CONVERSATION WITH A MOORISH JEW.
By Sheffield C. Palmer
JOSEPH SILVA is a believer in Jesus, and we have had many conversations concerning the things of God and his dealings with his people. Yesterday I met him, and he spoke of Yom Kippur (the day of atonement), and Succoth (the feast of tabernacles). I remarked that Adventists once observed Yom Kippur, in the year 1884. Said he, "Why do you not still observe it?" "We never observed it as you do," said I, "but in this way: You know the day of atonement was a work of cleansing the sanctuary of the record of sins; thus, figuratively, the sins which were confessed were carried into the sanctuary and placed upon the head of the goat upon whom the Lord’s lot had fallen, and he was slain (Leviticus 16); then they were transferred to the goat for Azazel (the scapegoat), a figure of Satan, and he was sent away, no more to return, for the custom was to cast him over a cliff and destroy him.552"The people afflicted their souls, that is, they fasted and searched their hearts, confessing their sins. The work of the high priest was a figure of the work now going on in the heavenly sanctuary, after which the sanctuary built by Moses was patterned. We say it is now going on, and has been going on since the tenth day of the seventh month, Jewish time, A.D. 1844, October 22." "Why did you observe it that year only?" "Well, we believed the Messiah would appear that day. The prophet Daniel had inquired of the angel Gabriel, 'How long shall be the vision?' and the angel replied, 'Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.' This is the only period mentioned from which the seventy weeks (Dan. 9: 24) could be 'cut off,' and the two periods date from 'the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem.' This was made effective four hundred and fifty-six years and some two months B.C.; this subtracted from 2300 years (see Num. 14: 34 and Eze. 4: 6, a day for a year), leaves 1843 years and nearly eleven months into 1884. This careful count of the time could not be made with the light which was shed upon the prophecies in 1843 and prior to that time, hence the great disappointments of the Adventists about the coming of the Lord in 1843 and 1844. "But the principal reason of the final disappointment, at the time of Yom Kippur, the tenth day of the month, 1844, was the belief that the sanctuary was the earth. Those who hung to that theory, and sought no deeper into the prophetic word, have been adjusting their reckoning and setting time ever since, while those who trusted in the Lord and in his word alone, and were willing to drop any theory which would not stand the test of God's word (Isa. 8: 19, 20), searched deeper, and found, in the letter to the Hebrews, that 'the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man,' was in heaven and not on earth. See also Rev. 11: 19, 'And there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament.' Closer inspection still revealed the fact that the work contemplated in the precious truth found in the 'little book' (Daniel) was the work of the investigative judgment in heaven, with Jesus himself for the Judge, Advocate General, and the angels, who had kept the records, for witnesses. This work has now been in progress for nearly fifty years. Is it not near the time for jubilee?" But I said: "Yes, but the jubilee does not count from any special day of atonement; and, as the children of Israel need not have been forty years wandering, if they had been faithful to God, to his word, and to their duty, so we are told by the Spirit of the Lord that, had we been faithful in the proclamation of the Third Angel's Message, we might have been now in the kingdom which still awaits the people who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. But God 'is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.' He is waiting for you, Joseph, he is waiting for me, and hath long patience, desiring fruit from the vineyard of his own right hand's planting." "But are you not hampered here in your missionary work?" said he. "No; did not the blessed Master go to the king's palace, to Herod's judgment hall, to the shepherds' tents, to the Samaritan at the well, to the fishers by the sea, to the blind by the wayside, to the lunatic in the tombs? From the king on the throne to the beggar at the gate, he went among them all, and did what he could; and he has left us an example that we should follow. Shall we weary in welldoing? What matters it if we are in the care of the State? He prepareth a table before us in the presence of our enemies; our cup runneth over." To see the look of gratitude from the sad eyes of that gentle moorish Jew, and to hear his fervent, "The Lord be with you," was worth many a trip to the insane asylum. "And with you also," I replied, and we parted for the night. He was more hopeful when I met him to-day, and I rejoice in the love and tender mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Box H, Stockton, Cal., January 10, 1894.