OPEN VISION by J. Clarke

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 9, 1879

OPEN VISION.

By J. Clarke

It is said in 1 Sam. 3:1, that “the word of the Lord was precious in those days; there was no open vision.”

We have fallen upon such highly favored times, it is claimed, that “open vision” is not now needed. But we find the world at the present time full of sin and crime, full of hypocrisy and deceit. The professed people of God are divided into hundreds of contending sects and factions; and of these each calls itself the true and genuine church. Amid all this confusion of sentiments, all or nearly all agree in this, that there is no need of “open vision,” as there was in the days of the prophet Samuel. No; all this is out of date, and passed away. We live in an age of such consummate wisdom (?) that the gift of “open vision” is not only not needed, but it is actually past. We have the word of God; that is sufficient. Does the present state of the world and the church favor the view which we have described as the common opinion? Do we not need the gift of open vision now as much as the church needed it in the days of Samuel? J. CLARKE.