L. D. SANTEE by L. D. Santee

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 2, 1907

L. D. SANTEE

By L. D. Santee

A. D. 1844

L. D. SANTEE

The above date is the great lighthouse to the sailor on the prophetic channel in these last days. The message of truth which was then proclaimed to all the world should never be forgotten by any who would make the haven of eternal rest, at the end of earth's perilous voyage. Captains tell us that they lay their course by the lighthouse after they have passed it, as well as before they reach it, and in that way avoid the rocks and shoals which sometimes make the last part of their voyage the most perilous of any.

Before reaching 1844, students of prophecy had twice demonstrated the fact that they were correct in reckoning a day for a year, in computing prophetic time. They had read Eze. 4: 6,—“I have appointed thee each day for a year,”—but whether this standard was to be used or in reckoning prophetic time remained to be tested.

One of these demonstrations was seen in the exact fulfilment of the “time, and times, and half a time,” of papal rule. Dan. 7: 25; Rev. 12: 6, 14; 13: 5. The last effective enemy of the papacy was the Ostrogoths, who were conquered in A. D. 538. Adding to that the 1260 prophetic days, and we reach A. D. 1798, and that year the pope was taken prisoner by a French general, and the power of the papacy was broken.

The second evidence of its correctness is the exact fulfilment of the two prophetic periods of Revelation 9, connected with the sounding of the fifth and sixth trumpets. These two periods were computed by an eminent student of prophecy, in 1838, and finding that they would end Aug. 11, 1840, by the adopted rule of interpretation, he predicted thereon the loss of Turkish independence at that date. When the time arrived, the prediction was verified.

This gives us positive proof of the correctness of our reckoning. God has twice fulfilled his prophecies at the exact time that the student of prophecy had computed — and the year-day is the prophetic standard:

Now we take up Dan. 8: 14, and the 2300 days brings us to 1844, and upon this was based the proclamation, “The hour of his judgment is come.” Rev. 14: 6, 7. With such assurances of the correctness of the computation of prophetic time, and considering, too, that God lives and fulfils his own word in its season, it is vain to say that those who preached that thrilling warning, which moved the world, were mistaken in regard to the time which they preached. They did mistake the event at that time, but their position on prophetic time was right. No error can be found in it. God has set his seal to the fulfilment of the prophetic numbers, and it is vain to attempt to remove it.

Let us consider that date that shines like a great star on the prophetic horizon. Eleven years before, the falling stars witnessed the nearing of the advent. They were the third and last that God had promised to hang in the heavens as heralds of his coming. From that time to the present, there has been an era of advancement and unrest such as the world had never seen before. Dan. 12: 4 had to be fulfilled. The gospel of the kingdom had to encircle the earth, and all known means were too slow. God has sent out a “hurry” call, which is cutting the work short. Ocean greyhounds and the swiftest trains are made to carry his messengers and fulfil his will. Beginning with 1844 the investigative judgment has for sixty-three years been performing its work upon the records of men's lives. How long before the Judge will say, “It is finished”? How long before each of our missionaries can answer back to heaven, “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do”? Soon after 1844 the warning against the worship of the beast or his image or the reception of his mark, began to be preached; and through this threefold message a people is being brought out, to whom the angel refers as “saints;” and in Rev. 15: 2, John sees them in heaven.

Did you ever take your Bible and notice how little remains to be fulfilled, till you come to the events that take place during “the day of the Lord”? How much of the twelve chapters of Daniel are future? How much of Matthew 24? How much of James 5? How much of 2 Timothy 3 has not been fulfilled? How much of Revelation 13 remains to be fulfilled, and how much is becoming a present issue? Truly, we have but little prophecy left that is to be fulfilled before Christ comes. Nearly all that applies to human probation has become history. Thank God, Rev. 7: 3 remains with us. Lesser interests always give way for the larger; and what must be the importance of our work when all the stormy passions of the rulers are held in check until it is finished? The year 1844 must always have a prominent place in the mind of the Bible student, as the beginning of the end.