. The Scriptures could not have been fulfilled without it. Let us believe it.

The second angel follows the first, saying Babylon is fallen, is fallen. We believe that this also has been fulfilled. Such a message did follow the first in the fall of 1844. Babylon means confusion; and we believe it is used to denote all the fallen sects of the last days, who have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof. When this message was fulfilled, those who believed in the Lord's soon coming, came out of the different churches to which they belonged, because their hopes were opposed and ridiculed by their former brethren. But I cannot now spend time on this part of the subject. It has had its fulfillment.

And now the third message is to be given. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast or his image or receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation.

The two-horned beast will enforce by law the worship of the beast and his image on pain of death; and declare that no man shall buy or sell unless they have the mark; but God warns us beforehand, that if we obey this earthly power in this, we shall drink of his wrath. This is the last message, and we are soon to make our final choice. I have not time to explain this message fully; and show what the worship and mark of the beast are. But I will tell you how you may escape the wrath of God. Be sure that you keep all his commandments, just as he has given them to us in the Bible. The third message closes in these words: Here is the patience of the saints. Here are they that keep the Commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus. Men are not keeping all the ten commandments as they are written in the word. This message is to bring all true Christians back to the commandments. And we believe it will be done. We believe those Christians who are alive when Christ comes, will keep the seventh day of the week, which is the Sabbath of the Lord our God, and not follow the Catholic Church by keeping the first day.

There is no command in the Bible for keeping Sunday. This is a commandment of man. The beast requires us to keep the first day, and so will his image. The beast is Papal Rome. The image will soon be made by Protestant United States. And we must soon choose whether we will obey God, or these wicked powers of earth.

May God help us to keep his commandments, and not the commandments of the beast, that we may be safe in the day of his wrath. That we may stand when the wicked powers of earth, which have made void his law, shall be dashed in pieces. Amen.