Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-08-23
Please do not Misrepresent Us.

Some people continue to say that we teach
that Christ is coming in month or two, or in
this year or next year. Which we have never
in print, nor from the pulpit. No honest per-
son who is acquainted with our history as a
people, will ever circulate such report.
But we do know that many of the first
day Adventists have set several definite times
for the Lord to come since 1884, which
Seventh day Adyentists have always rejected,
and neUer taught.
We do believe that it is safe to follow the
counsel Of Christ. And he said "But of that
day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not
the angels which are in heaven, neither the son,
but the Father. Take We heed, watch and
pray; for We know not when the time is
Watch We therefore; for We know not when
the master of the house cometh, at even, or
at midnight, or at the cock~crowing, or in the
morning Lest coming suddenly he find you
sleeping And what say unto you I say unto
all, Watch" Mark 10: 32-57.
This is what we have always taught on this
subject; and we think it is perfectly safe to
obey Christ in this as well as in everything
else But why do professors scof at these
precious truths Because their ears are
tsrned away from the truth and turned unto
fables, and they viii not endure sound doc
trine Tim. 4 8, 4. But of the times and
the seasons, brethren, We have no need that |
write unto you. For yourselves know per-
fectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as
thief in the night. For when they shall say,
Peace and safety; then sudden destruction
cometh upon them-and they shall not escape.
But We, brethren, are not in darkness, that
that day should overtake you as thief.
Thess IA "And is not this careless slum-
Der, this deep and dead serenity, token of
approaching wrath? Did not Christ, as he
surveyed the future, perceive and foretell this
feature as belonging to the close of this dis
pensation ?" Most certainly he did. And
when he predicted his coming he declared
that Gas it was in the days of Noah, so shall it
be also in the days of the Son of man. They
did eat, they drank, they married wives, they
were given in marriage, until the day that
Noah entered into the ark and the flood came
and destroyed them all. Luke II: 26, 81.
Just so careless and secure as was that
antediluvian generation, who, despising all
warning. invitation and entreaty, danced and
rioted, on the very verge of life, and fell heads
long from pleasures height to ruins dark
abyss, shall this careless, ruined, rebelious,
and presumptuous world exchange the depths
of slumber for the depths of destruc ton, and
the cry of "Peace and safety" for the terrors
Of an invisible ruin.
But there is another instance with which
our Savior points his solemn moral, when he
says: Likewise, Also as it was in the days
of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought,
they sold, they planted, they builded; but the
same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it
rained fire and birthstone from heaven, and
DESTROYED them all. Even thus shall it be in
the day when the Son of man is revealed.
Luke %: $3.50. Such are the predictions
uttered by Jesus Christ. Are they not ful-
filed before us?
Solemn and awful is this warning, and it
may be well for preachers who sheer at the
coming of the Lord, and smite with bitter
words the men who expect it, while they fol-
low the round of carnal pleasures, eating and
drinking with the drunken, at lodges, ceebra-
tions, excursion parties, festivals, levees, and
church fairs, to bethink themselves lest these
words be rehearsed in their ears with an eter-
nal emphasis by him who first uttered them
long ago. Let Christians be solemnly warned
by Him whom they acknowledge as their Lord
and Judge, and run not to that excess of riot
to which their age tends. Let them beware
lest, saying in their hearts what so many say
openly with their lips. "My Lord delayeth
his coming, they, too are taken in the snare,
found unready for the sudden advent of the
Master, and are cut off from the fellowship of
the faithful, and receive their portion with the
goddess and the vile.
An, scoHer the Jay oI INC Loru VIII coHe
You may deride its token; you may mock at
the signals of its approach you may put far
away, and declare that it win never come.
But come at last it WILL when justice will
array himself in majesty, and judgement shall
attend him in his way, when God shall go
forth to condemn the guilty, ard redeem the
penitent. When shall dismay and sorrow
overwhelm the guilty and the goddess, and
terrible alarms startle the fatal slumbers of
the careless soul. All, sinner in that day
your scoffings, and mockings shall end
But will you not cease them now? Will
you not heed the voice of warning and of love?
Will you not seek refuge in Christ, the Ark
of God, ere that final storm of wrath shall
deluge the guilty and the rebellious world
with fire Turn then, to Christ, and, seek
ing his mercy, learn to abide in his love-"
July 90, 1877. ED. I. SANBoRN.