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Review and Herald, Vol. 93, No. 20.

Note and Comment

Review and Herald

Apr 20, 1916

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 20, 1916

Note and Comment

Honest Confession

MANY of those who are posing as advocates of church union profess to be actuated by motives of disinterested benevolence, entirely free from sectarian bias. If their fellows could be made to believe that they were indeed actuated by such motives, then their efforts might meet with a broader measure of success. The editor of the Word and Way, in his paper for March 30, 1916, frankly states that the peace propaganda springs from no such motives. Speaking of the desire of the Catholic Church for unity, he says,—
“They want the whole world to be one in doctrine, but insist that it must be Catholic doctrine. . . . In its last analysis, this is what much of the talk about Christian union means. It is noticeable that those who are ostensibly worrying over the divided condition of Christendom, and are pleading for unity, are not separating themselves from the sects to which they belong, whereas, as an evidence of good faith they ought to pursue a policy of detachment. When we come right down to a fair examination and full understanding, we find that the leaders of, and spokesmen for, the Protestant denominations that are trying to break down what they call sectarianism are all like the Catholics, in that the Episcopalians want everybody to be Episcopalians, the Methodists everybody to be Methodists, the Congregationalists everybody Congregationalists, and so on for all of them. But they are all lacking in the courage and honesty of the Catholic Church.”
“As for ourselves, we have no hesitation in saying that the ground occupied by Baptists is the only ground of a desirable union. And that is just another way of saying that we are not in favor of any union so far as Baptists are concerned and affected, except the coming to the Baptists of the people of other faiths. We grow impatient over the obvious insincerity—not to say hypocrisy—in so much of what is being said and written about Christian unity.”
And this is the position which every sincere churchman, without reference to his church affiliation, must take. One who is a Baptist ought to be a Baptist and from principle, because he believes the doctrines held by the Baptist Church. Believing these doctrines, he can favor no union except one which recognizes as cardinal the same faith which he holds. And this is true of the Presbyterians, of the Methodists, of the Catholics.
If Seventh-day Adventists did not believe with all their hearts the doctrines which they hold and teach, they could well forego the temporal and material inconvenience which the holding of such doctrines brings to them, and unite with their brethren of other churches. We honor the man, be his church connection what it may, who conscientiously follows what he believes to be right, and refuses to surrender on any plea of church unity the convictions of his soul. It must be confessed that much of the talk regarding church unity comes from those who have lost definite religious conviction, or who are insincere in their propaganda.

Moving Picture Shows

In every church and in every community are found earnest Christian men and women who deplore the evil influence attending the exhibition of popular moving pictures. A few days ago fifty-five ministers of Lancaster, Pa., united in a strong appeal to the community to awake to the moral danger threatening young men and women in the attendance at moving picture shows at that place. This appeal states that in investigating the matter in Lancaster, fully fifty per cent of the films pictured marital infidelity and illicit love under the attraction of luxurious clothes and fine homes. An inspector of schools in New York is quoted as saying:—
“The old dime novel and nickel shocker were Sunday school weeklies along side of the stuff that is now projected to appeal to the imagination and the consciences of the unwary. I have no hesitation in saying that the greatest enemy we have to encounter in our educational activity for clean, strong character building is the censored movie. This is my conviction after covering sixty-five schools and discussing the matter with over 22,000 children.”
The Lutheran of March 20, 1916, referring to this appeal, makes the following comment:—
“This plea for decency is directed to the proper source when the pastors appeal to the parents not to permit ‘their children’s idea of love and marriage to be formed by the standards of the underworld or of a decadent society, as they are now being formed through the moving picture shows.’ The hollowness of the claim that the national and State censors have weeded out all that is offensive, and that if crimes are committed, punishment usually follows, is exposed by quoting the State Censorship Board as condemning seventy-five per cent of the films now exhibited as unfit for public exhibition.”
As Seventh-day Adventist parents, we need to sense the dangers on every side which threaten the youth. Perhaps there is no phase of temptation stronger in their lives than that of popular amusements. The enemy through popular attractions today is making a strong bid for the youth throughout the land. Let us be awake to this great danger.

Personal Liberty and Prohibition

Is the personal liberty of the liquor seller invaded when the state steps in and closes the saloon? The Continent of March 30, 1916, discusses this question, and concludes with the following sensible remarks:—
“So the way is clear for the final question which touches the traffic in liquors from the strictly social and public view:—
“Has a man any personal right to sell a commodity sure to injure, if not all, at least a vast number of those to whom it is sold?
“That plainly is not a question of right to live and be happy, but of right to choose in what way one will make money—a right which no publicist has ever admitted to be personal or inherent.
“The limitations that law may set on a man’s manner of making money are already vindicated by precedents that no argument can ever set aside or overcome.
“For closely parallel examples, the laws controlling dealers in poisons, explosives, and adulterated foods prove beyond question that it is entirely compatible with the liberties of a free people for the government to restrict to any necessary degree the sale of commodities liable to do harm to their purchasers.
“And here comes the final word on which rests the right of the government in State or nation to prohibit the sale of liquor:—
“A free people cannot ultimately permit any citizen to make his livelihood by dealing in a commodity which does no good to any buyer and causes untold harm to the vast majority.
“That is an absolutely infrangible proposition. And it is all that is necessary to stick to in order to maintain the logic of prohibition in any form in which it has ever been proposed.”

Safeguarding Our Institutions

By F. M. W.

AMONG the various and multiplied agencies which God has brought into being for the carrying forward of his work, a prominent place belongs to our publishing houses, to our schools, and to our sanitariums. Each of these institutions has a specific and important work to accomplish, which can be done by no other agency. They have not been brought into existence because no institutions of a similar character were to be found in the world, but rather that they might do a work which worldly institutions could not do. Indeed, if our denominational institutions were to do merely the same work as is being done by worldly institutions, there would exist no demand for their establishment. They were created to meet a particular need in this movement.

Our Publishing Houses

There was a time when our publishing houses were spending a large part of their energy in the doing of commercial work. They depended upon that work for their support. The publication of denominational literature was subordinated to second place in their plans and calculations. Disaster overtook them. These disasters taught needed lessons, and what appeared as great misfortunes were turned into blessings. From the ashes of the old institutions new ones arose to carry on the work, not as it had been carried on before, but with every facility wholly devoted to the production of literature bearing the truth for this time. And the splendid success which has come to our publishing houses since this turning-point in their experience, has given abundant evidence of the approval of God upon the change in their policy. Only as they maintain this high standard, only as the workers in these institutions handle sacred things with pure hands and consecrated hearts, is there promise of continued success and prosperity.

Our Sanitariums

This same principle is true as applied to our sanitariums. Why should Seventh-day Adventists operate homes for the sick when well-regulated hospitals may be found in practically every city in the land? Is it because we have physicians better skilled in the science of medicine and surgery? Is it because our nurses are more competent than nurses from other training schools? We have thoroughly qualified physicians, surgeons, and nurses, but we should feel modest in claiming that they are superior in scientific knowledge, methods, and technique to physicians and nurses connected with worldly institutions.
But the Lord designed that our sanitariums should stand for certain principles of reform; that they should prove auxiliaries in the carrying of the message of salvation to the world. He designs that the men and women who visit these institutions shall find in them a different spirit than exists in worldly institutions. Lacking this Christian spirit, failing to stand for the principles of the third angel’s message, our sanitariums have no right to exist. We rejoice, however, to believe that they are laboring earnestly to fulfil their God-given mission. Their future success will be in proportion as they continue to recognize their high calling in God, and appreciate that they have been made the conservators and exponents of great principles of truth.
The work of our sanitariums is to save men physically and spiritually, and to make the material ministry a means to the accomplishment of the greater spiritual end. In their training courses they are afforded a rich opportunity to train young men and women for a part in the great world’s work, not as professional nurses primarily, but as missionary nurses, going forth to labor even as Christ labored. Only as our sanitariums are operated by men and women whose hearts God has touched, workers who are laboring, not for personal benefit in honor or remuneration, but in order to advance the gospel message, will they meet the object of their existence in connection with this second advent movement.

Our Schools

Similarly, our schools were established to afford their students an education from a Christian point of view; to give to the young men and women of the denomination a knowledge of language and science and art without any coloring of worldly philosophy, of science falsely so called, and apart from the demoralizing influences of worldly associations. It is only as our schools maintain this standard and carry on their work after this order that they can meet the purpose of God in their existence. Failing in this, it may be said of them, as of our medical institutions, that the labor and toil expended in their establishment and maintenance are spent in vain. That our schools are earnestly seeking to meet this divine purpose we confidently believe. The Lord has abundantly blessed the efforts of our faithful teachers, as they have sought to prepare the youth of this denomination for places of usefulness and responsibility in connection with this closing work.
But Satan will ever seek to divert our schools from their high and holy purpose. He will seek to exalt, in the estimation of our teachers and students, intellectual qualification above spiritual qualification. Our schools will be assailed by constant temptations to ape worldly methods and cater to worldly ideals. How necessary it is that we constantly be on our guard to hold them resolutely to the definite purpose of God in calling them into existence!
Our schools are not for the purpose of educating men and women to become great in their own estimation or in the estimation of the world. Let us teach our boys and girls that although they may secure titles through the obtaining of degrees, these titles, after all, amount to nothing unless they represent knowledge and experience which will enable their possessors to become efficient laborers for the Lord Jesus Christ.
If the enemy can corrupt the simplicity of our work, if he can lead us to trust in the gold and tinsel, in the form and ceremony, in class honors and degrees, instead of in a vital connection with divine power, his purpose will be served. But we shall learn at last to our bitter sorrow that we have trusted in hollow forms, which will rise up and mock us to our shame.
We should set before our young men and women, whether they learn trades in our publishing houses, become nurses in our sanitariums, or take regular courses in our schools, a high standard of attainment. The educational standard of our workers in every department of this cause should be raised. God would have his workmen men of whom he need not be ashamed.
We believe our youth should be encouraged to take courses of study in our schools, leading to degrees. But while we are seeking this high attainment, let us be on our guard lest we be turned aside from the simplicity that there is in Christ Jesus, and unconsciously imbibe principles and adopt methods the tendency of which will be to place upon our work a worldly mold. Worldly recognition and influence will prove a curse to any of our institutions, unless the recognition obtained and the influence gained are used as means for the better and fuller and speedier attainment of the one object of our united denominational effort—the giving of the advent message to the world in this generation.
We need to safeguard with jealous care the institutions connected with this movement. We rejoice that so many of them are being freed from the thralldom of financial indebtedness. This is surely a great victory, and we earnestly hope that they will maintain their liberty. But constantly subtle, insidious influences calculated to turn them from their high and holy calling are knocking at their doors for admission. They are the special objects of Satan’s attacks. If he can corrupt their simplicity, if he can induce the leaders in them, whether managers, physicians, or teachers, to be worldly in their influence, to cater to worldly customs and practices, he knows that many of the youth can be turned from the right way.
Let us watch unto prayer, walk humbly before God, and keep our hearts open continually to the promptings of his Holy Spirit. In this experience will be our safety and salvation as workers, and thus only can we safeguard the institutions of the Lord’s planting.
F. M. W.

The Purpose of Trials

By L. L. C.

It is the universal experience of us all, as expressed in the words of I. H. Meredith, that “life is not a cloudless journey.” Often it seems that those who make no profession to serve God enjoy a freedom from trouble which Christians do not have. Yet we know that God “doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.” Why then do the trials come?
In the world of nature we see that the sun cannot shine every day; there must be some cloudy days in order that the vegetation may grow properly. So it is in our personal experience; while God desires our continued welfare, freedom from trials would not be best for most of us. It is unfortunately true that in times of prosperity God is often forgotten, or the service rendered to him is a more or less formal one. When, however, adversity comes, we are driven to him as the only one who can really help. The little child often strays from the parent when no danger threatens, but immediately takes refuge in the arms of the parent when fear overtakes it.
Let us, then, remember when any trouble comes, that God allows it in order to bring us back with renewed repentance to him. This will make our trials the means of increased spirituality to us. We shall find the truth of the scripture which says, “Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” 2 Cor. 4: 17.
L. L. C.

Individual Responsibility

By G. B. T.

Daniel Webster, when Secretary of State, during President Fillmore’s administration, was invited to dine on a certain occasion with a select company of eminent statesmen. He seemed weary and said but little. After several unsuccessful attempts to draw him into conversation, one of the party asked him this question: “Mr. Webster, will you kindly tell me what was the most important question that ever occupied your mind?” Slowly passing his hand over his forehead, in a soft and subdued tone he said, “The most important thought that ever occupied my mind was my individual responsibility to God.”
Such a thought may well be given sober and serious reflection. The apostle says, “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” Rom. 14: 12. No one can answer for another. For the things we have done or have left undone, we ourselves must give account to God. We are frequently greatly absorbed in attending to what others are doing, and sometimes subject them to severe and oftentimes undeserved criticism, while at the same time there are serious weaknesses in our own character, controlling our lives. Instead of getting on the throne of judgment and criticising others, we should remember that they are accountable to God and not to us, and that we ourselves must meet the acts of our own lives at the tribunal of the universal Judge.
Peter, on one occasion, asked Jesus concerning John, “What shall this man do?” The reply of Jesus was, “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.” This is excellent advice. While we must always have an interest in the eternal welfare of others, the great question which should absorb our minds is not how some one else is regarded at the bar of God, but how God looks at this or that act of ours — how we stand before God. God weighs motives. This we cannot do. The vital and absorbing question which we should consider is, How do I stand? Am I discharging my individual responsibility as I should? Are my own motives clean? Am I sufficiently free from sin to be able to throw stones at others? Am I leaving undone any duty which I should perform? Shall I stand acquitted through the blood of Christ in the day when I am measured by the law of God?
Those who give the most careful consideration to these great questions of individual responsibility, will, generally speaking, have but little time to judge others and determine how they stand in the sight of God. They will not feel that the imperfect lives of others are the hindering cause in the outpouring of the Spirit, but rather that the imperfections seen in their own lives are the greatest hindrances within their knowledge. “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” 2 Cor. 13: 5. G. B. T.

Signs in the Industrial World

By L. L. C.

Signs of Christ’s Coming—No. 7

Signs in the Industrial World

SPEAKING of the last days, the apostle James says:—
“Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasures together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth; and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.”
“Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.”
One of the most significant signs of the present time is the struggle between capital and labor, the employer and the employee. The desire of the former is to obtain large dividends on the investment, while the latter wish better pay for their labor.
The “moneyed interests” have organized their forces into great trusts, whose control within legal bounds taxes the ability of the greatest lawyers and statesmen. The difficulty arises in knowing just where property rights end, andwhen the rights of the community at large are invaded. One hears much these days of illegal monopoly of trade through various devices, one of the most recent of which is the interlocking directorate.
The workmen have organized their forces into large labor unions. This makes possible great strikes to enforce their demands for better wages or fewer hours. The most casual student of current events has noticed the great increase of strikes in the last few years. Many of these have been marked by deeds of violence. “It was shown by a report of the tenth census, that in 1880 there were 610 strikes. In no year prior to that was any considerable number of strikes reported.”—Nelson’s Encyclopedia, art. “Strikes and Lockouts.” Since 1880 statistics of strikes and lockouts occurring in the United States have been collected by the United States Bureau of Labor. From the table of statistics for the period 1881–1905, we summarize the following to show the increase in the number of strikes:—
Period Number Establishments Employees out of work
1881–1885 2,491 12,443 823,714
1886–1890 6,682 33,358 1,636,927
1891–1895 6,884 33,380 1,824,352
1896–1900 6,736 38,328 1,920,701
1901–1905 13,964 63,898 2,598,130
While the deeds of violence accompanying these strikes were deprecated by most of the strikers even, there are some labor agitators who justify them. Mr. Vincent St. John, of the Industrial Workers of the World, is quoted in the Washington Post, May 22, 1914, as saying:—
“The point with us is to gain our end. It does not matter to us how we gain that end. If violence against human life is necessary, all right; the end justifies the means. If it means the ruin of property, all right; again the end justifies the means. If it means the isolation of a factory, the ruining of raw or finished material inside the factory or outside, all right; again it is a case of the end justifying the means. Do we believe in agreements between the members of the locals of the I. W. W. and the owners of industries?—No, we are against working agreements of any kind, for any length of time. That is where we differ from the trade unions. We are a step farther. It is our belief that the workman loses by making a contract as a member with the owner of a mill, factory, or other plant.”
The author of one book even goes so far as to justify robbery of the rich if it can be effected with advantage to the poor:—
“The all-sufficient warrant for any effective governing power in the social group doing whatever it thinks best, is the welfare of the group. Right is transfigured might. ‘Let him take who hath the power; let him keep who can.’ That is property, is it not? Suppose the many, it will be asked, finding themselves poor, take it into their heads to expropriate the few, what then? Well, why not? If it can be shown that robbery of the rich can be effected, and effected with advantage to the poor, I cannot see for the life of me why it should not be done. It is contrary to morality? But unfortunately, hifalutin abstractions ‘butter no parsnips.’ Besides, I deny it. Morality is coextensive with self-interest. If anybody disputes that, he is wrong. It is rude and dogmatic of me to say so, but is a short answer, and I am not going to discuss the first principles of ethics here. I repeat emphatically, If the poor and the many can see their way to dispossessing the rich and the few, and to reap advantage from the process, then they have a right and a duty to do it.”—Wordsworth Donisthorpe’s “Individualism,” pp. 257, 258. Quoted in Nelson Somerville Rulison’s “A Study of Conscience,” pp. 21, 22. George W. Jacobs & Co., Philadelphia, 1901.
“It is not our purpose,” as another remarks, “to attempt to pass upon the merits of the controversy between the employers and employees, between capital and labor, but simply to emphasize the fact that there is between them an irrepressible conflict; and that it is, according to the Scriptures, a most significant sign of the times.” L. L. C.

Without Strength

By G. B. T.

“When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” Rom. 5:6. Salvation is for all. It is within the reach of those who are “without strength.” None can be weaker than this. “He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.” It is to those who have “no might” that he gives strength and salvation. To those who think they are strong and can work out their own salvation he cannot impart help. While man must work, he can do nothing toward saving himself. Salvation comes wholly from God. Our own works done with a view to helping toward salvation, hinder instead of help. This is illustrated by the following incident, which I give in the language of another:—
“One bright summer afternoon, some years ago, a party of ladies and children stood upon the wharf of a fashionable watering place, awaiting the arrival of a steamer that would bring their husbands and fathers. As they waited there, enjoying the refreshing breezes, their attention was suddenly attracted by a loud splash in the water, followed instantly by a piercing scream. As the startled crowd turned, they saw a young man struggling in the water. He could not swim, and in his frantic efforts to rescue himself, he was at each struggle getting deeper and deeper into the water, and farther from the shore.
“The ladies ran hither and thither to find help. They found only one person near that could render any assistance; he was an old sailor, who was standing motionless, watching the poor man drowning before his eyes. The entreaties of the ladies could not move him while he saw the young man trying to save himself. As his hand fell helpless at his side, his face told plainly that he had given up in despair. As he arose the first time, a feeling of horror came over the little company, who were to be the unwilling witnesses of his death. When all hope was gone, the sailor leaped into the water, and as the drowning man arose for the last time, seized him and bore him safely to shore.
“As the ladies gathered around him, he said, ‘I was compelled to wait until he ceased trying to save himself; for I could save him only when he was without strength.’”
So it is with us. We are continually struggling for salvation from sin. We try too often in our own strength to overcome; we fight and war for victory, and have it not, because we are not trusting wholly in Christ. But the moment we fully realize we are “without strength,” and fall helpless in his arms asking for deliverance, then the Lord can save us and bring us to the desired haven of rest. G. B. T.

Human Versus Infinite Love

By F. M. W.

We may appreciate more fully the great love of God in giving his Son to die for a race of rebels, when we contrast that love with the affection shown by earthly parents for their children. We were impressed with this recently in reading an incident which occurred in one of our Western cities. A young man, the idol of his home, and the object of deep solicitude on the part of his parents, who had spent much money in his education, fell into evil ways. He degenerated into a professional bogus-check man and hotel thief. His father, a respectable citizen, felt the disgrace very keenly, and in a fit of deep humiliation, almost despair, he wrote his son, “You are a curse to my family. Why don’t you take a gun and blow your brains out?”
We can sympathize with the poor distracted father, but by contrast we see the shallowness of human affection as compared with the infinite love, patience, and long-suffering of the heavenly Father. How many times we disgrace the family name! How many times we grieve the great heart of love! But that love never changes in its attitude toward us. It still longs for our salvation, and when we return, although clothed in filthy rags and having spent our inheritance in riotous living, the Father meets us a long way off, and bids us welcome. He gathers the other members of his family to rejoice with him over our return, clothes us with the white robes of royal raiment, and gives us an honored seat at the family feast. This great love of God for fallen man is the high example he places before us of the love we should bear our fellows.
F. M. W.

My Early Home

By Myra M. Allen Lane

MYRA M. ALLEN LANE
I gaze again upon the scene That was my childhood’s early home; The fields, the woods, the meadowlands O’er which my childish feet did roam. Few changes have come o’er the spot Since I had gazed long years before, The same, yet not the same to me— My childhood’s home, my home of yore.
The stream still murmurs by, ’tis true; And other trees do lend their shade, But none can seem so dear as those ’Neath whose green branches I have played.
The meadows wide, the forest deep, The swirl and eddies of the stream, I gaze upon, and yet they seem As some vague, half-forgotten dream.
The grass appears to be less green, The flowers appear to be less gay, The voices that I heard in youth Enchanting me have passed away. The roseate hue of early life, With all its rainbow-tinted rays, The hopes, the joys of childhood’s time, Have passed away with youthful days.
My mother sits beside the fire, Her hair is white, her eye is dim; She sits and muses of the past, And speaks, in voice subdued, of him To whom her early troth was given: Their years of struggle in the West To carve a home from savage wilds For those, of all the earth, loved best.
My father’s grave’s hard by the stream Where oft we played in vanished years. He lies alone, his hallowed dust Now watered by his loved ones’ tears. And I have learned with added days That duty’s voice, obeyed as best Is given me to understand, Will bring at last true peace and rest.
For home, sweet home, my soul doth long— For this I gird me for the race— That home, prepared by God’s own hand And lighted by the Saviour’s face, Prepared in those blest realms of light For those doomed in this life to roam, Who’re wanderers in this pilgrimage, But there at rest in God’s own home,
No more to part from those they love, No more to sorrow or to weep; So then we’ll close our eyes in peace, For he doth give his loved ones sleep, But when the trump of God shall sound To call us from our beds of dust, We’ll pour forth anthems full of praise To him in whom we’ve put our trust:
The song of Moses and the Lamb, Of triumph over sin and death, To him who calls us from the grave And in our bodies puts his breath. The earth the saints’ inheritance, The paths therein made safe and sure, The houses built, the vines we plant, Throughout the ages will endure.
Our meeting place before God’s throne— No thing unclean shall enter there, But purity and perfect truth, With song and praise and gladsome prayer. Sin shall not rise the second time, To mar, with its polluting breath, The beauty of that heritage, And spread abroad the gloom of death.
But God himself will stay our tears And comfort us for all we’ve borne, And cause us to forget our grief In that glad resurrection morn. We’ll meet again, we’ll meet again, No more to sorrow or to roam, And God’s own hand will welcome us In Father-land, our own blest home.
Brownlee, Nebr.

“The Waiting Time” and “the Patience of the Saints”

By George Ide Butler

GEO. I. BUTLER
In the history of our world as revealed in the Scriptures, it is easy to discern four great movements, or remarkable manifestations of divine power, to advance the knowledge of God among mankind, and to open the way of salvation to the children of men. These are the preaching of Noah and the deluge, the acceptance of Abraham and his descendants as God’s peculiar people, the coming of Christ the first time and the gospel work then established, and the preparatory work of his people for his second advent. The second advent movement and its accomplishment is the most remarkable in its consequences. Each of these movements is unpopular in its time. The agencies God uses have to struggle against great difficulties in giving the Lord’s message to the people, yet wonderful blessings to mankind grow out of their efforts.
We wonder at the work of Noah,—for one hundred and twenty years a preacher of righteousness,—and the little apparent success attending his efforts, only eight persons being saved, and all these members of his own family. Surely it must have been a work of waiting and a time of patience. But the deluge was a tremendous event in the affairs of mankind. It demonstrated beyond question that the God of heaven interferes in the affairs of men.
The selection of Abraham and his posterity as God’s peculiar people, their removal from Palestine to Egypt, their servitude for centuries, their miraculous exodus, the thunders of Sinai, the revelation of the divine love, and their establishment in Canaan as a center, are some of the most wonderful events on record. The history of the children of Israel for fifteen centuries proves to the world that God lives and reigns, and knows how to save his people and punish the wicked.
The first advent of Christ as a babe in Bethlehem, his beautiful life without spot or tarnish of sin, his work as the grandest teacher the world ever saw, his death on the cross a sacrifice for sin, his glorious resurrection and ascension to heaven, the sending forth of his disciples in humility to proclaim the gospel which has for twenty centuries been the great hope of the world,—these indeed are events of the greatest magnitude.
Our Saviour himself enunciated the grandest truth of the centuries when he said at his departure, “I will come again.” And he will come to take his people to himself, to everlasting glory, where sin shall be no more, the curse of death and sorrow will be done away, and rebellion in the house of God be put down forevermore. The glorious second coming is to be preached to all the world, to every people, tribe, and nation, that every person may have a chance to be among the saved to all eternity. Who shall say that this advent message is not the greatest truth in this world of ours? What can compare with it? This grand truth is to be heralded by wonderful prophecies of deepest interest. The signs of the nearness of this event are to be clear and unmistakable, so clear that any intelligent person of ordinary mental power can perceive and understand if he really desires to know.
Of necessity the warning of this world of fifteen hundred million people will take time. It will require vast effort, the expenditure of immense sums of money, and a multitude of laborers. The difficulties will be exceeding great, with over four hundred different languages in which this gospel of the coming kingdom must be proclaimed. The task is tremendous, but it can be done and will be done. This is the work of the last generation.
When the prophetic time was proclaimed for the judgment to begin in the heavenly courts above, a mighty cry went forth, reaching to the ends of the earth. Under the preaching of William Miller and his associates, about one hundred thousand believers in the second coming of Christ were won.
Then came the disappointment. This disappointment was like that of the disciples, who thought, when Christ made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, that surely he would be proclaimed king; but instead, he was crucified on Calvary’s cross. What a terrible disappointment that must have been to them! Many of the disciples no doubt gave up all hope that Jesus was the true Messiah. They could not explain his Messiahship in harmony with their past hopes of his being their king. Thus it was with the second advent believers, in their sad disappointment. This failure of their glorious hope of seeing their Lord come with power and great glory in 1844, forced them into the time of waiting and the period of the saints’ patience. It was a time of darkest gloom to those ardent believers. The great majority of those who looked for their Lord to come in 1844 gave up their hope altogether and were ashamed of their previous belief.
But it was not so with others. To be sure, they were overwhelmed with sorrow and disappointment, but they firmly believed that God led them in proclaiming the glorious message. They looked and longed for light, that they might understand the meaning of this overwhelming disappointment. They did not have to wait long. The light upon the work of the third angel’s message explained to them what before was dark. They realized that the “waiting time” had come, and the time of the saints’ patience. Our next article will deal more fully and clearly with this.
Bowling Green, Fla.
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