Former Things by Uriah Smith

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 27, 1903

Former Things

By Uriah Smith

“But call to remembrance the former days.” Heb. 10: 32. It is interesting to look back at the experience of Adventists since the time when special light on the second coming of Christ began to shine upon the world. This light was in fulfillment of the promise that “this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” It began to be preached by men raised up and moved out by the providence of God, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, and quickened with heavenly zeal, to raise this cry in

the ears of humanity.

The prophecies were rapidly fulfilling. The time of the end had begun. Signs in the heavens appeared. Light increased. Their position became more definite, and their pathway promised to become brighter and brighter, even to the perfect day. It was thought that the prophetic periods would extend to the close of the Jewish year, March 31, 1843. But that time passed. More or less confusion ensued till the summer of 1844. Then it was found by further study, that it was necessary to recast the great prophetic period of twenty-three hundred days, at the end of which the sanctuary was to be cleansed. Dan. 8: 14. It was found that, according to Bible time and reckoning, those days would not terminate until Oct. 22, 1844.

This discovery was made midway between the end of the Jewish year, 1843, in the spring of 1844, and the time fixed for the ending of the twenty-three hundred days, Oct. 22, 1844. This tarrying time was the midnight of the parable of the ten virgins. Matt. 25: 1-13.

At this point came the midnight cry. “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.” Between this point and the ending of the days, there was great activity in the Adventist ranks. This was the loud cry of the first message. From one end of the land to the other, the cry was raised, “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.” The message was proclaimed with great vigor and wondrous power. Men became phenomenally liberal, and poured out their money like water for the support of the cause and the advancement of the message. The leaders had no lack, all the means they could use in the work being furnished. And the personal interest manifested by believers for their friends was something to cause joy among the angels. Luke 15: 10. They besought the impenitent, with strong crying and tears, to get ready at once for the appearing of the Saviour. And many were those who turned to God by repentance. It is predicted that the third message is to go with tenfold greater power than did the first message. But where is the earnest, agonizing labor for souls that was seen then? There ought to be more now: “for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” Adventists were then reined up to a rapidly approaching point of time, when they expected their Lord in the clouds of heaven. If they had faith, they must manifest it in a way to condemn the world, by showing that they believed what they professed, as Noah did in his day. Heb. 11: 7. This is why they left their crops unharvested in their fields as evidence to all men that they did not expect to need them. Have we any reason now to cut loose from the world, on the ground, as it is the object of these articles to show, that we are so nearly through with this world that we can show our faith only by dedicating our all to the support and advancement of this work? See the multiplying and urgent calls that are coming in from all quarters for laborers and means to supply the need of the perishing world.

Under this state of things it would naturally be supposed that our danger would be to grow careless by putting too far off the coming of the Lord, according to the warning of the Scriptures not to say, “My Lord delayeth his coming.” But one reader thinks that in our articles, in narrowing the time down to this generation, we are putting the coming of the Lord too near. We are glad to hear from the brethren upon this point, even if by way of criticism. This brother thinks that there is one Scriptural evidence that is quite important, but too generally overlooked. Then he refers to Leviticus, chapter 26, where God threatens to punish Israel “seven times more” for their sins unless they repent. This he makes a prophetic period, consisting of 2,520 years, beginning B. C. 606, and he claims they extend to A. D. 1914, before the Lord can come. This 2,520-year period enters into almost every Age-to-Come scheme that has come under our notice; but we need borrow no trouble about this. The difficulty with it is that there is no such prophetic period in the Scriptures. The expression “seven times” is not a prophetic period denoting duration, but simply an adverb, expressing degree, and referring to the severity of the punishment that should come upon Israel unless they repented. If it were a prophetic period and denoted duration, a noun and its adjective would be used, as in Dan. 4: 16: “Let seven times pass over him.” Here we have the noun “times” and the adjective “seven;” but in the passage from Leviticus 26 we have simply the adverb “sheba,” which means “sevenfold.” The Septuagint makes the same distinction. See this subject all explained in Appendix II of the work on Daniel and the Revelation. So we have no such period to reckon upon, as no such period exists.

Another brother thinks we are all wrong in referring the “falling of the stars” to the literal meteoric display of 1833, making it a sign, and setting it to mark the opening of this generation, which shall not pass away before all these things come to pass. His application is this: “In the first chapter of Revelation, the last verse, Christ says that the seven stars are the angels (ministers) of the seven churches. And such stars are falling to the earth to-day, very many.”

If we begin to spiritualize such prophecies as these, or rather, to apply to them the principles of mysticism, where shall we stop? In the parallel prophecy of Rev. 6: 12-14 we read: “And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.” Is it anything less than absurd to apply this to anything but the meteoric display of the heavenly luminaries called the falling of the stars, which signalized a great fulfillment of prophecy, and marked the opening of one of the most important epochs to the last generation of mankind? U. S.