REVIEW OF A DISCOURSE
DELIVERED IN THE NORTH CHURCH, NEWBURYPORT, ON THE LAST EVENING OF THE YEAR 1811,
BY L. F. DIMMICK,
PASTOR OF THE CHURCH.
BY
WILLIAM MILLER,
LOW HAMPTON, NEW YORK
JOSHUA V. HIMES, PUBLISHER
1842.
BLANK PAGE
AN ADDRESS TO THE SECOND ADVENT CONFERENCE
HELD AT PORTLAND, ME., OCTOBER 12, 1841.
DEAR BRETHREN:- Your frequent gathering together for the purpose of conversing on one of the most thrilling and interesting subjects that was ever presented to the mind of man, will, if persevered in, produce those happy results which, in the eternal state of the righteous, will redound to the glory of God, and the happiness of our fellow-beings. If ever there was a time in our world when we have called the proud happy, it is now. Need I refer you to our proud ministers and popular churches? Any man of discernment can see, and must acknowledge, that pride, popularity, and worldly opinion, control, sway, and govern the majority of our priests, and are the law and precept for our most popular sects, churches, and societies. “Yea, they that work wickedness are SET UP**”. This is certainly the effect, more or less, of all our Protestant sects at this time. If any man is so venturesome as to attack any of our traditional theories, though ever so false, he is sure to raise up a hue and cry among the clergy, and find upon his track the whole host of pretended religious editors, dealing out their bombast, misstatements, and foolish lies, to worry and perplex, if possible, the fearless advocate for the truth. And those public teachers and churches who most conform to the opinions and fashions of the world are “set up;” their names are lauded through the land, and titles of honor are heaped upon them. We can hardly meet a servant of the cross of Christ who has not the title of Rev.,D. D., A. M., President, Vice President, or Director, and sometimes a combination of all these titles. Many of them are merely honorary distinctions, which are of no manner of use in the kingdom of God, and of no utility to the cause of Christ. This, in my humble opinion, is seeking honor of men, and therefore we may well ask how such persons can be servants of Christ. I therefore, my brethren, plead for the cause of my dear Master, that in your meetings no custom of this kind should be adopted. Let us beware of breaking one of the least of the commandments of God, or conforming to these pernicious and foolish practices of the world, which will perish with the using, and drown men in perdition. I do most earnestly beseech you, my brethren, to admit of no motive in our conferences, that should lead unholy or worldly men to join us, either for honor or worldly gain. True, a proud and bigoted priesthood may jeer us, the world may hate and despise us; “yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.” Yet if we believe as we profess, it will be but a moment of pain, and eternal glory will be our reward.MWV3 77.1
“Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another.” When did they speak often one to another? I answer, when the “proud” are called “happy,” when the “wicked” are “set up,” and those who “tempt God are delivered.” And now is the time. If ever there was a time when this scripture could have a literal fulfilment, it is now. And now is the time, too, for the humble children of God to speak often one to another; but let our conversation be such as becometh saints, let it be chaste and pure as the word of truth, so that a holy God may with propriety fulfil to you in his good pleasure the remainder of the text: “And the Lord hearkened, and heard it; and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and thought upon his name;” yea, may it be fulfilled to you in your conferences on the glorious subject of his return to earth, when he shall make up his jewels, and when he shall come to be glorified in his saints.MWV3 79.1
In addressing you at this time, I have selected the subject of the manner, objects, and the revelation of the time of the coming of Christ.MWV3 80.1