Editorial by Editor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 17, 1910

Editorial

By Editor

The Test. — In the third number of the REVIEW, December, 1850, still issued in Paris, Maine, Elder Joseph Bates wrote of the testing point in the judgment-hour message, culminating in 1844. Though Elder Bates was the first among us to begin to publish, he very seldom wrote for our papers after the first few years. Out of his experience in the judgment-hour cry, however, he bore this witness:—

The basis of the whole argument rested on the termination of the 2300 days [years] which were to begin at the going forth of a certain decree to restore and build Jerusalem after the Babylonish captivity. See Dan. 9: 25. It was clearly established that this decree was given to Ezra, by the Persian King Artaxerxes, in the seventh year of his reign, the chronological date of which is B. C. 457. See Ezra 7: 7, 12, 13; see also date in the margin. It was admitted on all hands that if this date was right, the whole argument was conclusive.

Bearing Closest Scrutiny. — This time prophecy was the vital point which opponents of the advent movement sought to attack. Elder Bates tells of their failure:—

This date, B. C. 457, was the testing point. . . . Learned men, both in and out of the colleges, ministers, and historians throughout the land, raised all their most weighty objections. Chronology was examined, and re-examined, discussion after discussion was had between them and the leading men in the advent doctrine. It was finally settled, as far as it then could be, that advent believers had the clear light that B. C. 457 was the only and true point from which to count the 2300 days.

With one voice those early advent believers united in sounding the cry that the judgment hour would come in 1844. And they were right.

Where Confusion Followed. — Had the main body of those believers held fast to the truth that the judgment hour came in 1844, they would have been led on into the true view of the heavenly sanctuary, the investigative judgment, and the third angel's message. But they threw away the fundamental point of the time prophecy, adopted other and conflicting views, and confusion followed. Elder Bates, in this article, tells how they moved the date to 1845, then 1846, 1847, then 1849, and to the autumn of 1850, which latter date had just passed as Elder Bates wrote. He says they found it “easy to stretch and move the dates of history.” Thus the main body left the right path, and confusion followed. “Time has not been a test since 1844, and it will never again be a test.”