Give Us a King

Eld. Marsh, in the Voice of Truth for May 7, 1845, under the head, GIVE US A KING, says:

“While Israel obeyed God he defended and blessed them; but when they desired a king like the surrounding nations, and said, ‘Give us a king,’ God departed from them, or suffered them to follow their own wisdom; and the result was, a yoke of oppression was laid upon their necks by their king, who was given to them ‘in wrath and taken away in anger.’ While the primitive church stood upon the foundation laid by Christ, obeyed his law, and followed him, they were humble, prosperous and happy; but when they began to lay other foundations, adopt other laws, and follow other leaders, the glory departed from them: they committed fornication with the kings of the earth, and soon constituted the ‘mother’ whom John saw seated on the scarlet colored beast, drunk with the blood of the saints. While the seceding sects were young, humble and submitted to Christ and his word, they were blessed, and proved a blessing to the church and the world; but when they patterned after the ‘mother of harlots,’ they, like her, ‘committed fornication,’ and became identified with mystery Babylon, that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth. From this fallen city, brethren, we have fled, in obedience to the command, ‘COME OUT OF HER.’ Let us not go back to her polluted temples, nor build one of our own after any of her patterns. Obey Christ and his word, and you have nothing to fear; but if you depart from him, like the examples before us, he will cast us off forever.”

In the Voice of Truth for May 21, 1845, Eld. Marsh says:

“Finally, we object to the doings of the Albany Conference, because the proceedings as a whole, look like forming a new sect, under a sectarian name, instead of coming to the order of the New Testament, under the name there given to the true church. It looks like laying plans of our own devising to be acted upon in the future when we have in our possession the perfect economy of the Lord, by which we should be guided, and when we profess to be looking for his coming every hour.”

Edwin Burnham, in a letter to Eld. Marsh, says:

“I am glad and rejoice in the stand you have taken in relation to the existence of creeds, etc. O, my brother, that is the simplicity of the gospel. Can we for one moment suppose it is a time now to be fixing up a creed for years, or even months, to come? Is this our faith? O I cannot, I cannot—I must not. What! the advent people have a creed? What! the advent people organize into a sect? O, brethren, do let us be consistent. Did not our enemies tell us that after our time passed—if it did pass—we should organize into a sect? What did we answer them? You who are disposed to organize and have a creed, answer it. Is Agag dead? are all the Amalekites dead? is all the spoil destroyed? Then what means the bleating of these sheep, and the lowing of these oxen from Albany? See 1st Sam. xvth chap.—Let us remember three things and overcome them. 1. The beast. 2. His mark. 3. The number of his name. Here is the PATIENCE and FAITH of the saints. Let the Gentile princes exercise their dictation, but let us not be so: Love as dear brethren, be kind, be affectionate. Little children, love one another.”

“[Let those who are acquainted with Edwin Burnham’s present position and course, compare it with the above, and then judge who has departed from the ‘simplicity of the gospel,’ and the pure meek spirit of the original advent faith; those who stand aloof from the ‘Advent Church,’ or Edwin Burnham, who is laboring to build up this new sect. Those whose lamps have not gone out can see, and will see that those who have rejected the present truth, have departed from the simplicity of the advent faith, and have not the sweet spirit that attended the proclamation of the first and second angel’s messages, and which called forth these living testimonies from the leaders in the holy advent cause. We hope and pray that these testimonies may inspire the hearts of God’s dear children with stronger faith and brighter hope, while they obey the divine injunction—‘call to remembrance the former days.’] W.”