Now in holding all these truths, they may be summed up in the one expression, that it will hold "the faith of Jesus." So when this Reformation shall have presented itself to the world, equally with the ten commandments it must bear just as high and just as prominent "the faith of Jesus;" and com bined its insignia will read,
"The Commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus."
Now the Third Angel's Message does just that thing. There fore by this course of controversy, we prove to a demonstration the logical necessity of the Third Angel's Message.
Again: the very aim of the principles of the Reformation is the law of God.
Take justification by faith: what is the aim of that but "that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us"? (Romans 8:3, 4).
Take sanctification by the Holy Spirit: what is the aim of that but "unto obedience"? (1 Peter 1:2; Romans 8:7-9).
Sooner or later, then, these aims must be met, and the prin ciple of obedience to the law of God must be inculcated, which of necessity must be a reform in morality. So, then, it would appear that there is a theo-logical necessity for the Third Angel's Message.
The work of Christ also demands that the law of God be held up before all people, by which they must compare their lives; for the place and work of Christ in heaven are in the most holy place, blotting out the sins of his people from Abel onward. And that requires a comparison of their lives with the law of God.
Now, if that be the work of Christ in heaven, what can his work logically be on earth but, through his ambassadors, comparing the lives of the people of earth with the law of God? So, therefore, the Third Angel's Message supplies this demand when, following the angel who had gone before, crying, "The hour of His Judgment is come" (Revelation 14:7), he says with a loud voice, "Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." (Revelation 14:12).
Several times in the course of controversy, the Sabbath of the Lord, as the basis of the acknowledgment of the sovereign rights of God and the claims of his holy law, has presented it self for recognition; but it was beaten back, beaten back, yet not to stay. No; these appearances of the Sabbath on the sea of controversy should rather be considered (to borrow DeQuincey's splendid figure), as
"one of those ambitious billows which sometimes run far ahead of their fellows in a tide steadily gaining ground, but which inevitably recede in the next moment, marking only the strength of that tendency which sooner or later is destined to fill the whole capacity of the shore."
And now once more the glorious Sabbath of the Lord has appeared, not to be beaten back, not to recede even to gather greater strength, but rolling in with all the impulse of a mighty tide, irresistible, soon "to fill the whole capacity of the shore" indeed.
And we who see it should realize, must realize, that it is the one and only tide in our affairs which taken at the flood, will lead on, not to fortune, but to EVERLASTING LIFE AND ETERNAL GLORY.