James White

“ How much more, when, with the gates of Paradise forever closed against him, he could no longer speak face to face with his Creator, but must henceforth grapple with the sinful promptings of his own heart, and grope his way amid the moral darkness that began to settle upon the world when the glorious light of Eden was obscured by sin! And if needed then by Adam, how much more still by Abel, whose eyes had never looked upon the beautiful garden, and who had never personally experienced the nearness to Heaven which Adam there enjoyed! ”

“ The world can bear testimony to this. The cry, ‘The hour of his Judgment is come,’ sounded through all Christendom. The multitudes heard, and scoffed, or trembled. By what body of believers was this proclamation made? Not by those who taught that that Judgment was a thousand years in the future. No church which holds to the doctrine of a spiritual reign can be that body, as the elements of their proclamation flatly contradict those elements above stated. Such a body now existing can be found alone among those who constitute the Advent believers in Europe and America. ”

“ THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL. “I and my Father are one.” John x, 30.
The Father and the Son were one in man’s creation, and in his redemption. Said the Father to the Son, “Let us make man in our image.” And the triumphant song of jubilee in which the redeemed take part, is unto “Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, forever and ever.”
Jesus prayed that his disciples might be one as he was one with his Father. This prayer did not contemplate one disciple with twelve heads, but twelve disciples, made one in object and effort in the cause of their Master. ”

“ Do we find perfection in the church since the days of Paul, to that degree as to need no special manifestations of the Spirit, reproving sin and correcting deviations from God’s perfect rule? The history of the church, setting forth her terrible apostasies and corruptions, her endless schisms, divisions and creeds, and her conflicting expositions of the plainest truths of the Bible, testifies too plainly of her imperfections. Her sad history and present wretchedness, show that necessity still remains, since the completion of the Book of God, for the manifestations of the gifts of the Spirit. ”

“ No judgment has ever come upon the world unheralded; and none have ever fallen therein unwarned. And if, from the uniform dealings of God with our world in the past, we may judge of the future, then may we conclude that of the events yet to transpire, and above all, the great event in which earth’s drama shall close—the ushering in of the great day of the Lord, and the coming of the Son of man—something will be known, and the world be faithfully warned thereof, ere they shall take place. ”

“ Consider that they fairly express the mind of the great body of the American people. This is a Christian people. These amendments agree with the faith, the feelings, and the forms of every Christian church or sect. The Catholic and the Protestant, the Unitarian and the Trinitarian, profess and approve all that is here proposed. Why should their wishes not become law? Why should not the Constitution be made to suit and to represent a constituency so overwhelmingly in the majority?... This great majority is becoming daily more conscious not only of their rights but of their power. ”

“ He may succeed in blinding the eyes of men, so that they may not be able to discern the difference between the work of God and his imperfect mimicry. But the work of high Heaven he can not imitate. And when the work of Satan in fanaticism is carried out, and its terrible fruit is ripened into bitterness, its contrast with the fruit of the work and Spirit of God will be seen as wide as Beelzebub with Christ, perdition with all its terror and blackness of despair with the matchless glories of the kingdom of God. ”

“ If the law of God was of such a nature that it could, in any particular, be changed at any time, it would have been thus changed when there were but two fallen beings, Adam and Eve, just before leaving Eden. If the plan of God’s moral government could be changed, it would then have been changed, so as to set them free, and save the tide of human wretchedness and agony, which has followed. But, no; it could not be changed. The curse must fall on man, and upon the earth for man’s sake; and the blight and mildew of sin must follow [356] everywhere, and hang upon creation like a pall of death. ”

“ Have mercy upon him, O Lord, and save him from pride. O Lord have mercy, and wean him from the pride of life. Break him down, Lord, and make him humble. Have mercy upon him. Have mercy.”
He went on telling a long story about me, informing the Lord of my pride, and how sure I was of destruction unless I should speedily repent, and closed up with vehement cries of “Have mercy! Have mercy! Mercy! Mercy!” This was his way of treating those who did not seem to receive him with feelings of great reverence for his special humility and extra holiness. ”

“ Charles Beecher, in his sermon at the dedication of the Second Presbyterian church, Fort Wayne, Indiana, February 22, 1846, said:
“Thus are the ministry of the evangelical Protestant denominations, not only formed all the way up, under a tremendous pressure of merely human fear, but they live, and move, and breathe, in a state of things radically corrupt, and appealing every hour to every baser element of their nature to hush up the truth, and bow the knee to the power of apostasy. Was not this the way things went with Rome? Are we not living her life over again? And what do we see just ahead? ”

“ It is said by those who do not fully understand our position, that we trust in the law, and the keeping of the Sabbath, for salvation. No, friends, you may observe all these precepts, to the best of your ability, conscientiously; but if you look no further than the law for salvation, you can never be saved. The hope of eternal salvation hangs upon Christ. Adam hung his hope there. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and the believing Jews, hung theirs there. We can do no more. The hope of the next life depends upon Jesus Christ. Faith in his blood can alone free us from our transgressions. ”

“ The Sabbath now becomes the cord that binds created man to the infinite Creator. It is the golden chain that links earth to Heaven, and man to God. Had he always observed the Sabbath, there could not have been an idolater nor an atheist. ”

“ HIS VIEWS OF PROPHECY.
What can be more natural than for man, as he looks forth upon a world where evil is everywhere present, and the marks of disorder and decay everywhere visible, to inquire whether or not this state of things shall always continue? And what inquiry can be of more interest and importance to the race than that which has respect to the age of the world in which we live? It would therefore be reasonable to conclude that God would give to man a revelation informing him in respect to subjects of such absorbing interest. ”

“ Seventh-day Adventists are charged with making the Sabbath a test. And some will have it that we denounce and reject all who do not believe as we do. It is true that we teach that God is testing the people by his law. But we deny the charge that we denounce and reject those who differ from us. Our course toward all men whom we can reach with our publications, our sermons and our entreaties, proves the charge false. We beseech all men, without respect to profession of religion, color, or rank in society, to turn from their sins, keep God’s commandments and live. ”

“ The scoffing winds have beat against us severely, and we have swung in the air, the sport of our opponents. They told us we were now with them, looking for the Lord’s coming, but without any definite time; and we have been compelled to admit it, but have refused to let go the rope, saying, ‘If the vision tarry, wait for it.’ But we have not known how long we were thus to swing upon the rope, without a foundation for our feet; and we have not felt the same joy and glory that we did when we stood on definite time. God has been trying our faith, to see if we would hold on. ”

“ The mass of lecturers who have been raised up and thrust forth into this work, have been men of sound minds, warm hearts, full of zeal for God and the salvation of men. They have made no great pretensions to learning, in its common acceptation; but yet, as a general thing, they have been close students of the Bible, making it a self-interpreting book. Nor have they been altogether inattentive to history as their time and means have allowed. It is true that, so far as they have been successful in their work, the excellency of the power has been of God. ”

“ These two commandments require supreme love to the Creator, and love to fellow-creatures equal to that bestowed upon one’s self. Angels could do no more than these require. Adam could do no more. We can do no more. The two great commandments embrace all that is required by the ten precepts of the decalogue. They are the grand circle inside of which is the will of God to man. ”

“ The fable of the world’s conversion, and the universal triumph of Christianity, which almost universally prevailed ten years ago, has been exploded, and the church now understands that the Man of Sin is to remain in the world until the Lord comes and destroys him by the brightness of his coming. That there is to be no millennium until ‘the first resurrection,’ at the coming of the Lord. ”

“ Did Satan stir up fanaticism in connection with the Advent movement? This is one of the proofs of the genuineness of the work. What! He suffer the world to be warned of their and his approaching doom, and he not be stirred in consequence of it? The church be aroused to action, and to readiness for the day of God, and sinners by thousands leaving his ranks and seeking a preparation to meet the King of kings, and he remain quiet? No. He knows his time is short, hence not only his wrath, but his wiles in all their forms. ”

“ God pity the poor fanatic, who is thus goaded on by the Devil to disgrace himself and wound the cause of Christ. In no case could Satan strike the Advent cause so stunning a blow, and so completely cover it with reproach, as to lead on certain ones who bore the Advent name in the wild career of fanaticism.
And he knows when to strike. The world had just trembled before the solemn message of the Judgment hour, proclaimed with great boldness and power. And believers had lifted up one united voice in confident testimony relative to the period of their joyful expectations. ”

“ As long as these continue to be facts, so long will the Sabbath continue. Redemption does not propose the creation of a new world as the inheritance of the redeemed. “Behold I make all things new,” says the Redeemer. This world, redeemed from the curse and all its results, will be the eternal possession of the righteous. And notwithstanding the work of redemption, the great facts connected with the creation week will ever be vividly impressed upon the immortal minds of the redeemed. ”

“ If the redeemed could cast their crowns before Jehovah in reverent worship, in view of a creation accomplished over six thousand years before their song of praise was uttered, how must every fiber of Adam’s being have thrilled with emotions of thanksgiving and adoration to the beneficent Author of his creation, as he stood there in Eden, enraptured with the strange delight of a new existence! ”

“ Instead of rebuking or discouraging this spirit of inquiry in man, God takes occasion to grant to the king, and through him to the world, the information which he sought. Under the symbol of a great image he presents before him the most impressive history of the world, from that time on, that can anywhere be found. ”

“ Beyond space there would be no room for the moon, nor for the sun; neither would there be room for the resurrected saints, possessing bodies like their Lord’s resurrected, glorious body; and beyond the bounds of time, there would be no need of the sun and the moon which are God’s great time-keepers. We are not looking for a general smash-up in the universe, and then the creation of all new things, for immortal saints beyond the bounds of time and space. ”