A MILD CRITICISM by James White

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 7, 1881

A MILD CRITICISM.

By James White

A FRIEND in Toronto wishes to correct an article recently published in the SIGNS, copied from the Bible Banner, in which it is said that "Adam lived 930 years in toil and sorrow, and died." Our critic, in what he calls "a mild criticism," says:—

"I cannot think that Adam toiled nor sorrowed all his life. I would like to be as happy as Adam before the fall."

Mild as the criticism is, it is not necessary. The article was considering Adam's nature and condition according to the penalty indicated by his Maker for transgression. It was in this view that the Lord pronounced his sentence: "In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life." Of course it did not take into account the brief period of man's life before he sinned; and Bro. Phelps was considering the same facts in the same order of cause and effect, and used much the same language. We cannot see how any one could misapprehend his meaning. — J. H. W.