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Hope of the Church
119
day of God.”
2 Peter 3:11, 12
. “Every man that hath this hope in him
purifieth himself, even as He is pure.”
1 John 3:3
. But it is evident
that many who bear the name of Adventist study more to decorate
their bodies and to appear well in the eyes of the world than they do
to learn from the Word of God how they may be approved of Him.
What if the lovely Jesus, our pattern, should make His appear-
ance among them and the professors of religion generally, as at His
first advent? He was born in a manger. Follow Him through His life
[109]
and ministry. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
These professed Christians would be ashamed of the meek and lowly
Saviour who wore a plain, seamless coat, and had not where to lay
His head. His spotless, self-denying life would condemn them; His
holy solemnity would be a painful restraint upon their lightness and
vain laughter; His guileless conversation would be a check to their
worldly and covetous conversation; His declaring the unvarnished,
cutting truth, would manifest their real character, and they would
wish to get the meek pattern, the lovely Jesus, out of the way as soon
as possible. They would be among the first to try to catch Him in
His words, and raise the cry, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”
Let us follow Jesus as He so meekly rode into Jerusalem, when
“the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise
God with a loud voice, ... saying, Blessed be the King that cometh
in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.
And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto
Him, Master, rebuke Thy disciples. And He answered and said
unto them, I tell you that if these should hold their peace, the stones
would immediately cry out.” A large portion of those who profess
to be looking for Christ would be as forward as the Pharisees were
to have the disciples silenced, and they would doubtless raise the
cry, “Fanaticism! Mesmerism! Mesmerism!” And the disciples,
spreading their garments and branches of palm trees in the way,
would be thought extravagant and wild. But God will have a people
on the earth who will not be so cold and dead but that they can praise
and glorify Him. He will receive glory from some people, and if
those of His choice, those who keep His commandments, should
hold their peace, the very stones would cry out.
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Jesus is coming, but not as at His first advent, a babe in Bethle-
hem; not as He rode into Jerusalem, when the disciples praised God