THE HIDDEN CHURCH by R. F. C.

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 24, 1861

THE HIDDEN CHURCH.

By R. F. C.

ELIJAH had complained that Jehovah's name was forgotten, and his covenant forsaken by the children of Israel; and had added, that he himself was left alone. His complaint was correct enough for human knowledge. The days indeed were evil; the age of Noah seemed to have returned; all the vintage of God seemed gathered from the earth, with the exception of two or three on the topmost bough. Painful in the extreme must all this have been to such a spirit as Elijah's; but suddenly he receives from God himself the astonishing tidings that seven thousand were still reserved, who had not bowed the knee to Baal, nor kissed him. How astonished must the prophet have been at this disclosure! How ready to recall his words, "I, even I only, am left alone!" and how must his new commission have been undertaken with renewed courage!

And what could be more delightful in this our day than to be surprised by similar intelligence? Certainly, our own age seems greatly superior to that of Elijah's; but there is much that is only exterior show, which can hardly be mistaken. If all that appears to be divine life were really such; and if all were evangelists who in modern times are preaching, not for the truth, but against it; if they were men of God, led and gifted by the Spirit of God, and bowed the knee in truth to the exalted Redeemer; if all the multitudes, who in every place crowd into the places of worship, really said, in their hearts, "Come, let us return to the Lord!" if the thousands who, in Bible and missionary associations, labor in building the ark, all came into this ark themselves—nay, if even all whom we see uniting for meeting of edification and prayer, could be regarded as true worshipers, then might we indeed say something good of our times, though much would still remain to be wished for. But of what use is it to deceive ourselves? Things are far from being what their appearance would indicate; alas, many things which, from a distance, look very beautiful, are found, when more closely examined, to be full of deformities, if not mere phantoms of what they seemed to be.

Yet supposing we could regard all who have the show of piety as real christians, how few would even these be, compared with the number of those among us who openly show themselves to be unbelievers!

The prevailing spirit of our times is that of infidelity and apostasy—a spirit of pretended illumination, but in reality of the blindest presumption—a spirit of opposition to the plain word of God, and of arbitrary determination upon good and evil independent of it—a spirit of the most idolatrous exaltation of mere natural reason above the revealed wisdom of God. Among the great mass of nominal christians, both of the learned sort and the illiterate, it has long been taken for granted that the doctrine of our native corruption is a gloomy fancy, and that of salvation by the blood and righteousness of Christ an antiquated and by-gone notion. It is held that the miserable tinsel of exterior decorum, the mere flimsy garniture of selfishness, is quite sufficient to satisfy God; and that a Mediator is not at all necessary to the salvation of men. Many have long been agreed that the dogmas of a few conceited philosophers, so called, are more to be trusted than the truth of God delivered by Christ and his apostles; and that such faith as that of Paul, Peter, or John, is insufferable in the present day, as being absurd, mystical, and unworthy of any maturely instructed mind—yes, that it ought to be banished from the earth, even by persecution, if no other means will suffice.

Such is the prevailing spirit of our modern christendom, which with some is disguised by a christian profession; with others, has shamelessly cast off all disguise. It is found in every district, and in all ranks of society, and is taught in by far the greater part of our schools and nurseries. Millions of men professing the name of Christ, lie at the feet of this impious, lying spirit in the present day. If you travel through the country, in whatever direction, you find it discovering itself in every company, at public tables and in private families. Go from one church to another, and you will almost everywhere find that this spirit of seduction is the preacher and expositor; inspect a multitude of our modern hymn books and catechisms, and instead of the spirit of God, this spirit of darkness in the garb of religion will confront you; yes, and in a very large number of our places of education, this spirit is the Moloch to which our youth and children are sacrificed. Indeed, a review of the Christian world in the present day is enough to make every pious spirit shudder. The spirit of antichrist is prevailing in the world to such an extent as it has never done heretofore; and it is almost time to join with the complaint of the psalmist, "Help, Lord! for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fall from among the children of men!" Ps. xii, 1.

Surely many think far too favorably of the present times. But do not others think far too gloomily of them? We are willing to believe they do, and the experience which Elijah had, who even thought that he only was left; and afterward heard to his surprise that there were seven thousand in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal, may help to confirm us in this belief. Assuredly the Lord has many servants with whom we are unacquainted, he has hidden ones whom we may never hear of in this world; and many a country, and many a city, would perhaps long ago have been as Sodom and Gomorrah, had not a small remnant of such been left in those places.

Elijah, as we find, received an express revelation concerning the faithful in Israel, and their number. The Lord unveiled to him the hidden church, and it may be supposed how great was the astonishment of this man of God at hearing that among the very people he had so severely accused, there were so many as seven thousand who had not bowed the knee unto Baal. He had regarded himself as the only light in the darkness of Samaria; and now, behold! a whole firmament of chosen souls is disclosed to his view, which the clouds of his weak faith had kept hidden from him.

However low may be the present state of the church, we have reason to conclude that it is not so poor and destitute of persons influenced by divine grace as we are ready to imagine. I believe that if it pleased God to lift the veil, we might be surprised with the discovery of such numbers as would seem like a resurrection scene. We doubt not but the Prince of the host has still many an ambush of reserve in this world, and that he needs only to sound the trumpet, as he will do, in due time, according to Zech. x, 8, and then we shall be surprised at beholding troops of christians about us, as Elisha's servant was surprised at beholding troops of angels covering the mount of Dothan. 2 Kings vi, 17.

If we look in the day-time toward heaven, we can not see the stars of God. They are there fixed in the firmament, but the eye can not distinguish them. Wait until evening. The night invites their rays from concealment, and in the dark you behold their gentle luster once more. So also is the firmament of the church. In the sunshine of worldly prosperity they are scarcely perceptible, and the difference between them and the better sort of the children of this world is sometimes hardly discernible. But in this case also have patience until evening, and their glory will light up before you. As doubtless at the time when Hazael, the Syrian, broke in upon the land with fire and sword, these seven thousand in Israel were made manifest, so also on the day of the mighty sifting which awaits the Christian world, we shall be better able rightly to measure the Lord's temple upon earth.

These days of purification are hastening on with rapid flight. There is no want of signs of the most diversified kind, which announce to us the nearness of that period in which the Lord will manifest that his fan is in his hand, and will thoroughly purge his floor. Predictions hasten to their close; and the days are approaching in whose wild perplexity even the elect, were it possible, might be deceived. Then if a time should come when the mark of the beast shall be obtruded on our foreheads at the point of the sword or bayonet, when nothing can save us from torture or a bloody death but a renunciation of Christ and his gospel, the gold will be separated from the dross in the church, and it will be made apparent where the substance of godliness existed, and where only the appearance and tinsel of it. Alas, how many a star, respecting which we have at present no such presentiment, will then fall from the firmament of the church; and what clouds of chaff shall we then see borne away on the wind, even from places where our eyes at present perceive nothing but rich floors of wheat! For every thing that is not from the Spirit of the Lord, will not survive the ordeal of that day; and everything which now assumes to itself the ornaments of the sanctuary, but is not clothed with them by the Lord's hand, will be seen in the shame of its own nakedness.

At the very same period when trees "without fruit" shall fall, when multitudes of false brethren shall be severed and distinguished from the true; thousands, of whom at present we know nothing, shall throw aside the veil, and with cries of Hosannah! shall range under the banner of martyrs. When no other choice will be left but between Christ and Belial, then will those who heretofore have been reserved and timid declare themselves openly for Christ and his cause.—Krusensaker.

The twilight of present truth seemed to dawn upon our author's mind. R. F. C.