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RUFUS BAKER

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The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 30, 1861

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 18, No. 9.

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RUFUS BAKER

By Rufus Baker

From Bro. Baker.

Bro. White: As you requested a hearing from the brethren on the subject of a day of fasting and prayer, I feel like responding to your suggestion. I am deeply convicted of the fact that we are living in a lukewarm state, and also that the testimony to the Laodiceans has never been fully heeded. My heart has frequently been pained while realizing the low state of the cause of present truth. There has been a gradual lowering down the standard of piety, until we as a body have almost lost that spirituality which should characterize us as the true followers of the meek and lowly Jesus. God has not departed from us, but we as a body have departed from him. I believe that if we return to the Lord with all our hearts, and with fasting, and with weeping and mourning, and rend our hearts and not our garments, he will return to us. It truly seems that if there was ever a time when a fast should be sanctified and a solemn assembly called, it is at the present time.
The prophet Joel says, "Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach," &c. There is no doubt that we have entered the perils of the last days, and that Satan is trying with all his power to overthrow the message of the third angel by lulling the people into a feeling of security, and causing them not to see their real danger until too late. Yet I believe by making a proper effort we can extricate ourselves from this low state and get upon higher and holier ground. May God grant that we may so humble ourselves beneath his mighty hand, by afflicting our souls on this antitypical day of atonement, that we may secure an interest in the ministration of our great High Priest while he officiates in the heavenly sanctuary, is the prayer of your brother striving to overcome.

RUFUS BAKER

Mackford, Green Lake Co., Wis.