Present Truth Then Relevant Now?

We are beginning a study on - 'The Present Truth' papers published in the middle 1800's. These are called the 'Present Truth' because it WAS Present Truth for that time. So why study them now? Because TRUTH at any time is worth studying, and we KNOW that often ORIGINAL truth presented before Satan has had an opportunity to corrupt it, can be very enlightening. At the very least we will see, by the grace of God through the Holy Spirit, what truth then is still uncorrupted today and still very relevant for us living in these dark, dark times. Our world today compared to a hundred and seventy years ago is so much worse than it was, with so much evil being called good, and good being called evil.  May God bless us as we seek HIS truth for us in our present, bringing us only closer to Him and prayerfully the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

THE PRESENT TRUTH.

PUBLISHED SEMI-MONTHLY—BY JAMES WHITE.

Vol.l.  MIDDLETOWN, CONN, JULY, 1849.  No. 1.

"The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant."—Ps. 25: 14.

"WHEREFORE, I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the PRESENT TRUTH." 2 Pet. 1 : 12.

It is through the truth that souls are sanctified, and made ready to enter the everlasting kingdom. Obedience to the truth will kill us to this world, that we may be made alive, by faith in Jesus. " Sanctify them through thy truth ; thy word is truth;" John 17: 17. This was the prayer of Jesus. "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth," 3 John 4

Error, darkens and fetters the mind, but the truth brings with it freedom, and gives light and life. True charity, or LOVE, "rejoiceth in the truth;" Cor. 13: 6. " Thy law is the truth." Ps. 119: 142.

David describing the day of slaughter, when the pestilence shall walk in darkness, and destruction waste at noon-day, so that, "a thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand," says—

" He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust; his TRUTH shall be thy SHIELD and BUCKLER." Ps. 91 : 4.

The storm is coming. War, famine and pestilence are already in the field of slaughter. Now is the time, the only time to seek a shelter in the truth of the living God.

In Peter's time there was present truth, or truth applicable to that present time. The Church have ever had a present truth. The present truth now, is that which shows present duty, and the right position for us who are about to witness the time of trouble, such as never was. Present truth must be oft repeated, even to those who are established in it. This was needful in the apostles day, and it certainly is no less important for us, who are living just before the close of time.

For months I have felt burdened with the duty of writing, and publishing the present truth for the scattered flock; but the way has not been opened for me to commence the work until now. I tremble at the word of the Lord, and the importance of this time. What is done to spread the truth must be done quickly. The four Angels are holding the angry nations in check but a few days, until the saints are sealed; then the nations will rush, like the rushing of many waters. Then it will be too late to spread before precious souls, the present saving, living truths of the Holy Bible. My spirit is drawn out after the scattered remnant. May God help them to receive the truth, and he established in it. May they haste to take shelter beneath the "covering of the Almighty God," is my prayer.

The Weekly Sabbath Instituted at Creation, and not at Sinai.

" And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made ; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which GOD created and made." Gen 2: 2, 3.

Here GOD instituted the weekly rest or Sabbath. It was the seventh day. He BLESSED and SANCTIFIED that day of the week, and no other; therefore the seventh day, and no other day of the week is holy, sanctified time.

God has given the reason why he blessed and sanctified the seventh day. " Because that in it he had rested from all his work which GOD had created and made." He rested, and set the example for man. He blessed and set apart the seventh day for man to rest from his labor, and follow the example of his Creator. The Lord of the Sabbath said, Mark 2: 27, " The Sabbath was made for man." Not for the Jew only, but for MAN, in its broadest sense ; meaning all mankind. The word man in this text, means the same as it does in the following texts. " Man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble." Job 14 : 1. " Man lieth down and riseth not, till the heavens be no more." Job 14 : 12.

No one will say that man here means

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Jews, or Christians ; but the whole human race. The Sabbath was made for man, for the whole race of man. Adam, Noah, and Abraham were men, therefore the Sabbath was made for them, as well as for Moses, and the Jews. We are men, and the Sabbath is made for us.

GOD has given the following reason in the Decalogue, why man should keep his  holy Sabbath—" FOR in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day : wherefore the Lord BLESSED the seventh day and HALLOWED it." Ex. 20: 11.

Here our minds are directed back more than twenty-five hundred years, to the creation and holy rest in Eden, for the origin of the Sabbath. This plain fact every candid mind must see. GOD did not bless and hallow the Sabbath day at Sinai—no, no.  This he had done in Eden twenty-five hundred years before.

" And GOD blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it " Gen.2:3

The Sabbath was marked and guarded with miracles by Jehovah and kept by Israel in the wilderness of Sin, thirty days before they came to Sinai.

" And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much "bread, two omers for one man : to-morrow is the rest of the Holy Sabbath unto the Lord : bake that which ye will bake to-day, and seethe that ye will seethe ; and that which remaineth over, lay up for you to be kept until the morning."

" And Moses said, eat that to-day, for to-day is a Sabbath unto the Lord: to-day ye shall not find in the field. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none."

And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath. So the people rested on the seventh day." See Ex. 16: 22-30

The children of Israel departed from Egypt on the fifteenth day of the first month, and came to the wilderness of Sin on the fifteenth, day of the second month. Here God gives them bread from heaven, and 'reminds them of the Sabbath. From the wilderness of Sin they journeyed to Rephidim, and from Rephidim they came to the desert of Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the third month.

Mark this; GOD gives them manna, reminds them of his Sabbath, and guards it with miracles thirty days before they saw Mount Sinai, and thirty-two days before God spake from the smoking mount, the ten commandments.

We frequently hear the assertion, that the Sabbath is not mentioned in the Bible, till after the law was given from Mount Sinai; therefore, the seventh day Sabbath is the Sabbath of the old Jews, and is abolished. Not long since a second advent preacher made this false statement to me. Another person repeated this statement to me not two weeks since. Now, I hope all who are laboring under this mistaken view will look again. Please read the history of the journey of Israel from Egypt to Mount Sinai, found in Exodus.

The Lord said to Moses, thirty-two days before he gave the law of commandments, "How long refuse ye to keep MY COMMANDMENTS and MY LAWS ? See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath." The Sabbath is not mentioned here as a new institution, but an old one, that they had not kept while in bondage to the Egyptians. GOD brought Israel out of the house of bondage to prove them, and see if they would keep his commandments. They had been from Egypt but thirty days when God reminded them of his Sabbath.

" And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee 'these forty years in the wilderness, to  humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thy heart, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments, or no." Dent 8:. 2. They could not keep his Sabbath in Egypt, They could not keep it; neither can we keep it when bound by sectarian creeds. There fore God has brought us out of the churches to prove us, to try us, to know what is in our hearts, whether we will keep his commandments.

TO BE CONTINUED….