Are There No Changes? by R. F. Cottrell

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Nov 21, 1878

Are There No Changes?

By R. F. Cottrell

NUMBER THREE.

As in the natural, political, and moral world, so in the religious world, new departures are the order of the day. Opinions venerable by age, and long-established creeds, are being called in question and discarded. The very foundations of that which has for ages been esteemed orthodoxy, and from which to dissent has been branded as "damnable heresy," are being shaken; men of leading minds and of various denominations boldly contradicting and opposing the teachings of their fathers of past generations.

And well it may be so; for as long as there is division and discord in the church, there is error. Truth and unity are inseparable. When "the wise shall understand," they will understand aright, and if they understand aright, they will understand alike. Two contradictory creeds cannot both be true. They may both be false. If one says that twice two are five, and another contradicts, holding that twice two make only three, both are wrong, and the truth lies between them. So it may be in regard to disputed doctrines.

The rejection, of late, of the doctrine of eternal misery by so many clergymen and leading religionists is a sign that the religious world moves. It is startling to many that doctrines so long supposed to be immovably fixed should be so boldly contradicted. And those who call in question a popular creed are always liable to be misrepresented. The pious shudder, and the profane exult, because, as they say, Beecher & Co. have abolished hell. Now it is not fair to say that a man does not believe in future punishment, because he does not agree with others in regard to its duration. Neither is it fair to say of one who disputes the natural immortality of the soul, that he believes a man has no soul. But such is the blindness of the creed-bound.

Now, admitting that the human soul, whether righteous or wicked, must exist in consciousness eternally, one of two things must be true: the condemned must suffer eternal misery, or the doctrine of universal restoration to holiness and happiness must be true. Which shall be received as the truth? Will sin and its consequent misery exist eternally, or will the whole human race be restored to holiness and happiness?

It seems not to have entered into the minds of many that both of these positions may be false. It may not have occurred to them that the foundation, both of self-styled orthodoxy and of universalism—the natural and necessary immortality of the soul—may be false. They may not have thought that there might possibly be such a thing as capital punishment—a punishment that takes the head and ends the life—in the government of God; that "the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:23.

The Scriptures teach us that "God only hath immortality." 1 Tim. 6:16. He alone is the source of life. All created beings live by his will. If any continue to live eternally, it will be because he wills it. Is it reasonable to suppose that it is his will that Satan, sin, and sinners should exist eternally, and that, as a consequence, there should be endless suffering? Reason says, this cannot be. But the Scriptures teach the doctrine of "eternal damnation," a condemnation from which there is no deliverance or reprieve. Therefore those who believe that God has created man immortal, that He cannot, or will not in any case, take away that life which he gave him—are compelled to accept of the doctrine of eternal torment, or of universal restoration. And the consequence is, in either case, that the Scriptures must be perverted to teach what they do not say.

But let the Bible mean what it says—that dust, by the breath from God, became a living soul, and that the sinner shall return to dust again; that man was shut away from the tree of life, after he had sinned, lest he should "eat and live forever," and that the gift of eternal life is to be obtained only through Jesus Christ, and the Scriptures are in harmony with reason and with themselves.

But my object in alluding to the present agitation of this subject, by the repudiation of the doctrine of eternal torment by so many, is to raise the inquiry as to the result. Of course some will choose universalism, and others the doctrine of eternal misery; but this agitation is by God's providence, which is over all things. He, doubtless, designs to bring some good out of it; and we humbly believe that the effect will be to arouse men to think, to reason, and to study the revealed will and purpose of God, so that those who revere God and his word will come to believe that the Scriptures mean what they say, that "the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Another subject is now coming into general notice. The doctrine which has been so extensively held, of the conversion of the world and a spiritual reign of a thousand years before the second coming of Christ, is being examined and repudiated by many. A general convention of those who believe in the pre-millennial advent of various denominations of those called evangelical, was held October 30, 31 and November 1, to confer on this subject. This movement, by God's providence, will result in opening the way for honest souls to learn the true advent doctrine as revealed in the Bible, and to believe the message that is already being proclaimed to the world to prepare a people for that great and impending event. Rev 14:9-12.

A third subject, and not the least, which is being called up for general discussion, is that of the Bible Sabbath. Legislation is being called for in behalf of what is extensively called the "Christian Sabbath." At the same time the message to which I have alluded, and which is spreading abroad to the nations of the earth, is attracting attention of multitudes, and by these means the questions concerning the Bible Sabbath are being agitated as never before since the beginning of the Reformation. What does the Bible teach concerning the Sabbath? Is the first day of the week, or the seventh day, the Sabbath of the Lord? or, has the Sabbath been abolished, so that now no Sabbath is binding?

God, in his providence, as well as by his Spirit in his people, is opening the way for all to have the truth upon this subject who will. The grand result will be, that the remnant of his people on earth will receive the truth on this subject, as well as others, and will thus be prepared for the close of probation, which will close with this message, so that it can truly be said of them, "Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." Rev. 14:12. And they will thus be prepared for the coming of the Son of man which will immediately follow. Rev. 14:14.

Changes and agitations are the order of the day; and the result will be glorious to those who, amid the moral darkness, believe and obey the truth. Salvation, eternal life, depends upon the choice we make. How important to accept of the truth as revealed in the word of God! Oh, that men would realize it, believe, obey, and be saved. R. F. COTTRELL