The Fruit of Folly by Uriah Smith

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 29, 1875

The Fruit of Folly.

By Uriah Smith

IN the REVIEW of March 25, 1875, we referred to the time set by Wm. C. Thurman and his party, for the Lord to come, and the disappointment that was sure to follow. The time set, April 19, 1875, went by, as there was no reason whatever to suppose that it would not, and those engaged in that movement are now reaping the fruit of their disappointment. They unfortunately succeeded in some places in making stir enough to attract the attention of the community, and now the papers are full of jeers over the failure, and new satires upon Adventism.

A reporter gives quite a lengthy account of the meeting in Chicago, where Mr. Thurman met his deceived followers on that eventful night. As it began to become evident that the time would pass, he is represented as saying in mournful tones: “We feared our ignorance, we invited inquiry. If we were mistaken, why was it that learned divines were unable to detect it, and save us from our errors?” This is cool. The world was full of evidences to show the fallacy of his position, which he might have seen but for his dogged obstinacy in shutting his eyes to the light. In issuing the last number of his paper, he assured his readers it would be the last. Will he keep that pledge? or will it be like those which have been given by so many others before, no more to be depended on than the shifting of the fitful breeze? Heaven save the community from the further infliction of expositors who are drifting about without chart or compass, anchor or rudder. U. S.