It falls to my lot to address this large congregation to-night. Ever since I have been on this camp-ground, I have been impressed with the sight of such a large number of people gathered from the various nations of the earth to attend this General Conference, and the thought has come to me several times (and it comes to me to-night as I look into your faces), O, what a contrast to what I saw when I first began to hear about this message! At that time I was a skeptic. Dear old Father Bates, as we familiarly called him, came to Waterbury, Vt., where we lived. My father and mother had been very earnest and devoted in the 1844 movement, and were much confused and perplexed when the time that had been set for the end passed without the occurrence of that expected event. Then came Father Bates, hunting up those who had fallen into discouragement. He was not received very kindly by my father, because he was a no-law Baptist; but mother was a devout Christian, and so he came into the kitchen and hung up his chart and gave her a discourse, and she began to keep the Sabbath. After that, when the Sabbath came, she would go to her room, letting the girls and others do the work, and would read her Bible and what she had of the papers, and she was happy in the third angel’s message.GCB May 23, 1909, page 120.17

How wonderful it seems when I stop and think that this body of believers is a hundred thousand strong to-day! I do not suppose there are living to-day one hundred of those living then. So you see I have had quite a little pilgrimage along these lines, dear brethren and sisters, and I am thankful to God that we see what we do see here tonight.GCB May 23, 1909, page 120.18

“Why,” says one, “you Seventh-day Adventists are all the time talking about the progress of the work, and boasting of it. That seems to be your meat and drink.” Now, I do not think that is the right kind of statement of the matter; for I understand fully, and I suppose all of you understand fully, that to have only a hundred thousand believers after forty or fifty years’ work is no great credit to us; we ought to have ten times as many. So I do not see that we have anything to boast of; but we do have something to humiliate us,—the fact that we do not have more. But, dear friends, we have enough to show us that there is power in the third angel’s message. [Amen, amen.] And we rejoice that we have what we have, and thank God, and take courage to go on and get a great many more. [Amen, amen.]GCB May 23, 1909, page 120.19

I am going to take a familiar text. It reads: “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” That is always good, and it is present truth.GCB May 23, 1909, page 121.1

I will read briefly from Revelation 14. [Read verses 6-16, inclusive.] I would say right here that I do not intend to go over what Brother Daniells preached five or six days ago. [Referring to “The Definite Message,” page 39 of BULLETIN.] He gave us an excellent discourse, and I enjoyed it very much, though I have been over the ground a great many times. He brought out some important truth that ought to be impressed upon the hearts of our people because it is present truth.GCB May 23, 1909, page 121.2

Dear friends, this third angel’s message is the biggest thing in the world. It covers a vast amount of ground, and we never can exhaust it; but I hope we can get enough good out of it to keep our hearts imbued with the Spirit of Christ.GCB May 23, 1909, page 121.3

This is a threefold message, composed of three important parts. The first one proclaims the necessity of worshiping the Lord, and serving him more acceptably than most believers do. Why—Because “the hour of his judgment is come.” That grandest court that ever convened is set—that court which decides the destiny of all, both living and dead. Is not that a fact of the most momentous importance, my friends? Could there be anything more important than that? Just think! The books are being examined, and your name and mine, if they have not already come up for decision, will come soon and we be saved or lost. O, to be saved or lost is the biggest thing in the universe! It will be a solemn day, my friends, when judgment is passed upon the wicked, and we want to avoid that if possible. Is not that subject important enough to demand the most careful thought of all men? It seems to me it is.GCB May 23, 1909, page 121.4

What next? “Babylon is fallen, is fallen.” Why is that repeated? “Because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” Because she taught doctrines that came from the old mother, Babylon the great, spoken of in Revelation 17. The church is here spoken of as falling. And why did it fall?—Because of the rejection of light. That fall commenced in a marked way in 1844, when the principal churches turned against the prophecies, and began to cease to preach them. They left them and gave them to us. One fourth of the blessed Bible is prophecy, naked and simple. Are we going to cast away the prophecies?—O, no; we will cling to them! They are to be as a light shining in a dark place, “until the day dawn, and the day-star arise” in our hearts. If it were not for the prophecies, we should be stumbling about in the dark. Think of a man getting into a hard place where there are dangers to meet, stumbling along without any light, not knowing but any moment he may plunge over a precipice! At such a time, even a very small glimmer of light would be of tremendous importance. As we approach the great and terrible catastrophe that is just before the whole world, O, how we shall prize the light!GCB May 23, 1909, page 121.5

The consequence of rejecting the light is revealed in the second message, “Babylon is fallen.” A moral fall began when the great churches rejected the message of the first angel. This is also spoken of in Revelation 18:1-4 [reading the texts].GCB May 23, 1909, page 121.6

That is the fall of Babylon, but a little farther in the same connection, we have an account of that destruction, thus differentiating between the moral fall and the final ruin. When the churches rejected the light of the advent doctrine, they shut off the greatest light in the world.GCB May 23, 1909, page 121.7

What is the consequence of rejecting light? John 8:12: “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” Again he says (John 12:35), “Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.”GCB May 23, 1909, page 121.8

One may be ever so talented, but if he has not the light of God, he is in darkness. Thus the popular churches have been groping around until this day. In their great universities of learning, they are rejecting the Word of God, which was given to enlighten us. They deny its high authority. They do not say there is no good in it, they continue to preach from it, but they say it is not reliable, that we can not believe all of its statements. They carve out a little here and there, and leave out those portions that they do not like. A vast number of clergymen at the present time are thus walking in darkness, changing their ideas of God and salvation, rejecting large portions of the book of God, and drifting into uncertainty. Many of the historical parts of the Bible are rejected as unreliable. The story of creation and the fall as told is not believed. They deny the existence of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the great facts of the Exodus. They are even going over to the old heathen systems of error and idolatry for light. The Catholic Church is regarded as “just as good as any other church.”GCB May 23, 1909, page 121.9

We ought to be the most thankful people on the earth because God has given us light to know where we are in the stream of time. There is danger of losing the light; for it is advancing all the time. When a person stops and begins to doubt, begins to talk a little on the questionable side, saying that he does not know, after all, whether this is the real thing or not,—when he gets there, he stops, and the light goes ahead of him. It is a terrible thing for us to neglect the light.GCB May 23, 1909, page 121.10

In the fourteenth chapter of Luke we have an account of the three messages, verses 16-24 [reading this parable].GCB May 23, 1909, page 121.11

Is it not of importance, then, whether we accept or reject the light? Our Saviour states positively that those who rejected the first call shall never taste of his supper. They have rejected the blessed and gracious invitation which the Lord has extended to them, that of partaking of the marriage supper of the Lamb.GCB May 23, 1909, page 121.12

Can any one neglect the first, the second, and the third angels’ messages as agencies of salvation, and be just as safe as if he accepted them? [Voice, It is unsafe.] Yes, it is decidedly unsafe. God has given us this light, and if people choose to reject it, they show that they have no interest in the work of God, and in his great plan of salvation.GCB May 23, 1909, page 121.13

The second message must be respected; the consequences of not heeding it will be awful. In that message of the fall of Babylon, about fifty thousand Adventists came out of the churches, because the popular churches would not hear the advent doctrine taught. So the people had to come out in order to have freedom. Many of the best people in the churches came out. Had Babylon become the “hold of every foul spirit, and the cage of every unclean bird” then?—No; they had rejected important light from God, and they were left in darkness in regard to the great advent movement. Then began the work of deterioration. The churches fell a little lower, and still a little lower in spirituality, year after year, until by and by the great truth goes forth, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen.... Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and receive not of her plagues.”GCB May 23, 1909, page 121.14

Now we come down to the third message, which brings to view the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. This message contains a warning that is couched in the most threatening language which God ever put into his Word. It is against those who still worship the beast, still continue to serve that power that has brought such a terrible condition of things into our world. This message is joined to the other two, so that all are being proclaimed at the same time, and this great threefold message is now sounding in various parts of the world.GCB May 23, 1909, page 121.15

I believe this message is the greatest thing in the world. Why is it so important?—Because this message is the only and leading warning that God has given to tell the world of his second coming, and of the final salvation of those who are faithful. It is because of the importance of the event, the coming of Christ, that makes the message itself so important.GCB May 23, 1909, page 121.16

It is the great event of the coming of Jesus for which we are looking. This ought to enthrall our minds, and be the greatest thing on earth to us. Every one of us ought to regard this threefold message as the greatest and most important thing in this world. I do want to see the blessing of God come into our meeting, to see a great deal of power manifested, so that it shall be a memorable event in our history in the great work that is before us.GCB May 23, 1909, page 121.17

Now a few remarks in closing, upon the progress of our pilgrimage in connection with this message. Mr. Bunyan recognized the idea of progress when he wrote the “Pilgrim’s Progress,” the Christian going from the City of Destruction to the City of God.GCB May 23, 1909, page 121.18

When Father Bates came and preached the coming of Christ, there were only a few poverty-stricken, disappointed people, the most unpopular that could be found in the world, to receive his message. Has there not been some progress since that time? I think we have seen some evidences of progress.GCB May 23, 1909, page 121.19

To illustrate: I have stood by the New York Central Railroad, with its four tracks side by side, and trains coming and going on each track. If a man wants to go to Chicago, he gets on an express-train. If he keeps on the main line, there is progress. But here and there is a switch; and if a person gets onto the switch, he does not make progress. In order to get to Chicago, he must keep on the main line. The way to the city of God also has some switches. I have seen many so unwise as to switch off, and after they get off, they lose all their interest in the progress of the work. If I could say anything to any one who is here to-night who has been discouraged and cast down, how glad I should be. The work is going on. Did you ever see a movement that God started that came to nothing? I never did.GCB May 23, 1909, page 122.1

We have indeed a great work to do. Yesterday, when I listened to our dear Brother Selmon and his associates talk about the work that has been done in China, my heart was deeply touched. I know, brethren and sisters, that this message will go to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. We must do faithful work in these vast countries all over the world, in order to bring to all these peoples the light of the ‘third angel’s message. To some of us, this work may seem so great as to bring to us a feeling of discouragement. When we think of all that remains undone in China, with its 400,000,000 inhabitants; and then when we think of the entire world, with four times this number of people, the great majority of whom must yet be warned, we are well-nigh appalled. Surely, if it were not for the assurance that we shall have special power for the completion of this work within a very short time, we could not hope to do it. We might just as well look this matter squarely in the face. Unless we have with us more of the power of God, we are not equal to the task before us. My friends, we stand in need of another Pentecost. We need one with ten times the power that came upon the early church.GCB May 23, 1909, page 122.2

The concentrated light of all past ages is shining upon us. Jesus is soon coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. O, how I long to see that event! The world has but few charms for me; but the longer I live, the brighter is my hope of a glorious immortality, and of a life that measures with the life of God. I must see the consummation of this work, dear friends; even if I die, I must see Jesus when he comes and awakens his saints who are sleeping in the grave.GCB May 23, 1909, page 122.3

And O, how I long to see those who have faltered by the way, and who are drifting they know not whither, receive help at this meeting, and renew their courage, and determine to cast their lot with the people of God, and go onward and onward, growing in grace and spiritual power! If they do not do this, I fear they will fall into deeper darkness. O, my friends, let us be wise! As dear Sister White has repeatedly said to us, we can not afford to be lost. My heart goes out in deepest solicitude toward those who are hesitating and doubting as to their future course. That the Lord may help us, give us of his grace, and save us in his kingdom, is my prayer.GCB May 23, 1909, page 122.4

At the close of Elder Butler’s sermon, Brethren H. E. Armstrong, W. H. Meredith, E. Harris, and J. S. Washburn sang an original advent hymn (words by Elder Washburn), entitled,—GCB May 23, 1909, page 122.5

The Glory DawnGCB May 23, 1909, page 122.6

I am waiting for the morning bright When the Lord from heaven shall come;GCB May 23, 1909, page 122.7

I am watching for the blessed light Of that glorious day to dawn.GCB May 23, 1909, page 122.8

Deepest darkness covers all the earth, Tempests wild now rage on sea and land:GCB May 23, 1909, page 122.9

Lord, the floods of evil overflow; Save me by thy powerful hand.GCB May 23, 1909, page 122.10

In the secret of thy presence, Lord, From all evil thou dost shelter me; I am resting on thy faithful Word Till thy glory dawns o’er me.GCB May 23, 1909, page 122.11

Hark! the trump of God now calls the dead From their graves who sleep in earth and sea;GCB May 23, 1909, page 122.12

They shall wake, and with us meet the Lord; With him they shall ever be.GCB May 23, 1909, page 122.13

CHORUS:GCB May 23, 1909, page 122.14

See the glory dawn! see the glory dawn! Glorious morning! O, the glorious morn! When the Lord shall come! when the Lord shall come! When the Lord shall come!GCB May 23, 1909, page 122.15

By some oversight the report for the Silesian Conference, rendered by G. Perk, the president, was omitted from the German Union reports. We present it here:—GCB May 23, 1909, page 122.16

SIXTEENTH MEETING

THE SILESIAN CONFERENCE