p. 63 | REPLY by Uriah Smith

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 21, 1862

REPLY.

By Uriah Smith

Before answering the objections you urge against the visions, there is one unpleasant feature in your letter which does not deserve to pass unnoticed. Your ostensible object in writing your article is to get light, as you profess to be an honest seeker after truth; and yet in closing you request the communication, if it is not published, to be returned immediately, as you con-

sider it duty to send it to some other paper for publication. These declarations do not go well together. If your sole object is to get light on the subject, why do you consider it duty to send it to some other paper for publication? Do you expect to get that light from any other paper? You certainly cannot. Your sending it to some other paper would therefore be for the sake of exposing to the world what you consider the falsity of the visions; it would be for the sake of gratifying a spirit which we fear is very nearly allied to a spirit spoken of in Rev. xii, 17, and which is by nothing else so much enraged as by the testimony of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy. I shall be most happy to learn that in all this I misjudge; but till this motive is expressly disclaimed, no other intent can be attributed to the threat which your letter contains.

Your first objection is taken from page 27 of Experience and Views. Let us quote the whole paragraph, that we may have it before us: “I saw that the mysterious signs and wonders, and false reformations, would increase and spread. The reformations that were shown me were not reformations from error to truth. My accompanying angel bade me look for the travail of soul for sinners as used to be. I looked, but could not see it; for the time for their salvation is past.”

It is here declared that false reformations would increase and spread. This view was given March 24, 1849; and it was not till 1858, about nine years after, that the great tornado of false reformation swept over this country and extended even to other lands. Now how was it known in 1849 that these reformations would increase and spread? Could it be ascertained from any human wisdom? Could human shrewdness and foresight determine this point? Yet the prediction was given, and has been strikingly fulfilled before our eyes; and those who reject the visions, instead of uniformly passing unnoticed such points as these, and grasping after the seeming objections, would do well to first satisfy themselves and us, by what means this was foretold. When a prediction that goes beyond all human calculation and foresight, is accurately fulfilled, we have one of the signs that the prophecy is given of God. And yet in the very paragraph containing such an evidence of the authenticity of the visions, an objection is drawn against them. Let us go on and see if the objection really exists.

“The reformations that were shown me were not reformations from error to truth.” No Sabbath-keeper will dispute this. In none of the popular reformations and revivals that we have lately witnessed has there been a turning from error to truth. We all know this. Let it be noticed that the language does not say that it was shown that there could be no reformations from error to truth, but only that those that were shown were not such. Now, bearing in mind the fact that the scene of vision is one of the false revivals of these last days, let us read on: “My accompanying angel bade me look for the travail of soul for sinners as used to be. I looked, but could not see it.” Now, who was it that did not have travail of soul for sinners as formerly? Answer, Those engaged in these false revivals. And here again, we appeal to the objector's own observation for the truth of this. We all know that these revivals were not characterized by that travail of soul for sinners that distinguished such movements previous to the fall of Babylon. But why did they not have travail of soul for sinners? The answer is, Because the time for their salvation is past. Whose salvation? Not that of sinners in general, but of those who were engaged in carrying on these revivals. This is the idea the language is intended to convey; and it expressed a solemn truth which is no less true to-day than it was then. The difficulty with this testimony lies in making the word “their,” refer to sinners in general, whereas it refers, not to them, but to the false revivalists, who, as already seen, constituted the object of the view. To say that they did not have travail of soul for sinners, because the time for the salvation of all sinners was past, is the same as to say that if the time for the salvation of sinners had not been past, those that were carrying on these false revivals would have had a travail of soul for them. But it is unreasonable to suppose that false revivalists, who were destitute of the Spirit and power of God themselves, and laboring under a complete deception of Satan, would have a travail of soul for sinners under any circum-

stances; and the reason is given: not because the time for the salvation of sinners in general is past, but because the time for their own salvation is past; because they have rejected light and truth, and are given over to strong delusion.

This is expressed in a preceding paragraph of the same vision, which seems to be treating especially of the working of Satan. Page 26, first paragraph: “I saw that Satan was working through agents in a number of ways. He was at work through ministers who have rejected the truth and are given over to strong delusions to believe a lie, that they might be damned.” These, with others, were the prime movers in the late reformations; these are the ones who did not have travail of soul for sinners; these are they whose time of salvation is past. This is abundantly explained in Supplement to Experience and Views, page 4. We believe there are thousands upon thousands of such all over the land.

Your quotation from Wm. Miller does not prove the point you have in view; for I understand that Wm. Miller never believed in the shut door in the extreme sense of that phrase. He says: “We have done our work in warning sinners and trying to awake a formal church. God in his providence has shut the door.” The door of what? Why, the door against any further efforts in that direction. This was emphatically the case. Look at the circumstances of that time. All eyes were intently fixed upon the tenth day of the seventh month, when believers, as they had declared to the world, were expecting to realize their hope. The time came, and passed. What then could they do? Was it any use for them to go on, and try to arouse the world again on that message? Not a particle. The work for the world, on that message and movement, was done. God in his providence had shut the door—the door of effort, the door of utterance [Col. iv, 3]; for the world, in the language of the extract, had lost confidence in them, and hence all they could do, was to tell each other up to be patient and diligent, till God should make known the further counsels of his will concerning them.

But that a change did take place in 1844 in the formal churches affecting their prospects of salvation, none can deny who have any confidence in the second angel's message. That message might not inappropriately be called, the shut-door message. It declared that Babylon had fallen. What was meant by that fall? Did it mean that they were on the same footing in regard to their eternal prospects? No; it meant that they had experienced a moral change for the worse; that the great mass of them had made a final rejection of truth, and had hopelessly shut their ears to its entreaties and claims. It is true that God has a people there after that event; but they are as the “few berries in the uppermost boughs,” or as “the gleaming grapes, when the vintage is done;” and they are summoned of heaven to leave her fatal communion. Rev. xviii, 4.

Your second objection is drawn from page 34, which speaks of the saints' having wings. What is the trouble here? Certainly it does not seem that people could object to having wings, in itself considered; at least, I should not, if that is to be the order in the glorious restitution that is promised. But it is claimed that it does not agree with the Bible, as God and Christ have no wings, and we are to be like them. Question. Will men resemble God and Christ any more than the angels do? It would be a singular position to say that they will. But angels have wings. See Isa. vi, 2; Eze. i, 6; Dan. ix, 21, &c. Moreover, while it is said that we shall be like the Son of man [1 John iii, 2], it is also said that we shall be as the angels. Matt. xxii, 30. From this it appears that the addition of wings to our existing list of members, would not interfere with that sense in which we are now in the likeness of God and the Son of man. If any think it would, they must reconcile the scriptures which state that we shall be as the angels who have wings, as well as that we shall be like the Son of man, who, it is claimed, does not have them.

But the prophet expressly declares that the saints in the immortal state will have wings. Isa. xi, 31.

“They shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” That this chapter carries us over into the immortal state, and is to be interpreted literally, there is abundant proof. It brings us to the time when the Lord God shall come with a strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him; when his reward is with him and his work before him. Verse 10. It brings us to the time when princes shall be brought to nothing, the judges of the earth shall be as vanity, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. Verses 23, 24. It is when the youth and young men [that know not God] shall faint, be weary and utterly fail. These are scenes connected with the coming of Christ and the destruction of his enemies; and it is then that they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they, in the immortal state, shall mount up with wings as eagles. Mark, it does not say that they shall mount up as with wings of eagles; but, they shall mount up with wings as the eagles mount. This testimony is decisive on this point.

What you say of the perpetuity of the gifts and signs being manifested from the apostles' days to the present time, opens a new field, into which space will not allow us to enter largely in this article. You ask how it happens that in following the history of the church from the apostles' days down to the present time, we find no record of the gifts being manifest among God's people. Have you followed the history of the church from the apostles' days down to the present? Have you a minute and accurate history of the true people of God from that time to this, so that if there had been any such things you would have found it recorded? If you have such a history you have what we have never yet heard of. The fact is, no records have been left by which we can trace this matter in every age of the church. Those who have left on record an account of the times in which they lived, were not the sincere and devoted Christians, but those who were proud and vain, and ambitious of literary distinction. “It is recorded by Dr. DeLabogue, on the authority of Eusebius, that the fathers who were really most fitted to be the luminaries of the age in which they lived, were too busy in preparing their flocks for martyrdom to commit anything to writing;” and the fact that the church dwelt for 1260 years in the wilderness, is a sufficient reason for our not having a full account of all the internal experiences and history. Consequently nothing can be based on the assumption that we have all the history of the church from the time of the apostles down. The New Testament plainly teaches that the gifts were set in the church till we reach the perfect state. Christ promised to be with his people even to the end of the world; and if, at any period, the church has not been in a condition to exercise these gifts, it only follows that she has not always lived up to her privilege.

In your second letter you introduce another point, as follows: “Again, on page 45 is the following: 'I saw if any hold on to their property, and do not inquire duty of the Lord, he would not make duty known,' &c. I wish to inquire if the Lord has not already made duty known in relation to our property in his blessed book?'” The Lord in his word has laid down certain general principles to govern us in the management of our property; but particular duties rest upon us at particular times; and on these we want light, and should consequently inquire of the Lord. This vision explains itself a few lines further on: “I saw that God did not require all of his people to dispose of their property at the same time, but in a time of need he would teach them, if they desired to be taught, when to sell, and how much to sell.” These are the points upon which it is desirable that duty should be made known; but information on these points the Bible does not furnish us.

According to the principle involved in the above inquiry, prayer is of no use; and all the petitions that we offer up to the Lord, to guide and direct us, give us wisdom, make duty known before us, &c., are altogether useless, for all is made known in his blessed book. But few, we have charity to believe, will be willing to commit themselves to such a position as this.

Having now answered your objections, one fact may be appropriately stated in closing: it is that those who decide against these manifestations, sooner or later take such a course as to place themselves beyond the utmost limits of the fellowship of this people. There is a lesson involved in this which all who wish to maintain their connection with the church of Sabbath-keep-

ers, would, before taking their stand against them, do well to consider. U. S.