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Review and Herald, Vol. 91, No. 34.

THE WORK AND THE WORKERS

Review and Herald

Aug 20, 1914

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 20, 1914

THE WORK AND THE WORKERS

By Editor

OUR mail on Sunday, the ninth, contained orders for 6,600 copies of Life and Health, Liberty, and the Protestant Magazine.
THAT restful boating scene on the front cover of the September or “Vacation” number of Life and Health is attractive enough to sell that number.
THE first large edition of 50,000 copies of the August or “Temperance” number of Life and Health was exhausted August 11. The size of our second edition will be determined altogether by the number and size of the orders received during the next few days.
MRS. C. E. HALLIDAY, of Los Angeles, Cal., has just ordered another 1,000 copies of the “Mayflower” number of Liberty. She reports 4,500 ten-cent magazines sold during the past 12 weeks. This dear sister, in her seventieth year, says she uses a baby carriage to carry her magazines, as her strength is not what it used to be.
UNLESS our Life and Health agents specify otherwise, we shall be obliged to fill all orders received after August 11 with the September number, advertised elsewhere on this page. Our presses are running sixteen hours a day, and it will be impossible to print the second edition of the August or “Temperance” number for several days.
THE September number of the Protestant Magazine is devoted largely to a careful historic and Biblical consideration of the “Superstitious and Idolatrous Sacrifice of the Mass” and to “The Pope in Politics.” A good number to go with the great August or “Papal Priesthood” and “Roman Boycott” number. Send $1.00 for 10 copies of each number.
PROF. C. S. LONGACRE has just received the following interesting letter from Pastor A. N. Allen, superintendent of our Cuban Mission: “Am glad that you called our attention to these special numbers of Liberty, and I believe that they will do some good in the hands of the Protestant ministers here in Cuba. Some time ago our committee voted to place some of our best papers in the hands of the leading men of this island. You will find inclosed an order for 100 Liberty and 100 Protestant, which we shall circulate here, with an invitation to subscribe.”
THE twenty-fifth, or 1913, Annual Report of the Lord’s Day Alliance of the United States contains the following items of special interest to every friend of religious liberty: “The Lord’s Day Alliance of the United States is becoming better known every year to the people of the nation and in the halls of state and at the national Capitol. A communication was received from Dr. W. W. Davis [secretary of Maryland Lord’s Day Alliance], urging that our alliance keep in more frequent touch with Washington; that at least once every week while Congress is in session, we ought to be in close personal touch with affairs. He believes there are twenty men who would give $25.00 each for the furtherance of such a proposition, and that ultimately we may be able to have a man there with permanent headquarters. WE NOTE HERE THE FACT THAT THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS HAVE A REGULAR FORCE OF WORKERS AGAINST THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH IN WASHINGTON, AND WE MUST HAVE A CARE LEST THESE TROUBLERS OF ISRAEL DO VIOLENCE TO OUR CHRISTIAN SABBATH.” The best way to meet this proposed campaign on the part of the Lord’s Day Alliance is to circulate Liberty magazine. Send $1.00 for 20 copies or $2.00 for 50. Or send $2.00 (or $1.00) and we will place the names of ten (or five) persons on our subscription list for one year.

INSTEAD OF A VACATION FOR THOSE WHO CANNOT GET ONE

By Carl Easton Williams

CARL EASTON WILLIAMS
VACATIONS FOR MOTHERS FOR THE STODDARD-SEYMOUR
VACATIONS FOR MOTHERS FOR THE STODDARD-SEYMOUR
A few of the good things in the beautiful September or “Vacation,” “What to Do First,” “Healthful Cookery,” and “Questions and Answers” number of Life and Health. The two articles, “Vacations for Mothers” and “Instead of a Vacation—for Those Who Cannot Get One,” are well worth a year’s subscription. The double-page cartoon in the center of the magazine, showing the fatal dangers of many summer resorts, is a sermon in itself easily comprehended by the eyes. Study it, then beware! Don’t miss “Healthful Cookery Menus for a Week in September,” by the chef of the New England Sanitarium. EIGHT REGULAR DEPARTMENTS filled with excellent articles, BESIDES SEVEN VACATION FEATURES, make this AN UNUSUALLY GOOD SELLER. Send $2.00 to your tract society today for 50 or $1.00 for 20 copies. The “What to Do First” department, telling about the “Prevention of Poisoning,” “Ptomaine Poisoning,” “Symptoms of Poisoning,” “Insect Bites,” “Carbolic Acid Poisoning,” and “Opium Poisoning,” will appeal to thousands. Read this number, and sell it or pass it on to others.
RECEPTION COMMITTEE AT THE SUMMER RESORT
RECEPTION COMMITTEE AT THE SUMMER RESORT

Some Things We Ought to Know

By George Mc Cready Price

GEORGE MC CREADY PRICE
I FEAR that very few among us realize how prevalent are false ideas regarding creation and the origin of things. We have a message calling upon the people of this age to “worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters,” and we teach the Sabbath as a memorial of a literal creation. Most of us know in a sort of vague way that other people do not agree with us on these points, and that a great many believe the evolution doctrine. And yet I am convinced that very few could give a clear and accurate statement of the essential difference between the doctrine of evolution and that of creation. Hence I fancy that a definition of terms and a statement of principles is the first thing in order; so that thereafter we can the more easily estimate the work we have to do in teaching the truth on this point to the world. A certain old-time scholastic, who frequently had charge of discussions and debates, always used to say before he would allow a discussion to begin, “Gentlemen, define your terms.” And so it may be a good plan for us to understand the terms we are using, so they will give to our minds definite and correct impressions.
If asked to define evolution, many would say that evolutionists believe that man came from the monkey. This is a very crude and wholly misleading statement; and besides, even if it were true, it would not be getting at the real essential difference between the evolution doctrine and the doctrine of creation as taught in the Bible.
No intelligent person believes that man came from the monkey. Few would say that man originated from the ape,—a very much more general term. What evolutionists do say is this: That man has come up from some ape-like ancestor which was probably quite different from any animal now living on the earth, and different from any fossil animal found in the rocks. Scientists universally acknowledge that there is no creature whatever known to modern science that can be pointed to as the direct source of origin of the human race.
But as I have said, all this is not the essential idea of evolution. The origin of man is only an incident in the larger and more general scheme; and to discuss the origin of man is to concern ourselves with a mere detail, leaving the general proposition still untouched. Even the question of the “origin of species,” the point on which Charles Darwin won his reputation, is itself a part, a minor part,—I was almost going to say a mere side issue,—in the great general problem, the most tremendous, the most vital problem in all science, and one of the most important that can engage the attention of the human mind.
Let me state the issue here clearly and concisely, and then proceed to explain what it means. The keynote of the evolution doctrine is uniformity: it says that the present is the correct measure of the past; it says that in all the various departments of nature, among plants, animals, and rock changes, what is now going on is identical with or similar to what has always been going on; that the present operations of nature are as much a part of the beginning of things (or “creation”) as anything that ever took place in the past. The self-contradictory expression, “a continuous creation,” is a favorite one with evolutionists to describe their idea. In other words, they say that there never was a time in the past that we can point to and say, Here things originated; here was the period of creation. This, I say, is the essential idea of the evolution doctrine; and we can readily see that it is a point-blank denial of the doctrine of creation. The two ideas are incommensurable, irreconcilable, and mutually destructive.
On this basis we can now understand why evolutionists are interested in the question of the “origin of species.” We can now see why we have had this anxious search of heaven and earth and the sea and the dry land to find examples of one species changing into another. Here is the real reason for the perennial interest in the report every now and then appearing in the daily papers that Professor So-and-so has at last succeeded in producing life from the inorganic. This is why in geology they want to make it appear that there never was any great aqueous catastrophe (such as the flood) in the history of the world; but that the present slow changes of land and water are the gauge, the standard, by which to measure all the changes in earth and water in the past. All these departments of thought are points on which science is capable of throwing some light on the dispute between the evolution doctrine and that of creation; but it can be readily seen that the evolution doctrine itself is rather a philosophical problem, an attitude of mind with which the questions of science are approached. And hence the difficulty of refuting these false ideas, the difficulty of really proving creation. But it is with much satisfaction that we now see that on every one of these points the Lord has been revealing facts and principles in the naturalworld demonstrating that there must have been a real creation at the beginning, as the Bible declares.
A little consideration will also readily show that the most essential department of the evolution doctrine is the geological. The earth and the sea have been ransacked to find examples of species changing sufficiently to entitle us to declare that it is a real “new” species. So perplexing a problem is capable of being decided in almost either way, according as we view the general problem. And though no very definite and decisive examples have been found of such a change, yet, assuming the general proposition, and thinking that the rocks show a definite order of progress from the little to the big, from the low to the high, from the more simple to the more complex, almost the whole modern world have accepted the general evolution doctrine; even though it is most freely acknowledged that we do not know exactly how the process was brought about, or how one form of life grew into another form.
I do not have the space here to enlarge on the point that the real key to the evolution doctrine is in geology. Nor do I have space to show how the geological part, though so essential, is nevertheless the very weakest part of the whole thing; while modern discoveries are confirming in a most remarkable way the Bible story of a flood, and thus, indirectly, demonstrating the reality of a literal creation at the beginning.
In conclusion, let us briefly study one portion of Scripture, where the Spirit of God looked down the ages and saw how things would be; and we shall see that no more accurate picture of the present situation could be asked for than the marvelous way in which, two thousand years ago, the Bible charted out beforehand the very teachings that have now so universally taken the world captive.
In the third chapter of Second Peter we have a picture of scoffers or mockers who say, “Where is the promise of his coming?” And the Scripture goes on to explain that they deny the coming of Christ, and the future end of the present order of things by fire, because they have grown accustomed to denying the former destruction of the earth by water. And the reason given by these last-day scoffers is a perfect example of the arguments of the modern evolutionists who, as we have seen, are always uniformitarians. They say, “For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” This is uniformity, surely, the very essence of the evolution doctrine, as we have seen. And the Bible gives it as the prevailing view of those in the last days who mock at the coming of Christ.
But two very important points in this passage are liable to be overlooked or misunderstood:—
1. They say that “since the fathers fell asleep” all things continue according to regular order, with no great convulsion of nature (such as the flood). They intimate that in the days of “the fathers” it used to be thought that there had been such an event; but we now know better. “All things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.”
2. It should be expressly noted that this uniformity is said to be “from the beginning of the creation.” This is often understood as if it read, “from the close of the creation.” No, it says from the “beginning” of the creation. Thus creation itself is included in this scheme of uniformity. I do not see how we could have a more accurate and vivid picture of the present-day situation, even if we were to write it ourselves now with this doctrine so prevalent all around us. We have seen that the real essential feature of the evolution doctrine is this point of uniformity; and here in this book of Peter we have this given as one of the characteristics of the last days, and one of the chief reasons why people reject the doctrine of the second coming of Christ.
Thank God for such a guide; thank God for such a truth.
Lodi Academy, Lodi, Cal.

Lichens

By ELIZA H. MORTON

ELIZA H. MORTON
The lichens of the wood are green, Fine furred, and starred with red, And fringed with amber, clear and bright, Upon a rocky bed.
The lowest of the lowly they, In frost they do not pine, Nor blanche in heat; ’tis theirs to cling As to the oak the vine:
Yet strong in humbleness,— shining As silver on the stone Among the hills, like orange stains, Reflecting sunsets lone.
And so the Christian life is green, And pure, and starred with love, Apart from worldly aims and plans, Reflecting light above.
The weaving of life’s tapestries, Slow-fingered, constant, sure, Upon the one eternal Rock Is that which will endure.
Portland, Maine.

Knowing the Time

By R. D. QUINN

R. D. QUINN
“And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.” That we are nearer the coming of Christ and the end of the world than we were when we first believed the advent message, all will agree. But the great question for each to ask himself is, Am I nearer to God in holy life and living than I was when the message first came to me?
Where are we in the history of this work according to Matt. 24:29-35? Let the spirit of prophecy speak: “At the close of the great papal persecution, Christ declared, the sun should be darkened, and the moon should not give her light. Next, the stars should fall from heaven. And he says, ‘Learn a parable of the fig tree. When his branch is yet tender and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh. So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that he is near, even at the doors.’ Christ has given signs of his coming. He declares that we may know when he is near, even at the doors. He says of those who see these signs, ‘This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.’ These signs have appeared. Now we know of a surety that the Lord’s coming is at hand. ‘Heaven and earth shall pass away,’ he says, ‘but my words shall not pass away.’”—“The Desire of Ages,” page 632.
From the foregoing nothing could be plainer than that the time here spoken of is the generation that witnessed the falling of the stars over fourscore years ago. Brethren, we must be nearer the end than any of us realize.
The Lord has sent this message to his people: “A crisis is to be revealed in the great and prolonged controversy in the government of God on earth. Something great and decisive is to take place, and that right early. If any delay, the character of God and his throne will be compromised. Every movement in the universe of heaven is to prepare the world for the great crisis.”
How could the character of God and his throne be compromised? We can conceive of but just one way. He has told us plainly in his Word that he is coming in this generation; and though heaven and earth pass away, his word will not pass away. Now, if by our unbelief and covetousness we so delay the work of God that this generation shall pass away before his appearing, then truly would the integrity of God, his word, and his throne be compromised. But this can never be. Time will never again be a test. “For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them that draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.”
The devil has tried to make covetousness, selfishness, and the love of earthly possessions the ruling traits in the character of God’s people in these closing days, and thus hinder and delay the work of God. But all such will soon be separated from the company of believers.
The time has come for that subtle spirit of the world to be banished from the lives of God’s children, and for this message to go free. How much longer can we in middle life so conduct this work as to delay, and delay, and yet bring the end in this generation? Let every one who is willing to take his stand anew upon the definite platform that this generation shall see the end, examine himself whether he is in the faith, and whether he has at this hour that courage which is born of faith in God’s divine Word and the testimonies of his Spirit. There is the dawning of a new day in this message. There is a new experience. The vitalizing power of the Spirit of God is coming upon the servants of God; and this is what has brought the change.
On one occasion God manifestly witnessed to the preaching of his word, and before the meeting closed, an opportunity was given to those who wished to give of their means for foreign mission work. Without any urging, men gave hundreds of dollars to the work, and in a few minutes considerably more than one thousand dollars was given to missions. Not only on this occasion, but in a number of recent meetings, money was given more readily than I had ever seen it given. This is the experience of many of our brethren. Surely we have come again to those days when men will sell their possessions and goods, and come and lay the price at the feet ofthose who will make distribution to every field as it has need. The time has come for greater things. Let us be of good courage and press the battle to the gates.
South Lancaster, Mass.

The Gospel of Hate

By J. S. WASHBURN

J. S. WASHBURN
IN this world of opposites it is impossible to love unless we also hate. He who loves sin will hate God. He who loves God will hate sin. It is impossible to be neutral. “He that is not with me is against me.” When the eternal Father was publishing to the angels of heaven and to all the universe the highest possible recommendation of his only begotten Son, he said: “Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.”
He who loved us so much that he died for us has hated our sins with an infinite hatred. His command to those who would be like him is, “Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.” The degree of our love to God is measured by our hatred of sin; and when a man really hates sin, he will begin by hating the sin that is nearest to him; that is, his own sin.
To “abhor” is to hate with repulsion and with horror. We never cherish or keep near us that which we regard with horror and disgust. When we allow the divine Spirit to place within us the divine hatred for sin we shall ask for and surely obtain power to put away that sin. Truly we need a baptism of hatred for sin. If we could see sin as God sees it, we should hate it as God hates it. We should regard sin with the shuddering horror with which a mother regards the bottle of poison that has just taken the life of her loved one; for every sin has in it the poison of death. We should regard it with the intense hatred a father would the deadly rattlesnake that had caused the death of his son.
The ancient legend of the father who went to rescue his two sons wrapped in the terrible coils of a deadly serpent vividly illustrates the attitude of God toward the sin and the sinner. He strikes desperate blows with all his strength to destroy the serpent. These blows may seem to be aimed at his loved ones. The serpent is so closely wrapped about them that they seem to be one and the same, but they are not. When God strikes against a sin in our lives,—an evil habit, a mighty weakness, that, coiling about us is strangling our very life,—it almost seems that he is seeking to destroy us; but it is not so. He seeks to destroy the serpent that he may save our lives. He hates the sin, but loves us.
So God’s messengers, who are sent to seek and to save the lost, hate the sin but love the sinner. How careful the aim, how skillful the blow, lest in seeking to destroy we should wound or kill the sinner! Who is sufficient for these things?—He alone who has asked for and has received divine wisdom.
O, how many times have we come short in this matter! We have hated the sinner rather than the sin. We have injured, perhaps mortally wounded, the very one God sent us to save. With what divine compassion, and tender, delicate, kindly, Godlike wisdom should we, as workers, deal with those who are sincere and honest, but entangled in the coils of falsehood and evil. Even with those who are manifestly wicked and corrupt, how careful should we be not to bring against them a railing accusation.
Christ, “when contending with the devil . . . durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.” We must fearlessly denounce sin; but ever there must be in our hearts, even while hating that sin that is destroying the sinner, the tenderest, deepest love for him, which would make us willing at any time to die for even the sinner who hates us and would destroy us.
Only God can hate the sin and love the sinner; and the moment we are left to ourselves and our natural weakness, we shall love the sin and hate the sinner. May God teach us to hate as Jesus hated, and to love as the Saviour loved.
Philadelphia, Pa.

Peter and John of Finance

By H. W. COTTRELL

H. W. COTTRELL
The twin brothers—Peter and John—fell heir to a cash inheritance of twelve thousand dollars each, concerning which we record the following conversation:—
Peter: John, what disposition did you make of your $12,000 inheritance?
John: I first tithed unto the Lord his own, and then lent the remaining $10,800 at six per cent per annum. And now, if I may inquire, how are you handling yours?
Peter: I at once turned over to the Lord his share, of course; for I desire to pay a just tithe: then I invested the remaining $10,800 in city property, consisting of a lot and a beautiful house for my family and myself to occupy. I think we deserve such a property, and we desire to live alone; so you see we shall have no income on our investment. Pardon me, brother John, but what is the amount of your weekly wage, and do you tithe it?
John: My weekly salary is $20, and I tithe it as soon as I draw my wages; for not to do so would be to borrow the tithe: and the Lord says in his Word that “if a man will at all redeem aught of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof;” and you know that is equivalent to paying twenty per cent interest. I do not care to learn the amount of your weekly salary, but will inquire if you share your weekly earnings with the Lord as a partner in business, as we both did with our inheritance?
Peter: O, yes! of course I tithe it to the treasury of the Lord’s cause; for I try to carefully tithe my entire income. Now inasmuch as this study of the tithing system is educational, I will venture to propound another query: Do you tithe your annual interest as income from the loan of your $10,800?
John: Yes.
Peter: I am just now becoming technically inquisitive, so will inquire if you own any real estate?
John: No, I do not.
Peter: Do you pay rent for your dwelling house?
John: Yes.
Peter: Do you pay your rent with money that has been tithed?
John: Most certainly. You see, Peter, you and I tithed alike our inherited money and our weekly earnings, and I go one step farther and tithe the annual interest on my remaining $10,800; so of course I have no money with which to pay house rent, except money that has been tithed. Do you think I should tithe the annual interest on my $10,800?
Peter: O, yes! that is clear enough to any one that you should do that.
John: Do you continue partnership with the Lord, in a business way, with your $10,800, or have you dissolved your former relation?
Peter: I have continued the partnership relation.
John: Well, now, do you pay tithe on a sum of money equal to the annual interest on $10,800, the amount of your city property investment?
Peter: No, I have not done so.
John: Wherein, then, do you turn over to the tithe treasury the Lord’s share for the annual use of your $10,800 investment, in harmony with your decision that I should tithe the annual income from my $10,800?
Peter: (No reply.)
John: Brother Peter, is not your house rent an annual income to you and your family?
Peter: (Silent.)
John: Should you not tithe the equivalent of your house rent as surely as I should tithe the money with which I pay my house rent?
Peter: I think I should, John.
John: It is said, “The tithe is required of the minister.”
Peter: I concede that point.
John: “If all would pay a faithful tithe, and devote to the Lord the first fruits of their mercies, there would be a full supply of funds for his work. But the law of God is not respected or obeyed, and this has brought a pressure of want.”
Peter: The way is made plain. I will, the Lord helping me, return to the Lord a just and faithful tithe, and pay up back tithe on the income of my $10,800 investment in my dwelling house property.
John: Yes, I am sure that equity demands that after you have paid the tax and the insurance on your $10,800 property, you should tithe the interest on your monetary investment, less this expense; or fix a fair valuation for annual rent for such property, and share that with the Lord. Would not such a course be fair, just, and equitable?
Peter: It would be. And I wonderwhy I have been so blinded on this feature all these years. I will certainly return to the Lord his own with usury. Surely the Lord had a perfect right to give to man what he chose to give, also to refrain from giving to man the amount he willed to retain for his own work on earth.
John: Please view the same truth from another angle: “The light which the Lord has given me on this subject, is that the means in the treasury for the support of the ministers in the different fields is not to be used for any other purpose. If an honest tithe were paid, and the money coming into the treasury were carefully guarded, the ministers would receive a just wage.”
Peter: There must be a vast amount of money due the treasury.
John: Yes, Peter, one would naturally so conclude while viewing facts.
Portland, Oregon.

J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH

By John Norton Loughborough

The Second Advent Movement — No. 7

J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH

“And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.” Matt. 25: 6-8. Not only was there to be a tarrying time connected with the advent movement, but another event, called “the midnight cry.” This, like all other features of the prophecy, had an accurate fulfillment in the proclamation in 1844. A day in prophecy as a symbol of a year is now so well established that further discussion of it is unnecessary. That point being established, a night would be half a year, and midnight three months. Now, it is an undisputed fact that just three months from the passing of the time in the spring of 1844 the Adventists did begin to give just such a message as is here indicated, calling attention to the scripture already quoted, as setting forth the fact that such a midnight cry would be proclaimed.
The manner in which this powerful message started was on this wise: In the month of July, at Exeter, N. H., a mammoth camp meeting of Adventists was held. It was estimated that about three thousand were encamped. On Sunday morning Elder Joseph Bates addressed the people, and in reviewing the waymarks in the movement, used one of his seafaring experiences of nearing port on the home trip, to encourage steadfastness and courage as they were near the final close of the heavenward voyage. Just then a man approached, riding a horse at a furious rate, to the place where the campers kept their horses. This man was Brother S. S. Snow, who soon came into the audience. He seated himself by a family of his acquaintance, and with an open Bible explained in whispers the cause of their disappointment, and the midnight cry. The power of God accompanied the explanation. The sister arose and beckoned to Brother Bates. He said, “Sister, what is it?” She replied, “What you are saying is very good, but there is a man here who has light on the midnight cry.” Brother Bates said, “Then let him come up on the platform, and give it to the people,” and sat down.
In a few sentences Brother Snow explained matters. This he did by drawing out the congregation by questions, on this wise: Question.—Where are we in our experience? Answer.—In the tarrying time. Ques.—How long is the tarrying time? Ans.—Till midnight. Ques.—What is a day in prophecy? Ans.—A year. Ques.—What would a night be? Ans.—Six months. Ques.—What would midnight be? Ans.—Three months. Ques.—How long have we been in the tarrying time? Ans.—Three months. Then he continued, “It is now the midnight, and I am here with the midnight cry.” All were then filled with the most intense interest. He continued, “We commenced the vision of the 2300 days in the spring of 457 B. C., whereas the decree restoring Jerusalem did not go into effect until the autumn of 457, when Ezra, having arrived at Jerusalem by the good hand of God, restored the Jewish commonwealth, appointed magistrates and judges, and commenced the building of the wall. So the 2300 days, commencing with the seventh month of 457 B. C., extended to the seventh month of 1844, which, according to the ancient Karaite calendar, for this year is October 22.” Then, in a strong voice, he said, “Behold the Bridegroom cometh on the tenth day of the seventh month, October 22; go ye out to meet him.” As he uttered these words, a mighty wave of the power of God passed over the camp. Many persons lost their strength, being prostrated to the ground. Suddenly the meeting assumed the form of a consecration service. Parents confessed to their children, and children to their parents. Those who, in the delay, had begun to display signs of pride, stripped themselves of their jewelry, and cast it from them. At the close of the service of an hour or more, the people requested Brother Snow to remain with them. But he said, “No. You have the light now. I must go on to another meeting tonight, thirty-five miles away, to give them the light.” And his steed bore him fairly flying from the camp.
Of the sudden development of this movement the editor of the Midnight Cry said: “It seemed to be so independent of human agency that we could but regard it as a fulfillment of the midnight cry, after the tarrying of the Bridegroom. There seemed to be an irresistible power attending the proclamation, which prostrated all before it. It swept over the land with the velocity of a tornado, and it reached hearts in different and distant places almost simultaneously, and in a manner which can be accounted for only on the ground that God was in it. It produced everywhere the most deep searching of heart and humiliation of soul before high Heaven. It weaned the affections from the things of the world, and put an end to controversies and animosities. It led to the confession of wrongs, and to penitent, broken-hearted supplications to God for pardon and acceptance. It caused abasement and prostration of soul such as we never before witnessed.” George Storrs said of the movement: “There is a leaving of all that I never dreamed could be seen. When this cry gets hold of the heart, farmers leave their farms, with their crops. There is strong crying with tears, and a consecration of all to God, such as I never before witnessed. There is a confidence in this message which was never felt in the former in the same degree, and a weeping and melting glory in it that passeth all understanding, except to those who have felt it.”
In “Spirit of Prophecy,” Vol. IV, page 250, we read of the movement: “There went with it an impelling power that moved the soul. There was no doubt, no questioning.”
The “virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps;” that is, adjusted their teachings according to Scripture facts now discovered. And it was the Adventists themselves who “trimmed their lamps.” In all the opposition raised against them, none of their opponents ever suggested anything about a wrong date for the beginning of the seventy weeks.
Lodi, Cal.
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