Contents of Early Numbers of Advent Review
By J. O. Corliss
The Experiences of Former Days—No. 6
Contents of Early Numbers of Advent Review
In its earliest form, no name appears as editor of the Advent Review, but the names of Hiram Edson, David Arnold, Geo. W. Holt, Samuel W. Rhodes, and James White stand at the head of each paper as “Publishing Committee.” But inasmuch as all communications to the paper were then to be addressed to James White, it is clear that he was responsible for its contents and make-up. The first number of the paper enters into an explanation of the prophetic period which led the people of that day through their most singular experience. Among other statements of the position then occupied, the following from Joseph Marsh, in the Voice of Truth of Nov. 7, 1844, was reproduced:— “Since the tenth day of the seventh month has passed, and we are disappointed in not seeing our Lord, it seems necessary to define our position again. This we most cheerfully do. But first please indulge us a few moments in expressing our great disappointment in not seeing our Lord at the time expected.8We did believe that he would come at that time; and now, though we sorrow on account of our disappointment, yet we rejoice that we have acted according to our faith. We have had, and still have, a conscience void of offense, in this matter, toward God and man. God has blessed us abundantly, and we have not a doubt but that all will soon be made to work together for the good of his dear people, and his glory: We cheerfully admit that we have been mistaken in the nature of the event we expected would occur on the tenth day of the seventh month; but we can not yet admit that our great High Priest did not, on that very day, accomplish all that the type would justify us to expect. We now believe he did.” To this Elder White replied in a foot-note: “So do we. The type (see Leviticus 16) in connection with the twenty-three hundred days of Dan. 8: 13, 14, justified us to expect ‘that on the tenth day of the seventh month, 1844, Jesus, our High Priest, would enter the holiest of all, to cleanse the sanctuary.’” Indeed, the motto of the paper at that time, “Call to remembrance the former days,” was significant as pointing out its special mission; namely, to convince those who had passed through the 1844 disappointment that God’s hand had led them in all that experience, and so establish them in the “present truth.” This of course called for articles correcting false interpretations of scripture bearing upon the last days. One prominent idea that then obtained with J. B. Cook and others was that the passing of the prophetic period brought the time of the “shut door,” which meant “no more repentance unto life, or forgiveness of sins.” Much space was given to this point by Elder White, in which he steadily combatted the idea as a gross error. In an “extra” issued in November, 1850, reference is made to this doctrine, and it was met thus:— “This is certainly a mistake. All who were borne in on the breastplate of judgment, and have not sinned wilfully, may repent and find forgiveness. Jesus says to the Laodiceans, ‘As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.’” In the third and fourth numbers of the paper appears an exposition of the sanctuary and its priesthood, by O. R. L. Crozier, which sets the subject forth quite clearly, considering the bewildered state of mind in which the disappointment left many of those who experienced it. But one of the most interesting series in the little volume is that by Elder Joseph Bates, entitled “Second Advent Way-marks, and High Heaps.” After quoting Jer. 31: 21,—“Set thee up way-marks, make thee high heaps: set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest,”—the writer takes his readers over the entire advent experience from the time Mr. Miller began to preach the advent message in 1833 to the disappointment in 1844, and the events which closely followed that time up to 1847, when the Sabbath truth became firmly established. Mr. Miller’s call to the ministry; Mr. Himes’s acceptance of the advent message, and the publication of The Signs of the Times; the oft-recurring conferences and camp-meetings; the wonderful conversion of the multitudes; the disappointment of 1843, which was designated the “Tarrying of the Bridegroom;” the great Exeter camp-meeting of Aug. 12, 1844, when the cry was first given, “Behold the Bridegroom cometh,” which set the time for the Master’s return on the tenth day of the seventh month of that year; the wonderful energy aroused by that cry, which turned the voice of the popular clergy against the movement, and brought forth the re-echoing proclamation, “Babylon is fallen,”—all these were cited as “way-marks and high heaps,” which proved the leadings of God all along the way. These articles were not without wholesome effect. Looking candidly over the path which had been traversed, as set forth in this review, many, in the language of Brother Bates himself, fully “determined to correct their ‘dead reckoning,’ by watching every opportunity for an observation of the Sun of righteousness, and, by faith, cling fast to all the promises, doing as the prophet has shown them,—‘I stand continually upon the watch-tower in the daytime, and I am set in my ward every night,’—watching for all the terrestrial and celestial landmarks and heaps in their pathway, . . . trusting in the Lord, which makes them as Mount Zion, which can not be removed, but abideth forever.” It seems clear that, at that early day, the main features of the truth were as clearly understood by those who constituted the leaders in the third angel’s message as at the present. It is truly refreshing to know that the truth was so well settled then that it has stood the test of all the intervening years. To the writer this seems another “way-mark” and “high heap” by which the truth for these days has been settled once for all.