by J.N.Andrews
Preface
Shall mankind have no warning when this destruction is about to burst upon them? Shall there be no token of coming wrath to arrest the guilty in their downward career? Shall irretrievable ruin swallow up a sinful world, and God give them no intimation of its approach?
Such was not the case with the antediluvian world, nor has it ever been the manner of the just Judge of all the earth to visit mankind in judgment without giving them warning of the coming vengeance. The attentive reader of the prophets will find ample testimony in proof of this statement. The judgments of God upon Jerusalem, Samaria, Tyre, Nineveh, and Babylon, are striking illustrations of this fact. Shall we conclude that the last and most dreadful judgment of God shall come upon our earth without previous warning to its inhabitants?
The people of God at the commencement of the great day of wrath will be translated into his everlasting kingdom. That is, they will be clothed upon with immortality, and will never taste of death. What will prepare the saints of the last generation for such a distinguished honor? Will they be found at their Lord's return in a state of confusion and anarchy? Will this be their condition when their returning Lord shall take them in a body unto himself? As the people of God, one by one, have fallen victims to the power of death, and individual work of preparation has been all that was requisite; but when the time comes that all the saints of God who are alive shall in one body be taken into glory, surely something further than an individual work is necessary. By what means shall the saints of God be gathered in one people and prepared for translation? What mighty truths has God in reserve for the last generation, with which to accomplish this great work? In answer to these questions, we cite the fourteenth chapter of Revelation.
The design of the three great proclamations of this chapter, is, first, to give warning of coming judgments; secondly, to set the people of God upon their watch-tower; thirdly, to gather in one body the scattered saints; and, fourthly, to restore the commandments of God to his people, and to prepare them for deliverance in the time of trouble, and for translation into his kingdom.
Such is the work presented in Rev. 14. It gives the world warning, and leaves them without excuse; it lights up the pathway of the saints; and yet, with its trial of patience it shakes off the heartless, and gives the men of the world, notwithstanding its warning, a chance to lull themselves into security, when the wrath of God hangs over their heads. Shall not these great truths arrest attention? Shall it be with us as with the antediluvians, who, warned of the coming destruction, nevertheless knew not until it came and took them all away? When the Son of man cometh, who of us shall be able to say, "Lo, this is our God, we have waited for him, and he will save us. "?
J. N. A.
Battle Creek, Mich., Jan., 1877.
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