Страница 59 из 120
has been on the side of charity, the love of my fellow-man, and my
conviction of duty to God.” “One thing I do know, I have preached
nothing but what I believed; and God’s hand has been with me, his
power has been manifested in the work, and much good has been
effected.” “Many thousands, to all human appearance, have been
made to study the Scriptures by the preaching of the time; and by
that means, through faith and the sprinkling of the blood of Christ,
have been reconciled to God.” “I have never courted the smiles of
the proud, nor quailed when the world frowned. I shall not now
[256]
purchase their favor, nor shall I go beyond duty to tempt their hate.
I shall never seek my life at their hands, nor shrink, I hope, from
losing it, if God in his good providence so orders.”
God did not forsake his people; his Spirit still abode with those
who did not rashly deny the light which they had received, and
denounce the Advent movement. The apostle Paul, looking down
through the ages, had written words of encouragement and warning
for the tried, waiting ones at this crisis: “Cast not away therefore
your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye
have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye
might receive the promise. 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 who draw back unto perdition, but of them
that believe to the saving of the soul.” [Hebrews 10:35-39.]
The people here addressed were in danger of making shipwreck
of faith. They had done the will of God in following the guidance of
his Spirit and his word; yet they could not understand his purpose
in their past experience, nor could they discern the pathway before
them, and they were tempted to doubt whether God had indeed been
leading them. At this time the words were specially applicable,
“Now the just shall live by faith.” As the bright light of the midnight
cry had shone upon their pathway, and they had seen the prophecies
unsealed, and the rapidly fulfilling signs telling that the coming of
[257]
Christ was near, Adventists had walked, as it were, by sight. But
now, bowed down by disappointed hopes, they could stand only by
faith in God and in his word. The scoffing world were saying, “You
have been deceived. Give up your faith, and say that the Advent
movement was of Satan.” But God’s word declared, “If any man
Midnight Cry
169
draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” To renounce
their faith now, and deny the power of the Holy Spirit which had
attended the message, would be drawing back toward perdition.
They were encouraged to steadfastness by the words of Paul, “Cast
not away therefore your confidence;” “ye have need of patience;”
“for yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not
tarry.” Their only safe course was to cherish the light which they had
already received of God, hold fast to his promises, and continue to
search the Scriptures, and patiently wait and watch to receive further
light.
[258]
Chapter 18—The Sanctuary
The scripture which above all others had been both the founda-
tion and central pillar of the Advent faith was the declaration, “Unto
two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be
cleansed.” [Daniel 8:14.] These had been familiar words to all believers in the Lord’s soon coming. By the lips of thousands was this
prophecy joyfully repeated as the watchword of their faith. All felt
that upon the events therein brought to view depended their brightest
expectations and most cherished hopes. These prophetic days had
been shown to terminate in the autumn of 1844. In common with
the rest of the Christian world, Adventists then held that the earth,
or some portion of it, was the sanctuary, and that the cleansing of
the sanctuary was the purification of the earth by the fires of the
last great day. This they understood would take place at the second
coming of Christ. Hence the conclusion that Christ would return to
the earth in 1844.
But the appointed time came, and the Lord did not appear. The
believers knew that God’s word could not fail; their interpretation
of the prophecy must be at fault; but where was the mistake? Many
[259]
rashly cut the knot of difficulty by denying that the 2300 days ended
in 1844. No reason could be given for this position, except that
Christ had not come at the time of expectation. They argued that if
the prophetic days had ended in 1844, Christ would then have come
to cleanse the sanctuary by the purification of the earth by fire; and
that since he had not come, the days could not have ended.
To accept this conclusion was to renounce the former reckoning
of the prophetic periods, and involve the whole question in con-
fusion. It was a deliberate surrender of positions which had been
reached through earnest, prayerful study of the Scriptures, by minds
enlightened by the Spirit of God, and hearts burning with its living
power; positions which had withstood the most searching criticism
and the most bitter opposition of popular religionists and worldly-
wise men, and which had stood firm against the combined forces
170
Sanctuary
171
of learning and eloquence, and the taunts and revilings alike of the
honorable and the base. And all this sacrifice was made in order to
maintain the theory that the earth is the sanctuary.
God had led his people in the great Advent movement; his power
and glory had attended the work, and he would not permit it to end
in darkness and disappointment, to be reproached as a false and
fanatical excitement. He would not leave his word involved in doubt
and uncertainty. Though the majority of Adventists abandoned their
former reckoning of the prophetic periods, and consequently denied
the correctness of the movement based thereon, a few were unwilling
[260]
to renounce points of faith and experience that were sustained by
the Scriptures and by the special witness of the Spirit of God. They
believed that they had adopted sound principles of interpretation
in their study of the Scriptures, and that it was their duty to hold
fast the truths already gained, and to still pursue the same course of
Biblical research. With earnest prayer they reviewed their position,
and studied the Scriptures to discover their mistake. As they could
see no error in their explanation of the prophetic periods, they were
led to examine more closely the subject of the sanctuary. [See
Appendix, note 5.]
In their investigation they learned, that the earthly sanctuary,