God's People by Jos. Clarke

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 21, 1863

God's People

By Jos. Clarke

ARE said to be the salt of the earth, the light of the world. The world do not think so; but, rather, the contrary.

Noah they contemned. All the world and the church (no doubt there was a nominal church then who felt greatly insulted by Noah's preaching) laughed at Noah, the antediluvian alarmist; but Noah proved to be right in his conclusions.

Abraham stood out alone, exiled himself from his home and kindred. Abraham against the world! yet, after all, Abraham proved to be in the right.

Moses all alone (Aaron excepted) stood up against the most enlightened nation of the world at that time—Moses against the world! yet Moses was correct.

Jeremiah stood alone, and reproved his king; and oh, what a grief was he to the proud court of that people! and down in the deep dungeon he was not missed by them, and would not have been missed (by the people) if he had died there; but an Ethiopian rescued him. Jeremiah! oh, what a grief was he to Zedekiah and his court! yet Jeremiah had the right of it! But oh, it is so unfashionable to do right!

Oh, what a grief it was to the Jewish sanhedrim and elders, that Jesus Christ should take the course he did! Why need he come out, as he did, so plain? Why not speak a little more smoothly? Why should he condemn all the world? Did not he know that his remarks were offensive to the governor, Herod, and that all the great men disapproved of his course? Could it be? the carpenter's son against the world? And there upon the cross, not a friend that dare come near, could it be? one man against the world! yet doubtless he was right.

Let us go to the great theatrical displays in Rome, when in her palmy days she counted her citizens by millions; when 300,000 spectators crowded the seats of a single theatre to witness the martyrdom of the people who ventured to say that popular opinions were incorrect on matters of religion.

Could it be! this handful of people right, and these millions all wrong? What could they do against the world? What! those 300,000 spectators who witnessed the scene as the wild monsters of Nubia tore the victims limb from limb, that gay multitude, some laughing, some weeping, some shouting—could they be all wrong?

Did they not with weeping, and many liberal offers endeavor to save their friends from making so unpopular a choice? Were not they clear? Had not these Christians brought all this trouble on themselves by their obstinate attachment to so hated a faith as this?

Who could do more than they had done? Had not Christians shown a very unamiable spirit, in thus turning their backs upon the ancient faith of the Roman commonwealth? Had not the prosperity of the Roman State been mainly attributable to their gods? How dare these Christians neglect and deny this old-established faith?

Were not these Christians shaking the faith of the most enlightened people, in the common faith so dear to Rome, a faith consecrated by the example of the noble warriors, statesmen, and priests who laid the foundation of the Roman State?

Could so radical, so strange a people be right? Were not these people generally hated? Why need they sow dissension in this populous and prosperous empire? Has not Rome prospered without a precedent or rival, and shall we change our religion now?

No: the case is clear: let these Christians revert to the faith of their ancestors, and they might to-night occupy these seats with us, where all is pleasure, as well as to be food for those wild beasts.

Why need Luther thunder as he does against this noble, this ancient Roman Catholic church? It is true our priests need to be reformed; but this is not the way to do it! Are we not holding councils for this very purpose? Luther is only aggravating the matter. If he does not cease his clamor, let him be tried as a dissensionist. He is doing more harm by his clamor than all our priests are by their vile practices. Why, he would tear asunder the very foundation of the Roman Catholic faith, and scatter to the winds this beautiful fabric of church government, and spread anarchy and confusion everywhere.

Has not the Catholic church stood like a mountain for ages? Is it not irreverent and immodest, nay, is it not blasphemous, for this monk to speak as he does of the established faith of the Roman Catholic church? Has not this church been fostered by kings, and is it

not the religion of the Christian world? Where is the emperor, or king, or prince, that dare speak as Luther has done? What has been the fate of Huss and other anarchists who have risen in rebellion against the church which nurtured them?

Last of all, this new-fangled doctrine of the Seventh-day Adventists! Here are a few scattered ones, pretending to say that the churches and the world are wrong in their Sabbath arrangements, wrong in their views of the future; in fact, these Seventh-day Adventists claim that the present is the generation upon whom the judgments of the last days, as described by John, the author of the book of Revelation, are to be visited; and furthermore, they have proceeded (having been excluded from our houses of worship) to preach their pestiferous doctrines in large tents, thus availing themselves of the political freedom so unwillingly granted them in this enlightened land.

The present beautiful arrangement in the religious world, by which men of different opinions can be accommodated in the various denominations, thus enlarging and strengthening the churches, by bringing together men and societies of every possible variety of character and views, thus stimulating to research and debate, giving life and energy to the public mind: all this they call confusion, even going so far as to call it the Babylon of the Apocalypse.

These Seventh-day Adventists claim that the gifts, which died out long ago in the church, ought still to exist, and give as a cause of the disappearance of the gifts, the apostasy of the church; thus irreverently implying that Protestants have apostatized!

In fact, for aught we can see, the Seventh-day Adventists are as seditious, and as much schismatics as Luther or Huss. Perhaps they deserve as condign punishment. At any rate, they must be put down in some way or other. Jos. CLARKE.