Editorial by Editor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 29, 1911

Editorial

By Editor

THE “sure word of prophecy” had foretold the coming of the solemn hour of the investigative judgment, in 1844. As that hour drew near, there arose the great awakening as to the second advent, the proclamation to the world that the hour of God’s judgment was at hand.

THOSE who engaged in the advent proclamation before 1844 thought that the opening of the judgment meant the coming of Christ to this earth. They did not understand the heavenly sanctuary and its cleansing. But the message for that time was the judgment-hour cry, and they gave the message, just as the disciples and the populace fulfilled the prophecy in proclaiming Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, even though disappointed in their expectations.

ALL along many had scoffed at the doctrine of Christ’s second coming. But when the time passed, a storm of derision fell upon those who had looked for the Saviour. In the Review of July 15, 1880, was printed a letter which Wm. Miller, one of the leaders in the 1844 movement, had written to the father of the late Elder C. W. Stone soon after the disappointment, being dated Dec. 17, 1845. Wm. Miller said:—

Every possible effort is now put in requisition by Satan, the church, and the world, to bring into disrepute the most glorious point of the revelation of God,—the coming of Christ, the resurrection, and the kingdom,—the very capstone of grace, the conclusion of the gospel, the conquest of the enemies of God, the destruction of death, the fulfilment of all prophecy, the completion of salvation, the redemption of the body, the fruition of faith, the realization of all promises, the inheritance of the saints, the fulness of time, the end of the world, the beginning of eternity, the fruits of eternal life,—all, all dependent on one event, which will be in a moment, suddenly, like the lightning shining from the east even unto the west.

THESE were the words of a man who loved the “blessed hope” of the church, and was not to be turned from it because he had not fully understood all the prophecy. He added:—

Old age, infirmity of body, and want of means of conveyance, put it out of my power ever to think of doing more in person to warn my fellow men, or to try to take away their prejudice. Thanks be to God, I have done all I could for the world, and have borne their hatred and scoffs, their lies and misrepresentations. I know my own motives and objects; and now I have worn myself out in trying to benefit man. I have spent all my living except just enough to keep me at home, and give me bread and a couch; I have destroyed my character in the eyes of the world; I have no redress but in the judgment of the great day and the justice of a righteous Judge. To him and to that day I appeal.