p. 4 | J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH by John Norton Loughborough

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Jul 16, 1914

J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH

By John Norton Loughborough

The Second Advent Movement — No. 2

J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH

ALTHOUGH the disciples had wrong conceptions of the outcome of the message they were proclaiming, their expectation added to their zeal in their labors. So also those engaged in the second advent movement were aroused to great earnestness by supposing they had reached the actual consummation of their hopes. It was true that the coming of the Lord was near, and that the Lord designed the arousing of his people to the fact. This appears from our Saviour’s answer to the question, “What shall be the sign of thy coming?” After calling attention to signs that should appear, he said, “When ye shall see all these things, know that it [“he,” margin] is near, even at the doors.” Matt. 24: 3, 33.

That the Lord’s near coming was to be taught is clear from many scriptures. In Isaiah we read of the time when the Lord would swallow up death in victory. “It shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him.” Isa. 25: 9. Waiting implies a knowledge of his coming, and preparation to meet him. The admonition of the Saviour shows the same: “Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.” Luke 12: 35, 36. The apostle Paul, referring to the consummation of the hope at the coming of Christ, said, “Ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.” 1 Thess. 5: 4. Peter, speaking on the same subject, said, “There shall come in the last days scoffers, . . . saying, Where is the promise of his coming?” (2 Peter 3: 3, 4)—evidence that at that time his coming would be taught. So the apostle James, speaking of the heaping up of treasures “in the last days” and the defrauding of the laborers of their just due, said: “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. . . . Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” James 5: 7, 8.

One reason why the Adventists taught as they did was their entertaining the idea that the judgment was at the actual coming of Christ; they also believed the commonly accepted idea that this earth was the sanctuary. There was no denomination at that time that had the true light respecting the sanctuary in heaven. During the Dark Ages, and even following the Reformation, the church looked upon Christ’s ministry in the world as “sanctuary service.” Before the rise of the third angel’s message we heard nothing from the pulpit of a sanctuary in heaven. Well do I remember in my boyhood days hearing the ministers call church services “sanctuary services,” and speak of devout worshipers as “sitting under the droppings of the sanctuary.”

As the Levitical sanctuary was cleansed from sin once a year, and that yearly round of service represented the complete service of Christ as a priest, it was concluded that his service for sinners in the sanctuary—the world—would close with his cleansing the earth of sinners, by fire, at his second coming. Daniel had heard it stated, “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” Dan. 8: 14. In view of that, the Adventists thought if it could be ascertained when, in our reckoning, that period would close, they would have the year when Christ would come.

Daniel pressed his suit for light respecting the things he had seen and heard. With great earnestness he inquired, “How long?” and, “O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?” He was told, “Go thy way, Daniel [as much as to say, do not trouble your mind]: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.” Dan.

12: 8, 9. While no exact date was given to him, he was pointed to an event which, when it should be fulfilled, would be the time of the end. In a view of the great apostasy and the persecutions that should come, he was told that the Lord’s people would fall by the hand of that power “till the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.” Dan. 11: 35. The appointed time of that persecuting power was 1260 years. This period beginning in A. D. 538, the 1260 years would terminate in 1798. That year the Papacy was overthrown, which marks 1798 as the time of the end, and the time when knowledge on the time should come. Now, let us look at the facts of that time. In the Midnight Cry (an Adventist paper) of June 15, 1842, we read: ‘It is truly interesting to find the various independent writers who, since 1798, have seen what was entirely unperceived before,—that the seventy weeks was the key to the twenty-three hundred days.’ Again, in the same article, we read: ‘Is it not a wonderful coincidence that so many writers, without any knowledge of each other, came to the same conclusion about the same time?’

The church had had the light on the seventy weeks from the time that Christ had preached, ‘The time is fulfilled.’ But lo, when God’s time came for the light to appear on the 2300 days, his servants discover that the Hebrew word which had been rendered “determined” was really “cut off.” They said: ‘This is an explanation of the 2300 days. The seventy weeks are cut off from the 2300 days. Both periods begin together. So the 2300 days will terminate 1810 years from the termination of the seventy weeks—A. D. 34, or in our year 1844.’ In at least twenty different countries this light was discovered on the 2300 days, and when in after years those reckonings were compared, they were all found to agree that the period would terminate in 1844. As the Adventists accepted this reckoning of the 2300 days, it was the strong plank in their message that Christ would come to cleanse the sanctuary—the world—by fire in 1844.

Lodi, Cal.