Adventism

“ Do we love God with all our hearts, and our neighbour as ourselves? Do we live up to all the commands of God? Are we conformed to His moral image? Is it the business of our lives to do all that God has commanded? Are we believing all the truth, and living up to all the light we have? If so, WE ARE Christ's; and being Christ's, WE ARE "Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." It is not strange that the nominal Church should lose her identity. But when we hear Adventists inquire, Who we are, it comes with an ill grace. ”

“ The most humble and devoted in the churches were usually the first to receive the message. Those who studied the Bible for themselves could not but see the unscriptural character of the popular views of prophecy; and wherever the people were not controlled by the influence of the clergy, wherever they would search the word of God for themselves, the advent doctrine needed only to be compared with the Scriptures to establish its divine authority. ”

“ Such were the blessed results experienced by those who accepted the advent message. They came from different denominations, and their denominational barriers were hurled to the ground; conflicting creeds were shivered to atoms; the unscriptural hope of a temporal millennium was abandoned, false views of the second advent were corrected, pride and conformity to the world were swept away; wrongs were made right; hearts were united in the sweetest fellowship, and love and joy reigned supreme. ”

“ HOLY Church, our Mother, purposely gathered into the season of Advent everything which might contribute to assist us in preparing for the coming of the Redeemer. Purity of heart is the most necessary and helpful requirement for receiving God worthily, and for participating in the fruits of our Redemption through Christ. To remind us of this, Holy Church celebrates the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, this primary feast of purity, in Advent. ”

“ The position of all Adventists after the passing of the time, was at best a very trying one, and the work for a time moved slowly, attended with much opposition. To “hold fast the beginning of their confidence” [265] in the great movement, in the face of a scoffing world and church, and amid violent opposition from those who were drawing back from the faith, was a severe trial of faith and patience. ”

“ The teaching of Advent, all important as it is, too often affects but little such poor creatures of the present as we are. We are exhorted to look back to the first coming of Christ, to see what He suffered and did for us, what a foundation He laid for us to build on. We are exhorted to look forward to the second advent, to consider what Christ will do, to anticipate the glorious completion of us in Him as the building of God. ”

“ 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 Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, however, need not be embarrassed by the arguments of Adventists, since the Church of Christ in this last dispensation has the warrant of God's word, by direct revelation, for keeping holy the Lord's day, that is, the first day of the week, as a day Of public worship and thanksgiving, a holy Sabbath unto the Lord. ”

“ Heartfelt confessions were made, and the members of the household labored for the salvation of those who were nearest and dearest. Often was heard the sound of earnest intercession. Everywhere were souls in deep anguish, pleading with God. Many wrestled all night in prayer for the assurance that their own sins were pardoned, or for the conversion of their relatives or neighbors.
All classes flocked to the Adventist meetings. Rich and poor, high and low, were, from various causes, anxious to hear for themselves the doctrine of the second advent. ”

“ I have been actively engaged in the proclamation of the doctrine of the second advent for more than twenty-five years, and have traveled and preached in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Canada, and have not met a person who has seen an Adventist thus attired, or one that was able to give better proofs that anything of the kind ever did occur than vague reports. ”

“ Here we learn that at the second Advent, shortly to come to pass, those who, having received Jesus as Lord, had approved themselves by their works obedient and faithful disciples, would by him be recognized as his, and admitted to share in the blessings of the promised kingdom of heaven: those who had not done so should be rejected and driven from his presence. It is clear that there is, in such ideas, no sufficient ground for supposing faith or belief in a creed or a dogma to have been intended by the writer of either Gospel. ”

“ The Adventists baptize by immersion, and are congregational in polity, except the Seven Day branch and the Church of God, which have a general conference that is supreme. Since their organization, the Adventists have divided into seven bodies. The Evangelical Adventists began to call themselves by that name in 1845. They believe that all the dead will be raised, the saints first to eternal bliss and the wicked last to eternal punishment. The Advent Christians formed a general association in 1861. They believe that the dead are unconscious and the wicked are punished by annihilation. ”

“ From Advent, with which the Church Year begins, to Trinity, our Lord is set before us in His life and His work. "We live over again, year by year, the time of the Incarnation from Bethlehem to Bethany." The design is to "bring out, and to bring home to the minds and hearts of all who shall reverently use these holy festivals and fasts, the great representative facts of Christ's life—to exhibit and to glorify Him. ”

“ Wherever it has gone, the Advent doctrine has awakened sinners, reclaimed backsliders, quickened believers, and promoted the cause of God generally. Thousands on thousands can witness the truth of this remark in their own experience; and will have cause to bless God eternally for the Advent doctrine and Advent preaching.
“7. It has shown professedly orthodox ministers to be so degenerate in their sentiments as to make common cause with infidels and Universalists against the coming of the Lord. ”

“ On the Sabbath-day Jesus lay cold in death in the borrowed tomb while the sad and disconsolate disciples mourned the death of the Prince of Israel, their Savior. But on Sunday morning Christ arose triumphant (John 20:1) and in memory of it Christians began early to observe Sunday as a day of worship."
"Mary, you were just about to be entangled with a yoke of bondage, a yoke of man's making," said Robert. "This Sabbath doctrine of the Adventists is utterly man-made. ”

“ Hence their appellation, "Seventh-day Adventists." Their cardinal principle consists in setting apart Saturday for the exclusive worship of God, in conformity with the positive command of God himself, repeatedly reiterated in the sacred books of the Old and New Testaments, literally obeyed by the children of Israel for thousands of years to this day, and endorsed by the teaching and practice of the Son of God whilst on earth. ”

“ Most zealous in propagating their views by journals and tracts, evangelists and missionaries, is a branch of the sect founded by James White of Michigan, whose adherents, because they keep the Sabbath in place of the Lord’s Day, are called Seventh Day Adventists. ”

“ For as Christ at His first Advent came in great infirmity of the flesh, in poverty and contempt, so He hath thereby deserved to come in His second Advent with great strength, glory, and majesty. His Power and strength shall appear in that at His command all the dead shall arise in a moment; in that all men, angels, and devils shall behold and worship Him as their God, their Lord, and their judge ”

“ Therefore it is the intention of the Church that we should every year contemplate with her the life of Christ from its beginning to its end. In Advent we should, by repentance and longing expectation, prepare the way for the coming of our Redeemer into our hearts; in Lent we should, by penance and mortification, participate in His sufferings, die to sin, and spiritually rise with Him to a new life at Easter. ”

“ The Adventist expresses the wish in the terminology of a prescientific age, while the social revolutionist makes use of modern scientific jargon. Each alike finds escape from reality in the contemplation of a new-world system. The faith of each is a scheme of redemption—that is, of "compensation." ”

“ But the law of God, in an eminent sense, is a test to man. It is the highest authority in all earth and Heaven. If God’s law is not a test, there is no such thing as a test. Seventh-day Adventists solemnly believe that God is proving and testing the people by his holy law. In point of sacredness and importance, they regard the fourth commandment equal to either of the other nine, and the sin of violating it, when as well understood, [332] equal to that of breaking either of them. ”

“ Prentiss or myself have ever had any sympathy with Second Adventists. All the talk about it seems to us mere speculation and probable doom to disappointment. I do not see that it is as powerful a stimulant to holiness as the uncertainty of life is. Christ may come any day; but He may not come for ages; but we must and shall die in the merest fragment of an age, and see Him as He is. ”

“ The short period of probation remaining should be improved in laying up treasure in Heaven, and seeking that preparation necessary to its enjoyment in the next life. Parents, I entreat of you, live out the precious Advent faith before your children. Lead them to Jesus, and, teach them by your faith and works to secure a preparation for his coming. Let your influence in favor of truth and holiness extend to all around, that it may be said to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” ”

“ The ministers said, “Go on with your lectures, and we will stand by you.”
As I took the stand that evening, I requested all who loved Christ, and the doctrine of his soon coming, to pray for me, and stated that I would excuse those who did not love him enough to see him come in glory from praying for me, as I thought they could to better advantage [90] and profit pray for themselves. Every ear was open, and every heart felt. The Lord gave perfect freedom in presenting proofs of the advent near, and in exhorting the people to prepare for that day. ”

“ If the true history of the advent doctrine from 1842 to the autumn of 1844, had, with the subsequent events in our history up to 1848, been published 1800 years ago from the Advent Heralds, and their conductors had been called the fathers—it would have puzzled all the wise heads in Christendom, in this age, to have expounded their meaning; for we see it requires all the energies of the human mind to trace their crooked tracks, even when right before us. ”

“ If the Sabbath is of so little importance as not to be a test of Christian fellowship and eternal salvation; if men who break the Sabbath should be embraced in our fellowship the same as if they observed it; and if they can reach Heaven as surely in violating the fourth commandment as in keeping it; why not abandon it at once, and cease to agitate the public mind with a question of no real importance which is so unpleasant and annoying.
Seventh-day Adventists believe that in the restoration of the Bible Sabbath, under the last message of mercy, God designs to make it a test to the people. ”

“ This is so plain that all who have been engaged and laboring in the Second Advent Doctrine must admit it to represent William Miller, and those of his faith, as the flying messengers preaching the advent of Jesus to their fellow men, since 1840. Invisible angels never yet preached the gospel to men; but as it has been here—man preaching to man,—then these angels represent our own neighbors, preaching, lecturing, and exhorting us with loud voices to listen to their message, for the judgment was at hand. ”

“ HAVING taught us on the first Sunday of Advent to sigh with the prophets for the redemption through Christ, the Church on this day reminds us, in the holy sacrifice of the Mass, of the joyful promises of God for the salvation of the gentiles, and of Jesus Christ's actual coming, in order to quicken our desire for it, and to produce in us an alacrity in making ready our hearts by penance and love. ”

“ Every year thousands of new voices join in telling it. Printing presses are printing it in many languages. Schools and colleges in every continent are educating thousands of Seventh-day Adventist youth, keeping before them, as the highest aim of life, the hastening of the advent message to the world. Sanitariums in many lands, while training medical missionary evangelists, are at the same time ministering to the sick, [Pg 255] and teaching the principles of Bible health and temperance. ”