A Wonderful Invention by Uriah Smith

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 3, 1871

A Wonderful Invention.

By Uriah Smith

WE always admire an invention which is designed to supply a long-felt necessity, and which is exactly adapted to accomplish the object sought. Time-setting Adventists of course need charts to exhibit in illustration of their lectures. On these charts the prophetic periods must be illustrated. But as each new time passes these periods must be re-adjusted, and the old chart is rendered useless. Besides, almost every man has a time of his own, so that scarcely any two can unite in using the same chart. Now to publish a new chart whenever a time passes, or to publish enough to meet the views of all, would soon break the heaviest firm in the land.

Under these circumstances the Advent Times comes to the rescue. It is proposed to publish a chart in which the prophetic periods shall be disposed of in the following manner:—

“The prophetic periods will be illustrated, but not in a manner to confine them to any special dates. But they will be so arranged that any lecturer can adapt them to his own views of their rise and termination.”

Such is the announcement in the Times of Sept. 26, 1871. And this, it will be seen, just meets the case. From the same illustration a man can commence these periods wherever he pleases and end them where it happens. But just how they can be adjusted so as to begin nowhere, and end in equally indefinite regions, or rather, begin everywhere and end ditto, is still something of a mystery; and we wait with interest to see how it will be solved.

U. S.