The Original Advent Faith.
By Uriah Smith
We have received a friendly letter on this subject from Bro. E. B. Newton. We give below as much as is necessary to answer his inquiries. He says:— "I see in the Review and Herald, Apr. 18th, 1854, you say,
'We claim to stand on the original Advent faith, therefore do not reject the past movements on this great question, which has called out a people to prepare for the coming of the Lord. We claim all the light of past time on this glorious theme, and cherish it as from Heaven.' "If it were from heaven I don't see how you could surrender one inch of faith; for if that voice and that cry, 'Behold the Bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him,' was from heaven, then Christ did come on the tenth day, seventh month, 1844; for many declared that he would come as sure as there was a God in heaven, and time would be no longer. This is the original faith you claim to stand upon. And if it was the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass, then Christ has come; and you are bound by the original faith, and every principle of truth and righteousness to prove that Christ has come, how and when. That was what the Apostles labored to prove after the death and resurrection of Jesus. You admit all the prophetic periods have run out, and now what wait we for? "I want you to give me all the light you have upon this all-important subject. The truth is what we want." The above remarks would seem to make the whole Advent faith depend on the personal appearing of our Lord in 1844; and since that event did not then occur, we may be assured that what would be understood by the original Advent faith, has proved an utter failure. Very many of the world's people, who were observers of that movement, wonder why we still persist in our belief of the Advent doctrine. They say, Has not your time passed? Has'nt your theory failed you? Has'nt you been disappointed in all your expectations? And they laugh at our credulity or stubbornness (for they hardly know to which to attribute it) in still clinging to what they term our folly and delusion. How completely is the way thus paved, that, when a few more days are passed and the great event finally comes, it shall steal upon them like a thief in the night, and take them unawares. True, the Lord did not appear in 1844. Our expectations failed; and the disappointment fell upon us—how heavily, those can best judge who felt it; and we would that all such would prove the sincerity of the love they then professed for Christ and his coming, by heeding the greater light which now shines upon this subject, and accepting the explanation which God, in his word, has given us. There is an explanation for all this, and in that explanation, a new flood of light is thrown upon our pathway. We do not claim that the Lord came, as it is promised that he shall come, visibly in the clouds of heaven, in 1844; and if this is the coming the writer above refers to, we are not bound to prove "how and when" it took place; for we frankly admit that it has not yet occurred. Well, then, the inquiry comes up, are you not surrendering the Advent faith? We think not. The Advent faith is founded wholly on the word of God; and it is a cheering fact, that, notwithstanding our disappointment, not one single promise or prophecy has yet failed. The declaration of our Saviour that heaven and earth should pass away sooner than his word should fail, still holds good. When we expected the Lord in '44, as we have often said and often proved, we were expecting that which we had no warrant for in the Scriptures of truth. We drew a wrong conclusion; but yet every argument on which we rested our hope is as good now as it was then. Those clear chains of prophecy given us in the book of Daniel, still remain sterling truth; and their fulfillment, as far as it has been developed, stands as a veritable pledge that that which still remains, will surely be accomplished. The commencement and the termination of the prophetic periods, as we then held them, we see no necessity and no reason for changing. We only mistook the event to occur at the end of those periods, and being corrected on this one point, all is harmonious and clear. It may now be said, You admit that your expectations in then looking for the Lord, were wrong; why then do you not reject a movement which was the result of those expectations. Here, for our encouragement and comfort, our past experience and disappointment are not without a precedent in the history of God's people. Go back with me to the time of Christ's entry into Jerusalem, and explain the meaning of that shouting multitude. Why are all classes, young and old, pressing in the way before and behind him, and, absorbed in one emotion, shouting, Hosanna to the Son of David? Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! They cut down branches from the trees and strewed them in the way, and they spread their garments before him, an act which was done to royalty only. Doubtless they expected that his kingdom should then be set up. In their rejoicing they quote from a psalm which probably applies to the future reign and triumph of the Messiah. They thought the time had come for those events to be realized. In these expectations they were to be disappointed; but were they therefore wrong in shouting and rejoicing as they did? Let Jesus answer: "I tell you that if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out." In this light we are disposed to regard the great movement which took place upon the Advent doctrine in '44. A faith was there manifested, seconded by works, which like that of Noah, will rise up in the judgment and condemn an unbelieving world. We regard the message of the first angel as there having its fulfillment; and we believe that it was accomplished according to the purpose of God. Further light has shown us the work that was to be accomplished by our great High Priest in the heavenly Sanctuary; it has shown us another angel with a solemn message who must fulfill his mission; and those who reject the past reject some of the plainest portions of a chain of prophecy through which God is now leading his people. Those who reject the light of the past on this subject, have let go their only anchor, and are now adrift among the perilous delusions of these last days. This is attested by the numbers who have sought out many strange and discordant theories since that time. Either apostasy or some baneful systems of error, have swallowed up the mass of those who have forsaken their first love. And last, but not least, those who will not acknowledge the validity of the great movements of the past, on this question, are absolutely unable to present the inquirer with a harmonious system of truth, on this all-vital subject. This is a significant fact, and worthy of due regard. The writer, above, says, You admit that the prophetic periods have all run out; and now what wait we for? The answer is easy: We are striving in all honesty to heed the admonition of Paul when he says, For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. We are waiting till he who is our life shall appear, and then we expect to appear with him in glory. We are waiting till the last solemn ministration of our High Priest shall be accomplished, the destinies of mankind decided, and the day of our redemption and deliverance comes. For this time we can but earnestly long, while in these days of our exile and pilgrimage; and also for that fullness of time, when sin and its agents, dating far back, from the first apostasy, that of Satan himself, shall be swept from creation, its effects all repaired, and the whole universe shall be as fair and holy as it was before sin had ever entered to mar the handiwork of God.