p. 312 | HERE IT COMES!

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 14, 1901

HERE IT COMES!

EVER since the opening of our late Conference in this place, it has been a curious query in our mind what kind of story those who try to turn the doctrine of the second advent of Christ into ridicule, would try to fabricate concerning our position and our work. We have not had to wait long. Returns from newspaperdom are beginning to come in. Here is one from the North Carolina Evening Dispatch, headed—

“THE END OF THE WORLD”

BATTLE CREEK, MICH., APRIL 23, 1901.—The General Conference of Adventists, which closed here to-day, brought out the fact that the Adventists hold that the world is coming to an end in this, the first year of the twentieth century.”

To any who attended the Conference, it will be news that any such sentiment was held or advanced in the Conference, as that the end of the world is coming this present year. It is well known that the very scriptures which constitute the basis of our faith respecting the end of the world, make the time of the second coming of Christ absolutely indeterminate. We believe just as our Lord himself declared, “But of that day and hour knoweth no man [that is, the time of that day and hour], no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father,” or as Matthew records it, “but my Father only.” Mark 13:32; Matt. 24:36. And as the Father alone knows it, it is not now a matter of revelation; and if it ever is known, that knowledge must come from the Father only. But God has revealed enough to enable us to know, and therefore commands us to know, when “it” [“He,” Christ, margin] is near, even at the doors.” Matt. 24:33. If we do not know this, we are warned that we will, like the Jews, not be aware of the day of our visitation, and, like them, will perish in consequence. Luke 19:41–44.

It could hardly be expected that the item would close without any reference to Mrs. White, of whom we accordingly read: “Mrs. Ellen White, the famous prophetess of the sect, announces that the second coming of Christ is near at hand. Thus far she has not been explicit concerning the exact time, but she declares that the hour is not far off. ‘The Scriptures contain prophecies from which can be computed the exact date of the end of the world,’ declares Mrs. White. ‘If we read the words of Daniel aright, we shall know when the Lord will come.’”

It was very considerate in the writer of the foregoing item to keep within the truth by saying of Mrs. White that “thus far she has not been explicit concerning the exact time,” that is, that she fixes no time for the Lord to come; but the writer is far from the truth when he represents her as saying that “if we read the words of Daniel aright, we shall know when the Lord will come.” The Scriptures contain no prophecies from which can be computed the exact date of the end of the world, and Daniel contains no words from which the time of the Lord’s coming can be ascertained. And any one who asserts that we believe he does, either does not understand that of which he speaks or is not careful to confine himself to the truth.

We refer to these things not with the expectation of correcting the impression that prevails in regard to them in the world at large, but to assure our friends who may have such assertions to meet, that our positions remain as before; and they may answer them accordingly. We do not make, nor have we made, the assertion that the end will come this year, or any other specific year. We know not the day nor the hour. But we do know that the end is near and hasteth greatly.