DID THE ANGEL SWEAR TO A LIE?
There are still some people in whose minds the great disappointment experienced by the Adventists of 1844, stands as an objection against their regarding that movement as a fulfillment of prophecy. Those engaged in giving that message were disappointed. They proclaimed that that was coming to pass, which was not to come to pass, and did not come to pass. Now can we say that their work was symbolized by an angel flying through heaven with the everlasting gospel, Rev. 14: 6, 7, or by an angel lifting up his hands to heaven and solemnly testifying that time shall be no more, Rev. 10: 6, without involving the angel in the dilemma of testifying to a falsehood? This is a question worthy of careful consideration. An important branch of the subject we do not propose here to discuss; namely, the evidence that the advent movement of 1840 to 1844, was manifestly a fulfillment of prophecy. But this has an important bearing on the issue, and should be taken into account and satisfactorily disposed of before deciding against that movement. There are prophecies which can be applied nowhere else and to no other work. They are prophecies plain and unequivocal. They locate the time of their fulfillment, and describe the nature of their work; and if we look upon the past advent movement as a genuine work, the application of these prophecies to that work, seems so consistent and natural that they are the easiest prophecies to apply in all the Bible. But if we deny their application to that movement, there they stand, mysterious, unexplainable; yea, more, palpable failures; for the time is past when the fulfillment should have appeared. All that we deem it necessary here to do, is to inquire whether or not it can be established as a correct principle that persons may fulfill prophecy, and yet in some respects misunderstand and misapply the prophecies they are fulfilling. If this should appear to be a correct principle, the subject is freed from all difficulty. Let us now look at some of the prophecies which are applied to the advent movement, and see how far that movement was in accordance with those prophecies, and what the points of difference were. They believed, 1st, That the coming of Christ was near; 2dly, That the signs given to indicate that coming had been fulfilled; 3dly, That his coming was to be literal, personal, and visible, in the clouds of heaven; 4thly, That the prophetic periods would terminate in 1844; 5thly, That the hour of God's Judgment would come at the end of those periods; 6thly, That then the sanctuary would be cleansed. And in all these points they were correct. What did the prophecies warrant them to proclaim? They warranted them to proclaim that time, prophetic, should be no more, or that the prophetic periods would there end; and they proclaimed it: that then the sanctuary should be cleansed; and they proclaimed it: that the hour of God's Judgment was then to commence; and they heralded that: that the coming of the Lord was near; and they gave the proclamation. And what was the difference between the views of Adventists in 1844, and the prophecies? Simply this: Adventists placed the coming of the Lord a little sooner than they had a right to, owing to a misunderstanding of the sanctuary and the nature of the Judgment. Further light has revealed that all that the prophecies declared was fulfilled to the letter. The only failure was in the inferences drawn by men outside of the Bible and the expectations based upon them. But for these, as we have shown, the prophecies were in no wise responsible. The case of the disciples is referred to, to illustrate this subject, very uniformly and very properly. And if the circumstances of that case are fully considered, it leaves little room, as it seems to us, for further questioning. A prophecy had been given commanding the daughter of Zion to rejoice and shout because her King was coming unto her, having salvation; and the sign was to be that he would appear in a lowly condition, riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass. Zech. 9: 9. And when Jesus, as recorded in Matt. 21, and other scriptures, directed his disciples where they would find a colt whereon never man had sat, and told them to bring that colt to him, and if any man questioned their proceedings, to say, “The Lord hath need of him,” they recognized the sign, and entered at once into the spirit of the occasion, proclaiming with joyful shouts and loud hosannas the coming of their King. That they misunderstood the prophecy we positively know; for after his crucifixion they said sadly, “We trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel.” Luke 24: 21. Had they known or supposed that Christ was going to a cross instead of a throne, as was indeed the case, wails of sorrow, rather than shouts of joy, would have issued from their lips. And we have no reason whatever to suppose that in that vast throng, amid the rejoicing occasioned by their expectation of the redemption of Israel, and the interchange of thought, the answers to inquiries, and the communication one with another, as the “whole city” was moved on the occasion—we have no reason to suppose that they did not advocate the temporal reign of Christ, then and there, and urge it from the records of the prophecy. We must suppose that they did do this; for, knowing that that was what they expected, to conclude that they said nothing about it, would be a very unnatural conclusion. It would be to conclude that the whole multitude suddenly became deprived of one of the most prominent traits of humanity. But, nevertheless, did they not fulfill the prophecy? So the sacred writer declares. They gave a proclamation according to the terms of the prophecy, and under the circumstances specified therein; and in that they fulfilled it. But they misunderstood the prophecy, drew wrong inferences and raised false expectations from the prophecy itself; yet that did not invalidate their work as a fulfillment of what the prophet had written. Christ was indeed their King, but was not to manifest himself as such then. They supposed he was to have a temporal kingdom; but he was not. They supposed the time had come for that to be set up; but it had not. They were correct only in the person of the One who was before them. In all else they were wrong in their conclusions. In two points out of three they failed. But the Adventists of 1844, in six points out of seven were correct. Yet of the disciples it is said, “All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet.” And we verily believe if the same pen of inspiration should speak of the past great advent movement, it would be to say, “All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by John, saying, ‘I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come.’”