Copyright
1994 Ellen G. White Estate, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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The Spirit of Prophecy Volume Four
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The Second Angel's Message
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Chapter XV. <EB
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The Second Angel's Message. <EB
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The
churches that refused to receive the first angel's message, rejected light
from Heaven. That message was sent in mercy to arouse them to see their
true condition of worldliness and backsliding, and to seek a preparation
to meet their Lord. God has ever required his people to remain separate
from the world, that they might not be allured from their allegiance to
him. He delivered the Israelites from bondage in Egypt because he would
not have them corrupted by the idolatry with which they were there surrounded.
The children of this world are the children of darkness. Their attention
is not directed to the Sun of Righteousness, but is centered upon themselves
and the treasures of earth. Blinded by the god of this world, they have
no just perception of the glory and majesty of the true God. While they
enjoy his gifts, they forget the claims of the Giver. Such have chosen
to walk in darkness, and they are led by the prince of the powers of darkness.
They do not love and enjoy divine things, because they do not discern their
value or loveliness. They have alienated themselves from the light of God,
and their understanding becomes so confused in regard to that which is
right, true, and holy, that
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the
things of the Spirit of God are foolishness to them.
It
was to separate the church of Christ from the corrupting influence of the
world that the first angel's message was given. But with the multitude,
even of professed Christians, the ties which bound them to earth were stronger
than the attractions heavenward. They chose to listen to the voice of worldly
wisdom, and turned away from the heart-searching message of truth.
Peter,
writing as he was inspired by the Holy Spirit, described the manner in
which the message of Christ's second coming would be received: "There shall
come in the last days scoffers, 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. For
this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens
were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water;
whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished;
but the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept
in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition
of ungodly men."[1 2 PETER 3:3-7.]
Those
who perished in the waters of the flood had an opportunity to escape. All
were urged to find refuge in the ark; but the multitudes refused to heed
the warning. So when the first angel's message was given, all who heard
were invited to receive it, and share the blessing to follow its acceptance;
but many scorned and rejected the call. One turned to his farm,
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another
to his merchandise, and they cared for none of these things. Inspiration
declares that when the antediluvians rejected Noah's words, the Spirit
of God ceased to strive with them. So when men now despise the warnings
which God in mercy sends them, his Spirit after a time ceases to arouse
conviction in their hearts. God gives light to be cherished and obeyed,
not to be despised and rejected. The light which he sends becomes darkness
to those who disregard it. When the Spirit of God ceases to impress the
truth upon the hearts of men, all hearing is vain, and all preaching also
is vain.
When
the churches spurned the counsel of God by rejecting the Advent message,
the Lord rejected them. The first angel was followed by a second, proclaiming,
"Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations
drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication."[1 REV. 14:8] This message
was understood by Adventists to be an announcement of the moral fall of
the churches in consequence of their rejection of the first message. The
proclamation, "Babylon is fallen," was given in the summer of 1844, and
as the result, about fifty thousand withdrew from these churches.
The
term Babylon, derived from Babel, and signifying confusion, is applied
in Scripture to the various forms of false or apostate religion. But the
message announcing the fall of Babylon must apply to some religious body
that was once pure, and has become corrupt. It cannot be the Romish Church
which is here meant; for that church has been in a fallen condition for
many centuries. But how appropriate
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the
figure as applied to the Protestant churches, all professing to derive
their doctrines from the Bible, yet divided into almost innumerable sects.
The unity for which Christ prayed does not exist. Instead of one Lord,
one faith, one baptism, there are numberless conflicting creeds and theories.
Religious faith appears so confused and discordant that the world know
not what to believe as truth. God is not all in this; it is the work of
man,--the work of Satan.
In
Revelation 17, Babylon is represented as a woman, a figure which is used
in the Scriptures as the symbol of a church. A virtuous woman represents
a pure church, a vile woman an apostate church. Babylon is said to be a
harlot; and the prophet beheld her drunken with the blood of saints and
martyrs. The Babylon thus described represents Rome, that apostate church
which has so cruelly persecuted the followers of Christ. But Babylon the
harlot is the mother of daughters who follow her example of corruption.
Thus are represented those churches that cling to the doctrines and traditions
of Rome and follow her worldly practices, and whose fall is announced in
the second angel's message.
The
close relation of the church to Christ is represented under the figure
of marriage. The Lord had joined his people to himself by a solemn covenant,
he promising to be their God, and they pledging themselves to be his, and
his alone. Said Paul, addressing the church, "I have espoused you to one
husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ."[1 2 COR.
11:2] but when her confidence and affection
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were
turned away from him, and she sought after vanity, and allowed the love
of worldly things to separate her from God, she forfeited the privileges
included in this peculiar and sacred relation. By the apostle James those
who assimilate to the world are addressed as "adulterers and adulteresses."
[1 JAS. 4:4.]
A
profession of religion has become popular with the world. Rulers, politicians,
lawyers, doctors, merchants, join the church as a means of securing the
respect and confidence of society, and advancing their own worldly interests.
Thus they seek to cover all their unrighteous transactions under a profession
of Christianity. The various religious bodies, re-enforced by the wealth
and influence of these baptized worldlings, make a still higher bid for
popularity and patronage. Splendid churches, embellished in the most extravagant
manner, are erected on popular avenues. The worshipers array themselves
in costly and fashionable attire. A high salary is paid for a talented
minister to entertain and attract the people. His sermons must not touch
popular sins, but be made smooth and pleasing for fashionable ears. Thus
fashionable sinners are enrolled on the church-records, and fashionable
sins are concealed under a pretense of godliness. God looks down upon these
apostate bodies, and declares them daughters of a harlot. To secure the
favor and support of the great men of earth, they have broken their solemn
vows of allegiance and fidelity to the King of Heaven.
The
great sin charged against Babylon is, that she "made all nations drink
of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." This cup of intoxication
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which
she presents to the world, represents the false doctrines which she has
accepted as the result of her unlawful connection with the great ones of
the earth. Friendship with the world corrupts her faith, and in her turn
she exerts a corrupting influence upon the world by teaching doctrines
which are opposed to the plainest statements of the word of God.
Prominent
among these false doctrines is that of the temporal millennium,--a thousand
years of spiritual peace and prosperity, in which the world is to be converted,
before the coming of Christ. This siren song has lulled thousands of souls
to sleep over the abyss of eternal ruin.
The
doctrine of the natural immortality of the soul has opened the way for
the artful working of Satan through modern Spiritualism; and besides the
Romish errors, purgatory, prayers for the dead, invocation of saints, etc.,
which have sprung from this source, it has led many Protestants to deny
the resurrection and the Judgment, and has given rise to the revolting
heresy of eternal torment, and the dangerous delusion of Universalism.
And
even more dangerous and more widely held than these are the assumptions
that the law of God was abolished at the cross, and that the first day
of the week is now a holy day, instead of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment.
When
faithful teachers expound the word of God, there arise men of learning,
ministers professing to understand the Scriptures, who denounce sound doctrine
as heresy, and thus turn away inquirers after truth. Were it not that the
world is hopelessly
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intoxicated
with the wine of Babylon, multitudes would be convicted and converted by
the plain, cutting truths of the word of God. The sin of the world's impenitence
lies at the door of the church.
God
sent his professed people a message that would have corrected the evils
which separated them from his favor. A state of union, faith, and love
had been produced among those who from every denomination in Christendom
received the Advent doctrine; and had the churches in general accepted
the same truth, the same blessed results would have followed. But Babylon
scornfully rejected the last means which Heaven had in reserve for her
restoration, and then, with greater eagerness, she turned to seek the friendship
of the world.
Those
who preached the first message had no purpose or expectation of causing
divisions in the churches, or of forming separate organizations. "In all
my labors," said Wm. Miller, "I never had the desire or thought to establish
any separate interest from that of existing denominations, or to benefit
one at the expense of another. I thought to benefit all. Supposing that
all Christians would rejoice in the prospect of Christ's coming, and that
those who could not see as I did would not love any the less those who
should embrace this doctrine, I did not conceive there would ever be any
necessity for separate meetings. My whole object was a desire to convert
souls to God, to notify the world of a coming Judgment, and to induce my
fellow-men to make that preparation of heart which will enable them to
meet their God in peace. The great majority of those who were converted
under my labors united
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with
the various existing churches. When individuals came to me to inquire respecting
their duty, I always told them to go where they would feel at home; and
I never favored any one denomination in my advice to such."
For
a time many of the churches welcomed his labors; but as they decided against
the Advent truth, they desired to suppress all agitation of the subject.
Those who had accepted the doctrine were thus placed in a position of great
trial and perplexity. They loved their churches, and were loth to separate
from them; but as they were ridiculed and oppressed, denied the privilege
of speaking of their hope, or of attending preaching upon the Lord's coming,
many at last arose and cast off the yoke which had been imposed upon them.
In
the days of the Reformation, the gentle and pious Melancthon declared,
"There is no other church than the assembly of those who have the word
of God, and who are purified by it." Adventists, seeing that the churches
rejected the testimony of God's word, could no longer regard them as constituting
the church of Christ, "the pillar and ground of the truth;" and as the
message, "Babylon is fallen," began to be proclaimed, they felt themselves
justified in separating from their former connection.
Since
the rejection of the first message, a sad change has taken place in the
churches. As truth is spurned, error is received and cherished. Love for
God, and faith in his word, have grown cold. The churches have grieved
the Spirit of the Lord, and it has been in a great measure withdrawn. The
words of the prophet Ezekiel are fearfully applicable:
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"Son
of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumbling-block
of their iniquity before their face. Should I be inquired of at all by
them?" "I the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude
of his idols."[1 EZE. 14:3, 4.] Men may not bow down to idols of wood and
stone, but all who love the things of the world and take pleasure in unrighteousness
have set up idols in their hearts. The majority of professed Christians
are serving other gods besides the Lord. Pride and luxury are cherished,
idols are set up in the sanctuary, and her holy places are polluted.
Anciently
the Lord declared to his servants concerning Israel: "The leaders of this
people cause them to err, and they that are led of them are destroyed."[2
ISA. 9:16.] "The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by
their means, and my people love to have it so; and what will ye do in the
end thereof?"[3 JER. 5:31.] "For from the least of them even unto the greatest
of them, every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even
unto the priest, every one dealeth falsely."[4 JER. 6:13.] The Jewish church,
once so highly favored of the Lord, became an astonishment and a reproach
through neglect to improve the blessings granted them. Pride and unbelief
led to their ruin. But these scriptures do not apply to ancient Israel
only. The character and condition of many nominally Christian churches
are here portrayed. Though in possession of far greater blessings than
were granted to the Jews, they are following in the steps of that people;
and the greater the light and
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privileges
bestowed, the greater the guilt of those who permit them to pass unimproved.
The
picture which the apostle Paul has drawn of the professed people of God
in the last days is a sad but faithful delineation of the popular churches
of our time. "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof,"
"lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God," "lovers of their own selves,
covetous, boasters, proud,"[1 2 TIM. 3:2-7.]--such are a few specifications
from the dark catalogue which he has given. And in view of the frequent
and startling revelations of crime, even among those that minister in holy
things, who dare affirm that there is one sin enumerated by the apostle
which is not concealed under a profession of Christianity?
"But
what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?" "And what concord
hath Christ with Belial?" "And what agreement hath the temple of God with
idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will
dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall
be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith
the Lord, and touch not the unclean, and I will receive you, and will be
a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord
Almighty."[2 2 COR. 6:14-18.]
At
the proclamation of the first angel's message, the people of God were in
Babylon; and many true Christians are still to be found in her communion.
Not a few who have never seen the special truths for this time are dissatisfied
with their present position, and are longing for clearer light. They look
in vain
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for
the image of Christ in the church. As the churches depart more and more
widely from the truth, and ally themselves more closely with the world,
the time will come when those who fear and honor God can no longer remain
in connection with them. Those that "believed not the truth, but had pleasure
in unrighteousness," will be left to receive "strong delusion," and to
"believe a lie."[1 2 THESS. 2:11, 12.] Then the spirit of persecution will
again be revealed. But the light of truth will shine upon all whose hearts
are open to receive it, and all the children of the Lord still in Babylon,
will heed the call, "Come out of her, my people."
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