Earlier text: CHRISTIAN WATCHFULNESSMilner on the Sabbath.
By D. A. Robinson
John Milner, a Catholic divine, and author of “Milner’s End of Controversy,” has made some very cutting remarks for Protestants on the Sabbath question. Reader, weigh his words well and step out of the way of such shots. In his XLIII letter, addressed to the Rev. Robert Clayton, he says:— “Rev. Sir: In the natural order of our controversies, this is the proper place to treat of purgatory and prayer for the dead. On this subject Bishop Porteus begins with saying, “There is no Scripture proof of the existence of purgatory. Heaven and hell we read of perpetually in the Bible; but Purgatory we never meet with; though surely, if there be such a place, Christ and his apostles would not have concealed it from us.” In answer to these words Milner remarks:— “I might expose the inconclusiveness of this argument by the following parallel one: The Scriptures nowhere command us to keep the first day of the week holy; we perpetually read of sanctifying the Sabbath, or Saturday; but never meet with Sunday as a day of obligation; though if there be such an obligation Christ and his apostles would not have concealed it from us.” This does not, as he says, “expose the inconclusiveness of the argument” withal, but it does come with strong force against those who regard Sunday as the Sabbath. The way that Milner makes his course appear consistent is by saying that the Bible is not a sufficient rule of faith and practice; but that we need tradition with it. The Protestants, however, deny this, believing the Bible to be sufficient. Consequently the following words from Milner make the position of many Protestants appear very inconsistent. Thus he says again:— “The first precept in the Bible is that of sanctifying the seventh day: ‘God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it.’ Gen. 2 : 3. This precept was confirmed by God in the ten commandments: ‘Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.’ ‘The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.’ Ex. 20. On the other hand Christ declares that he is not come to destroy the law but to fulfill. Matt. 5 : 17. He himself observed the Sabbath; and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. Luke 4 : 16. His disciples likewise observed it after his death. They rested on the Sabbath day according to the commandment. Luke 23 : 56. “Yet, with all this weight of Scripture authority for keeping the Sabbath, or seventh day, holy, Protestants of all denominations, make this a profane day, and transfer the obligation of it to the first day of the week or the Sunday. Now what authority have they for doing this? None at all but the unwritten word of tradition of the Catholic church, which declares that the apostles made the change in honor of Christ’s resurrection, and the descent of the Holy Ghost on that day of the week.” If Mr. Milner was living to-day we might inform him that not all Protestants admit the authority of tradition even on this point, but believe the Bible to be a sufficient rule in the matter. It does, as he says, perpetually speak of the seventh day as the Sabbath, and we simply believe it. Reader, where do you stand, on the Word of God? or on tradition? Last week we gave a short article from the Sabbath Recorder, entitled as above. The following from the same source is a continuation of the subject in other of its relations:— Having observed that the law of God is co-existent with his relations to man, and the moral obligations resting on man are co-existent with his moral relations both to God as Creator and to man as fellow-being, we proceed to notice the relation of law to grace. Paul, in discussing this theme, brings out the relation in very sharp outlines in the following words: “The law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” Rom. 5: 20. The will of God, in its very nature, infinitely wise, holy and just, when expressed or revealed to the apprehension of man, is the law of God. This is the ultimate standard of truth and righteousness. It is as pure, changeless, and uncompromising as the character of God. It embodies the divine excellence and the spiritual holiness of God. Without this law man is in moral darkness. He has no moral standard, but his own corrupt, fallen nature with which to compare himself. Hence he cannot realize his own spiritual depravity and unlikeness to God. Thus we see that revelation of the law of God to the conscience of man is absolutely essential to any clear understanding of his own unholiness and moral corruption. It is the means of revealing man to himself. He could never know his real moral condition were it not for the revelation of the perfect law. This is the thought of the apostle. “Law entered that the offense might abound;” that is, that sin might be seen and felt as sin. Without it there is no consciousness of sin; with it clearly and distinctly impressed on the mind sin is made exceedingly sinful. It is only in the clear light of the holy and righteous law of God that man becomes conscious of his separation from God and of his lost condition. Hence it must be evident to any reflecting mind that any theory that ignores the perpetual and universal force of the law, goes very far towards destroying the fundamental conditions of the gospel. How can a man understand his need of salvation who is not first conscious of being lost? And how can he understand his lost condition without the law? “But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” The need of a Redeemer and the magnitude of grace can never be fully apprehended without first an apprehension of the righteous and holy claims of God, and a keen sense of sinfulness and depravity. Translation of Elijah Typical.
ADVENT believers are generally agreed in referring to the translation of Enoch and Elijah, as being examples of the translation of those who are alive and remain to the coming of the Lord, of whom the apostle speaks when he says, We shall not all sleep. This being the right understanding of the subject, we may learn something of the destiny of these from what is left on record concerning those. And since some are of the opinion that those who expect to go to Heaven, the habitation of the Father, when changed to immortality, are indulging a false hope, the inquiry naturally arises, Were Enoch and Elijah really “removed” as the word translated denotes? and if so, to what place? Paul says that Enoch “was not found, because God had translated him.” He was no longer on earth. Where did he go? “God took him,” says Moses. Of Elijah it is recorded, “And it came to pass when the Lord would take up Elijah into Heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went,” etc. We may justly conclude, then, that God took these men to himself. But the sons of the prophets of Jericho were skeptical. They proposed to Elisha to have send fifty men to seek for Elijah. They said, “Peradventure the Spirit of the Lord hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley.” And he said, Ye shall not send. And when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent, therefore, fifty men; and they sought three days but found him not. And when they came to him again, he said unto them, did I not say unto you, Go not?” It is reasonable then to believe, that when the saints are caught up to meet the Lord in the air, at his coming, they will not be cast upon some mountain, or into some valley of this sin-cursed earth, but that they will go to dwell with Enoch and Elijah till the period of the resurrection and destruction arrives, when the earth will be renewed, and a dwelling thus prepared for immortal beings, where there is “no more curse.” Enoch and Elijah are not dead, but they have been absent from the earth for thousands of years. During this time they have doubtless received a portion of the reward of their faith and obedience, for their walk with God was the cause of their being taken away. But when the purchased possession is redeemed from the curse, Eph. 1:14, they will have an inheritance in it; for “The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein forever.” The Lasting Influence of Good Deeds
ONE pound of gold may be drawn into a beautiful wire that would extend around the world. So one good deed may be felt through all time, and even extend its consequences into eternity. Though done in the first flush of youth, it may gild the last hours of a long life, and form the only bright spot in it. The Night is Far Spent.
By John Nevins Andrews
“And that knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand; let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.” Rom. 13: 11, 12. The day which is represented as at hand, is evidently the day of deliverance to the people of God. The night, which is far spent, represents the period of man's probation; the time during which the people of God sojourn in the earth in its state of subjection to the curse. It is the whole period from the expulsion of our first parents from Paradise, till the overcomers' return to Paradise, never to lose it again. It is a long night, but the morning shall at last chase away its gloom. It is the night of weeping. The morning shall bring everlasting joy. Ps. 30: 5. This morning, when “the Just One” shall begin his rule, shall be a morning without clouds. 2 Sam. 23: 3, 4. This night of sin and death is one perpetual watch for the church of Christ. The world uses this night for sleep and for drunkenness. 1 Thess. 5: 4-8. It is the business of the church to watch and be sober. The church must watch through the whole night. But it is only as the night is actually giving place to the morning, that the tokens of coming day indicate to the watchers that their hopes are about to be realized. Till then, they have to watch without being able to tell very clearly the time of night. And so the people of God, weary with long watching, call out with anxious cry, “Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?” The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night; if ye will inquire, inquire ye; return, come.” Isa. 21: 11, 12. The watchman assures the inquirers that the day shall finally dawn, and encourages them to ask again. And this is a virtual pledge that he will, in answer to his questions, report every token of coming day that he is able to discover. He makes one statement worthy of particular observation. The night comes as well as the morning. The present is the day of probation. If men will hear the voice of Christ, “while it is called to-day,” they may be saved. But when this is past, then comes the night, to the wicked, in which none can work the works of God. John 9: 4. But the present is our night, and when it is ended the “morning without clouds,” the morning of joy breaks upon our delighted vision. So the one class finds a night of unutterable anguish, just where the other hails with infinite joy the long-hoped-for morning. The rest of the church and the distress of the foe come at the same time. Paul tells us that “the night is far spent, the day is at hand.” Thank God for that good word. Our salvation is nearer than when we believed. But stop, says the objector: Paul said this eighteen hundred years ago. If it was far spent eighteen hundred years ago, no one can tell that another like period may not elapse before the day shall actually come. Perhaps it would be a proper answer were I to reply that Paul often speaks to the church in a prophetic capacity, as, for instance, 1 Thess. 4: 15, 17; 5: 1-4; 1 Tim. 4: 1; 2 Tim. 3; and that he is addressing the people of God from a prophetic stand-point, where the day of God is about to open. It is evident that he speaks in this capacity when he numbers himself with those who shall be alive at the coming of Jesus. The “we” thus brought to view, being that part of the church that, standing as the representatives of all the people of God, shall finish out this long night of watching, and welcome the coming of “the perfect day.” Prov. 4: 18. But I shall say no such thing to an objector. Yet even he ought to see that his objection is sophistical, i. e., it consists wholly of false reasoning. For if this kind of reasoning proves anything, it proves that the nearer we get to an event the further it is from us. Any reasoning by which we may prove an absurdity is manifestly false reasoning. Thus to continue this style of reasoning: The apostle said that the day was at hand and the night far spent eighteen hundred years since; therefore, for aught we can tell, another like period may elapse. Let us suppose five hundred years more to elapse without the advent of Jesus. This same question being raised, the objector would say, Twenty-three hundred years have passed since Paul said the night was far spent; who can tell why another twenty-three hundred years may not intervene between us and the day of God? Who cannot see that this kind of reasoning is deceptive and false? We must be getting nearer the grand event, year by year; yet the lapse of time only makes the event more remote from us. What, then, did Paul really teach, and what is the true method of reasoning from his words? Common sense, an article so rare that the name seems inappropriate, would seem plainly to suggest the following as the reasonable and just view of this text: As the night evidently covers the whole period of our earth's continuance in its present state, in other words, as the night represents the time of probation and affliction to the people of God, for Paul to be justified in saying that the night is far spent, the greater part of the entire period must be in the past. This is certainly a reasonable, just, and necessary conclusion. Thus if two-thirds of the entire period had elapsed, then the night itself was far spent though Paul could not live to see the dawning of the day. How much time had elapsed when Paul wrote these startling words? Nearly forty-two hundred years! How much has elapsed since? About eighteen hundred! Then it follows that the dawning of the day is immediately upon us. More than two-thirds of the six thousand years of human probation were then past. The remainder is nearly full! Whether human probation covers just six thousand years or not, the most careful study of the Bible shows that it cannot vary much therefrom. Probably it is the very limit assigned. But waiving this, Paul's words do show that the day of God is certainly at hand. What was near, compared with the whole period of the night in the time of Paul, is, by that very fact, proved to be now emphatically at hand. Then, surely, it is time for us to awake out of sleep. The dreadful day draws near. Probation is about to close. Our fellow-men all around us are unprepared. Our own preparation is not complete. Some have hardly made a fair commencement. Probably a very large proportion of our number fail to make daily progress in the great work. Oh, terrible mistake is this! Shall our Lord come and find us thus? Shall the close of our brief, remaining probation bring us to the morning of eternal joy, or to the night of utter darkness and despair? Mrs. Ellen G. White.
By Ellen G. White
HER LIFE, CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE, AND LABORS.
We were disappointed but not disheartened. We resolved to submit patiently to the process of purifying that God deemed needful for us; to refrain from murmuring at the trying ordeal by which the Lord was purging us from the dross and refining us like gold in the furnace. We resolved to wait with patient hope for the Saviour to redeem his tried and faithful ones. We believe that the preaching of definite time was of God. It was this that led men to search the Bible diligently, discovering truths they had not before perceived. Jonah was sent of God to proclaim in the streets of Nineveh that within forty days the city would be overthrown; but God accepted the humiliation of the Ninevites and extended their period of probation. Yet the message that Jonah brought was sent of God, and Nineveh was tested according to his will. The world looked upon our hope as a delusion and our disappointment its consequent failure, but though we were mistaken in the event that was to occur at that period, there was no failure in reality of the vision that seemed to tarry. The words of the Saviour in the parable of the wicked servant applies very forcibly to those who ridicule the near coming of the Son of man. “But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the men servants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; the lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.” We found everywhere the scoffers which Peter says shall come in the last days, “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 beginning of the creation.” But those who had looked for the coming of the Lord were not without comfort, they had obtained valuable knowledge in the searching of the Word. The plan of salvation was plainer to their understanding. Every day they discovered new beauties in its sacred pages and a wonderful harmony running through all, one scripture explaining another and no word used in vain. Our disappointment was not so great as that of the disciples. When the Son of man rode triumphantly into Jerusalem they expected him to be crowned king. The people flocked from all the region about and cried, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” And Jesus, when the priests and elders besought him to still the multitude, declared that if they should hold their peace even the stones would cry out, for prophecy must be fulfilled. Yet in a few days these very disciples saw their beloved Master, whom they believed would reign on David’s throne, stretched upon the cruel cross above the mocking, taunting Pharisees. Their high hopes were drowned in bitter disappointment, and the darkness of death closed about them. Yet Christ was true to his promises. Sweet was the consolation he gave his people, rich the reward of the true and faithful. Wm. Miller and those who were in union with him supposed that the cleansing of the sanctuary, spoken of in Dan. 8: 14, meant the purifying of the earth prior to its becoming the abode of the saints. This was to take place at the advent of Christ, therefore we looked for that event at the end of the 2300 days, or years. But after our disappointment the Scriptures were carefully searched with prayer and earnest thought, and after a period of suspense as to our true position, light poured in upon our darkness; doubt and uncertainty was swept away. Instead of the prophecy of Dan. 8: 14 referring to the purifying of the earth, it was now plain that it pointed to the closing work of our High Priest in Heaven, the finishing of the atonement, and the preparing of the people to abide the day of his coming. I might give a more detailed explanation of the passing of the time as considered in the light of prophecy, but it is not in the legitimate province of these articles to do so. I merely designed to give as brief an account as possible of these important events with which my life was so closely interwoven that they cannot consistently be omitted from these pages. I would, however, refer those readers who desire further information, to works on this subject, published at the SIGNS Office. I now return to my personal history from which I have necessarily digressed:— After the passing of the time in 1844, my health rapidly failed, I could only speak in a whisper or broken tone of voice. One physician stated that my disease was dropsical consumption, he pronounced my right lung decayed and the left one considerably diseased, while the heart was seriously affected. He thought that I could live but a short time, and might die suddenly at any time. It was very difficult for me to breathe when lying down, and at night I was bolstered in almost a sitting posture, and was frequently wakened by coughing and bleeding at the lungs. About this time, while visiting a dear sister in Christ, whose heart was knit with mine, the first vision was given to me. There were but five of us, all women, kneeling quietly in the morning at the family altar, when this event transpired. Space forbids me from entering into a detailed account of the wonders of these visions, which would of themselves, fill volumes; but when the book is published, of which these hasty articles will be the basis, it will contain a full relation of the views that God has seen fit to reveal to me. In order to record in these sketches some of the most stirring incidents in my busy life, I shall be obliged to pass lightly over, or altogether omit a great share of that which would no doubt be of great interest to the readers. Many facts for which there is not room in the columns of this paper will soon appear in the volume of my life spoken of above. I related this vision to the believers in Portland, who had full confidence that these manifestations were of God. A power attended them that could only emanate from the divine. A solemn sense of eternal interests was constantly upon me. An unspeakable awe filled me, that I, so young and feeble, should be chosen as the instrument by which God would give light to his people. While under the power of the Lord I was so inexpressibly happy, seeming to be surrounded by radiant angels in the glorious courts of Heaven, where all is peace and joy, that it was a sad and bitter change to wake up to the unsatisfying realities of mortal life. In a second vision, which soon followed the first, I was shown the trials through which I must pass, and that it was my duty to go and relate to others the things that God had revealed to me. It was shown me that my labors would meet with great opposition, and that my heart would be wrought with anguish, but that the grace of God would be sufficient to sustain me through all. The teaching of this vision troubled me exceedingly, for it pointed that my duty was to go out among the people and teach the truth. My health was so poor that I was in actual bodily suffering, and, to all appearance, had but a short time to live. I was but seventeen years of age, small and frail, unused to society, and naturally so timid and retiring that it was painful for me to meet strangers. I prayed earnestly for several days and far into the night, that this burden might be removed from me and laid upon some one else more capable of bearing it. But the light of duty never changed, and the words of the angel sounded continually in my ears, “Make known to others what I have revealed to you.” The Conference.
By Uriah Smith
We gave last week a partial report of this good meeting. This was a special meeting of the General Conference, not designed to take the place of the regular annual meeting, to be held in connection with the Michigan Camp-meeting in August next. We are happy to present this week the doings of the committee appointed to arrange the camp-meetings for the coming season. The meetings last year were precious seasons. We look for them this year to be crowned with a still greater measure of the blessing of God. One of the most interesting features of the Conference was the correspondence received. The earnest letters, calling for help and stating the openings everywhere presenting themselves, showed that the Lord has gone out before us and is inviting us to follow. Letters which came from States where Conferences are organized will be referred to the Conference Committees of those States. Of others we are happy to note the following as examples:— A letter from Hampton Co., Ontario, stated that many thousands of pages of tracts had been distributed there, a great interest excited, some had already commenced to keep the Sabbath, three places were waiting for the living preacher to instruct more fully, baptize and organize churches, and a fourth would soon be ready for such labor. In one place the leading citizens contemplate paying for a hall, and say they must have some preaching on these subjects. Bro. Osborn appealed earnestly for Kentucky. There are now five organized churches in that State, besides two in Tennessee. The brethren there have pledged nearly enough to purchase a tent, and are arranging to have it in the field the coming summer. The Conference generously proposes to furnish a tent for that field, send Bro. O. a good assortment of books, and let them use their means for further missionary labor in that section. A very interesting letter was received from a brother in Coose Co., Alabama, seventy years of age, who commenced to keep the Sabbath last October. He embraced religion at the age of thirteen, commenced to preach at fourteen, has been preaching ever since, fifty-six years, and is still at the work with a voice as strong as ever. He has a wife and eleven children, the youngest of whom is twenty-five years of age. He has resided in Alabama thirty years, and is known all through that country. He now preaches the Sabbath. Has had no doors shut against him as yet; and as a result of his efforts, quite a number have embraced the Sabbath, and ten ministers are now investigating the question. He says the prospect in his place and surrounding country is good for the spread of the truth. Brethren are beginning, as is right, to think about tents for the coming summer. Many camp-meeting and preachers' tents are wanted, and inquiries are coming in, in regard to the best place to buy, etc. It was the opinion of the Conference, not officially, but individually expressed, that S. D. Adventists ought to have a tent-making establishment of their own, by which tents of all kinds could be furnished to our people at a much less rate than we now have to pay. Thousands of dollars are now paid out every year for tents, a good portion of which might be saved to our cause, had we such an establishment of our own, and a person capable of conducting the business. U. S. Doctrine Needs Christian Character
DOCTRINE is like a human skeleton — very necessary, but useless without a flesh covering. Should Seventh-day Adventists Exist?—No. 4.
By R. F. Cottrell
The last special proclamation of the gospel to man in a state of probation, promised of God in prophecy, is that of the “third angel,” recorded in Rev. 14: 9-12. This assertion needs no other proof than a careful reading of the text with the context from verse 6 to the end of the chapter. The warning contained in this message against the worship of the beast and his image and the reception of his mark, is being preached by S. D. Adventists, as we have said, and by no one else. It is self-evident that no portion of the Word of God is of greater importance to the people to whom it is addressed, than this awful and final warning, of which the reception or the rejection is decisive of eternal destiny. Yet nobody, with the above exception, defines its terms and teaches its meaning. All seem to be in stupid ignorance on this thrilling theme; while the necessity of understanding it is so apparent. Since the wrath of God, without mixture of mercy, is the penalty of worshiping the beast and his image and receiving his mark, it is absolutely necessary that these terms should be clearly defined. Who will define them? No one attempts to do so but S. D. Adventists. The result of the preaching of this message is, that while it condemns the worshipers of the beast and his image, it separates the people of God, called saints, of whom a prophetic description is given in verse 12. The description is remarkably brief, but, like all the words of God, it is perfect; that is, it infallibly distinguishes the saints at the close of probation from all others. Only three points are given. 1. They are in their period of patience. 2. They keep the commandments of God. 3. They keep the faith of Jesus. They are in trial under persecution. “Tribulation worketh patience.” From this they will be delivered at the appearing of Christ. “Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.” They are Adventists; they are waiting for his coming who shall deliver them; their hearts have been directed “into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ.” See Jas. 5: 7, 8; 2 Thess. 3: 5. And in their tribulation and patient waiting they keep both the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Christ. These three particulars perfectly describe the saints, at the time when the last message of the gospel has accomplished its design; so that these three characteristics combined in one people is infallible proof that they are the people; and any people claiming to be the saints of God, yet are wanting in any one of these things specified, are not the people foretold and described in this prophecy. It is clearly evident that the commandments which these believers in Christ keep, are the commandments of the moral law, the ten commandments, for all Christians are agreed that the ceremonial law, the law of typical offerings and sacrifices, came to an end at the crucifixion of Christ. But it is not all professed Christians that keep this law. Some claim that it was abolished with the law of bloody sacrifices. They hold to no law but the gospel; consequently they are not characterized by keeping any commandments besides, and in connection with, the faith of Jesus Christ. Others who claim to keep the commandments of the moral law, do not keep the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. Some say that it is done away; others, that its obligation has been transferred to another day, a thing impossible to be done, without the abolition of the commandment as it reads. A commandment-keeper keeps them all; the breaking of one makes him a commandment-breaker; “for whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one, he is guilty of all.” He that secularizes the day which God sanctified, does not keep the commandments of God, and it is in view of the fact of the departure of the mass of professed Christians from this moral law that the fearful warning and terrible denunciation of wrath against the worshipers of the beast, was prepared in prophecy by divine prescience, for the very last days of the dispensation. The beast is that great anti-christian power, the Roman popedom, of which it was prophesied that it should “think to change times and laws,” and it is now manifest to all who investigate the question, that the change of the time of the Sabbath, and the law for the observance of the first day instead of the seventh, can be traced to no higher authority than the church of Rome. The people described in this prophecy must keep both the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. They cannot be Jews, who, though holding to the commandments of the Father, reject the faith of the Son. Neither can they be those Christians whose professed faith in Jesus Christ makes void the moral law of God, wholly or in part. “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law.” Rom. 3: 31. They do not keep the commandments of God who violate one precept of the decalogue; and all violate the fourth commandment who do not keep holy the day specified therein, the seventh day, the day on which God rested from the work of creation. Such do not establish the law; but by their false traditional faith they make “the commandment of God of none effect.” It may be asked, Are not the S. D. Baptists the prophetic people, that is, the people described in this prophecy? They hold to the entire moral law as it is, and also are believers in Jesus Christ. In reply to this, If it shall appear that they are defective in the faith, or in any respect fail to meet each specification in the description given, they cannot be the people. Are they distinguished from others by their “patient waiting for Christ”? Should the Lord appear, as he will to the people gathered by this last message (Rev. 14: 14), could they say as foretold by the prophet, “We have waited for him?” Isa. 25: 9. “The faith of Jesus” embraces, not only what he has done for the salvation of men and the institutions of the gospel which memorialize his death and resurrection, but also what he has promised to do. He promised saying, “I will come again.” All Christians profess to believe it. Besides this, Jesus foretold certain signs in the sun, moon, and stars, which, when fulfilled, should assure believers that his coming would be near. Said he, “When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near.” These signs have appeared, or they have not. If they have, his coming is at the doors; if they have not, he will not come till they do appear. Have the signs appeared? Is it a part of the faith of Jesus to have no position in respect to his word and promise? Suppose the signs have been seen. In that case, Jesus bids his faithful to know that his coming is at hand. When he bids us know, is it keeping his faith not to know? In the same connection Jesus assures us that his word shall not fail. “Heaven and earth,” said he, “shall pass away; but my words shall not pass away.” Is not that faith sadly defective that has no position on the very words which are the subject of this solemn asseveration of the Lord Jesus? Brethren, believers in Christ, may God “perfect that which is lacking in your faith.” It is very evident that the saints described as the result of the last message of the gospel, will be believers in the advent at hand. They will believe that the preceding messages have been announced in truth; that the period of the “Judgment is come,” and that “Babylon is fallen.” But S. D. Baptists do not reckon their pedigree in the fulfillment of any part of this line of prophecy; consequently they cannot take offense when we say, they cannot be the people here described. There is time and order in the prophecy—the messages follow in regular succession—and the peculiar circumstances and position of the people of the third message cannot be manifested till the first and second messages have been truly proclaimed. The saints, in this last period of their patience, will have faith in the fulfillment of these predicted messages, will see in their fulfillment the means that God has used to bring them to the light of his holy sanctuary in Heaven, and of his holy commandments therein contained in the ark of his testimony, Rev. 11:19, and, recognizing the hand of God in the history of their own development, they will not be ashamed of their pedigree. They will feel an assurance, when their faith comes to the trial of fierce persecution, that they are the people described in this prophecy; and it will sustain them. They will understand and realize that the Holy Spirit foretold their trial and described their character in these words: “HERE is the patience of the saints; those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”—Whiting’s translation, omitting italics. In the former period of the patience of the saints, during the period of papal persecution, they were distinguished by the simple additional characteristic of their sustaining faith. Rev. 13: 10. But in their final trial under the persecution of the image, Rev. 13: 11-18, the mutilated and down-trodden commandments will have been restored, and the keeping of them will be their leading characteristic, though joined with genuine faith in Christ and obedience to the institutions of the gospel in their purity. The final trial is at hand. The image of the beast is about to be formed. The “religious amendment” of our hitherto free Constitution is imminent. It is high time for the warning of the “third angel” to be given, to gather out the saints from among the followers of the traditions of men that make void the commandments of God. And leaving out of the account the preaching of S. D. Adventists, who are they that are giving a warning to mankind corresponding to that laid down in the programme of prophecy? The promised warning is evidently due; but who are giving it? The divine scheme demands that a people should now exist to proclaim the warning, a people distinguished by their waiting for Christ, keeping the moral law entire, and also the faith of the gospel in its purity. R. F. COTTRELL.