Life Incidents

PURIFYING PROCESS

“It is evident, however, that with the increase of numbers there was not a corresponding increase in consecration and in the graces of the Spirit. The truth was being more clearly brought out, and many were embracing it, and at the same time the standard of consecration, self-denial and sacrifice, was being lowered among us as a people. There was a great increase of numbers. The scripture evidences of our position were the themes of public lectures, and close, practical preaching was too much neglected, and most Sabbath-keepers became quite satisfied with the form without the power. Hypocrites crowded into the ranks. Men destitute of principle, and having a seared conscience, professed the Sabbath. And the spirit of the world prevailed in the body. LIFIN 294.1

“Church discipline was urged through the Review, which was very disagreeable to some in the ranks who wished to have their own way, and hated reproof and instruction. They chose to be teachers, when they should have been learners. They went out to teach the truth without being sent of the Lord, or approbated by the church, and sowed the seeds of discontent, disunion and death wherever they went. Some of them were labored with and reproved. Others did not receive as much approbation and attention as they desired. And not a few were rebuked of the Lord for their unchristian, reckless course. This aroused their jealousy and anger, and finally they started a sheet of slander at Jackson, Mich., which met the feelings of all those who were ready to be inspired with jealousy and a feeling of hatred and revenge toward those who had reproved them for their wrongs, and they all poured forth their feelings of bitterness and wrath into this sheet. LIFIN 294.2

“This was a cause of great grief to many dear brethren, and it appeared for the time that the precious cause was being injured. But this sheet was manifesting hearts and purifying the body. It was evident to all decent people that those who would go with such a sheet were not fit to go with the saints. We will mention some of the leading men in this faction, and their position when last heard from. W ----n, rejected by his party for crime, and a town charge; B-----o, their editor, fined $25 for presenting a pistol, and threatening to shoot a scholar in school; C ----e, run out as a preacher, and fishing on the lakes; C -----n, in a clothing store; L -----s, a Spiritualist. R -----l and H ------s had denounced B -----o and the publishers of their sheet as hypocrites, and were standing alone. It seems that as soon as these restless spirits went out from the body by themselves, they immediately went to biting and devouring one another, until not one of the eighteen messengers of which they once boasted as being with them, is now bearing a public testimony, and there is not one place of regular meeting, to our knowledge, among them east or west. LIFIN 295.1

“The true friends of the cause have been led by these things to see the necessity of bearing a bold and independent testimony for the truth, and for the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And that gift which was so despised by the faction, never was prized by the body as now. The faction has crumbled and disappeared, and the body has risen in union and strength. And where one destitute of moral worth has left the ranks, four of real worth have joined the ranks of Sabbath-keepers. At the time of the disaffection, when the effort was to break down the Review, the church property at the Office was only $700; since, it has increased to $5,000. Then there were but about one thousand paying subscribers, now there are nearly two thousand, besides quite a free list. LIFIN 295.2

“We mourn our lukewarm condition. We have nothing to boast of. But thanks be to God who has given the truth the victory thus far through our Lord Jesus Christ. The truth will triumph. Though those who now profess it be laid aside for their unfaithfulness, God can raise up a faithful army to fight his battles, and wear the victor’s crown. But those who have stood the storms of the past will not fall away now. Though many who have not the truth in them sufficient to move them cheerfully to action, may be shaken out, and left behind, yet the faithful ones who have toiled on, groaning, sighing and crying for salvation and deliverance, will go through to the city of God, and share the everlasting rest.” LIFIN 296.1