Former Things — Fifth Paper
By Uriah Smith
The reminiscences in our last paper brought us to the great light (Matt. 4: 16) which arose upon Adventists after the bitter disappointment of 1844. The solution of the difficulty was the discovery of the fact that the earth, which we had supposed to be the sanctuary, was not the sanctuary that was to be cleansed at the end of the twenty-three hundred days of Dan. 8: 14, and that the cleansing of this sanctuary was not the destruction of this earth by fire, at the second coming of Christ; and, therefore, that we had no reason to expect the appearing of Christ in the clouds of heaven in 1844. It was this mistake which led to the great disappointment of the Adventists at that time, and led the world and all who did not love the appearing of the Saviour to the conclusion that Adventism was a failure, and caused them to shut the door against the blessed hope, and the revival which accompanied it. In all this, they were the sole losers. But Adventists, who believed that God was in the past movement, and would in due time make all plain, were the ones who “took oil in their vessels with their lamps” (Matt. 25: 4); and they were4saved from the error of giving up their past experience, and making shipwreck of their faith. Of course the attention of Adventists was centered on the question, What is the sanctuary? And on this point, following the proneness of the human mind to run into extremes, some have erred from the truth as far as they did who said in 1844 that the earth was the sanctuary. The New Testament has much to say about our bodily relation to God and to the Holy Ghost: “What, know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1 Cor. 6: 19, 20. Again: “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” 1 Cor. 3: 16, 17. The apostle takes up the subject again in 2 Cor. 6: 16, 17: “Ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” Thus plainly speaks the New Testament about our bodies being the temple of God and of the Holy Spirit. And we are to keep our bodies clean and pure; for Paul further says, “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” 2 Cor. 7: 1. But this is not the “cleansing of the sanctuary.” It is, however, a great work laid out before the Christian, to “perfect holiness in the fear of God;” and we cannot be too careful of our bodies as the temple of God; but the cleansing of these is not the “cleansing of the sanctuary;” and to make such an application reduces the testimony of the Scriptures respecting the “cleansing of the sanctuary” to a mere travesty. It is our duty to bring our bodies into as healthy a condition as possible, press the health reform to its true limits, avail ourselves of the use of the X-rays, and of other of the discoveries of science, but this is not the “cleansing of the sanctuary;” and by these means we cannot make ourselves exempt from disease, and possibly from death. This result can only be accomplished by that means which will be available when that time comes of which the apostle speaks when he says, “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body [this body of our humiliation], that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” Phil. 3: 20, 21. It is not anything that we can do, in the line of health reform, or any works of our own, that will be able to shield us from the seven last plagues, and save us at last from death; but it will be by receiving the seal of the living God, which seal we are to secure by accepting the message to the Laodicean church. Rev. 3: 14-22. But the question is not yet answered, What is the sanctuary? This we might have learned, and may even now learn, by studying Mal. 4: 4: “Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.” In this scripture we are pointed back to the typical law of Moses, with its beautiful and impressive sanctuary, which surpassed any other object on this earth in sublimity and grandeur, holding before the world an object-lesson calculated to touch the hearts of men as it brought to their view the love of Christ, and revealed to them the object, nature, and modus operandi of the work of Christ in his surpassingly glorious office of mediation for the rescue of sinful and lost men. There is no subject more glorious, and more worthy of the study of mankind, than the subject of the sanctuary. We have here only touched upon the vital point that bridged us over the mistake, and gave us our bearings again in our prophetic journey. But into what a glorious temple of truth were we brought by this new revealing of light! What new fields and new themes of study were opened before us, inviting us to enter in and explore! This is more than hinted at in the passage quoted from Mal. 4: 4, “the statutes and judgments,” as though the Old Testament could not close without calling our attention to the great moral law, on which we needed more light and radical reformation in practice. The New Testament, all through, harmonizes with the new light from the Old, and buttresses on every side the new truths brought out from the Old. This is new light we always rejoice in. When we can see on every side new points made, and advancement gained, we receive strength and courage. But when anything claims our indorsement as new light, but to accept of which makes it necessary to go over our back tracks, and tear up and readjust much that we have considered settled by the Scriptures, in the past,—such a course tends to unsettle and involve us in deeper gloom. Such we cannot see to be new light, nor the advancement that attends that which is given as a lamp to our feet, and a light to our path. Great light was almost immediately shed upon that all-important subject, the law of God; for when “the temple of God was opened in heaven, there was seen in his temple,” says Rev. 11:19, “the ark of his testament,” and the nature and the obligation of the law of Jehovah were opened to our view. And then, what errors and delusions peculiar to these last days have been exposed and laid bare! The nature of man, exalting Christ and exposing Spiritualism, takes its place by the side of the law of Jehovah, and shows more clearly our whereabouts on the stream of time. There is a service, or ministration, connected with the sanctuary, which, if studied as it should be, will enable all who are to be saved from this generation, to perfect holiness in the fear of God. “Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.” U. S.