Conditional Nature of EGW's Prophecies

[Adventist Dissident]

No. Honestly I didn't.

I'm sorry I don't like cut-and-paste posts and I don't respond to monologues. If you have the quotes, post them here. If not, just forget it.

that dosen't leave you with many options for examination evidence. Seeing you won't read my links and you you want me to type every word of every "quote first hand. if you won't read the post then why are you here? I don't think that is a lot to ask for DL you asked for evidence and I gave it to you. I won't do the home work for you. That's cheating. If you really want to have an conversation then read the llink. if not then go away. I alxoe gave you pst #43 read it

 

[Adventist Dissident]

15. February, 1845 Vision--This Vision Persuaded Many to Believe in the Shut Door.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In her letter of July 13, 1847, to Joseph Bates, Ellen White recounts the circumstances surrounding not only her first vision (Dec., 1844), but also the vision of February, 1845. She stated:

Brother Bates, you write in a letter to James something about the Bridegroom's coming, as stated in the first published visions. By the letter you would like to know whetherI had light on the Bridegroom's coming before I saw it in vision. I can readily answer, No. The Lord showed me [p. 10] the travail of the Advent band and midnight cry in December [1844], but He did not show me the Bridegroom's coming until February following.
Perhaps you would like to have me give a statement in relation to both visions. At the time I had the vision of the midnight cry I had given it up in the past and thought it future, as also most of the band had. I know not what time J. Turner got out his paper. I knew he had one out and one was in the house, but I knew not what was in it, for I did not read a word in it. I had been, and still was very sick. I took no interest in reading, for it injured my head and made me nervous.
After I had the vision and God gave me light, He bade me deliver it to the band, but I shrank from it. I was young, and I thought they would not receive it from me. I disobeyed the Lord, and instead of remaining at home, where the meeting was to be that night, I got in a sleigh in the morning and rode three or four miles and there I found Joseph Turner. He merely inquired how I was and if I was in the way of my duty. I said nothing, for I knew I was not.
I passed up [to the] chamber and did not see him again for two hours, when he came up, asked if I was to be at meeting that night. I told him, no. He said he wanted to hear my vision and thought it duty for me to go home. I told him I should not. He said no more, but went away.
I thought, and told those around me, if I went I should have to come out against his views, thinking he believed with the rest. I had not told any of them what God had shown me, and I did not tell them in what I should cut across his track.
All that day I suffered much in body and mind. It seemed that God had forsaken me entirely. I prayed the Lord if He would give me strength to ride home that night, the first opportunity I would deliver the message He had given me. He did give me strength and I rode home that night. Meeting had been done some time, and not a word was said by any of the family about the meeting.
Very early next morning Joseph Turner called, said he was in haste going out of the city in a short time, and wanted I should tell him all that God had shown me in vision. It was with fear and trembling I told him all. After I had got through he said he had told out the same last evening. I rejoiced, for I expected he was coming out against me, for all the while I had not heard anyone say what he believed. He said the Lord had sent him to hear me talk the evening before, but as I would not, he meant his children should have the light in some way, so he took him.
There were but few out when he talked, so the next meeting I told my vision, and the band, believing my visions from God, received what God bade me to deliver to them.
The view about the Bridegroom's coming I had about the middle of February, 1845.
While in Exeter, Maine, in meeting with Israel Dammon, James, and many others, many of them did not believe in a shut door. I suffered much at the commencement of the meeting. Unbelief seemed to be on every hand. [Unbelief in the shut door]
There was one sister there that was called very spiritual. She had traveled and been a powerful preacher the most of the time for twenty years. She had been truly a mother in Israel. But a division had risen in the band on the shut door. She had great sympathy, and could not believe the door was shut. (I had known nothing of their difference.) Sister Durben got up to talk. I felt very, very sad.
[p. 11] At length my soul seemed to be in an agony, and while she was talking I fell from my chair to the floor.It was then I had a view of Jesus rising from His mediatorial throne and going to the holiest as Bridegroom to receive His kingdom.They were all deeply interested in the view. They all said it was entirely new to them. The Lord worked in mighty power setting the truth home to their hearts.
Sister Durben knew what the power of the Lord was, for she had felt it many times; and a short time after I fell she was struck down, and fell to the floor, crying to God to have mercy on her. When I came out of vision, my ears were saluted with Sister Durben's singing and shouting with a loud voice.
Most of them received the vision, and were settled upon the shut door. Previous to this I had no light on the coming of the Bridegroom, but had expected Him to this earth to deliver His people on the tenth day of the seventh month. I did not hear a lecture or a word in any way relating to the Bridegroom's going to the holiest.-- Letter 3, 1847. (To Joseph Bates, July 13, 1847)

Notice the last highlighted section

1. Most people had abonded the shut door theroy
2. A vision by EGW revived there belief in the shut door
3. EGW vison settled the matter
4. notice also jesus went to the MHP to recive his kingdom. -that is the 2nd coming

so another words most people had lost intrest in the MILLERITE MOVEMENT AND BELIEVED salvation was still available to to the world and EGW came in and got them to believe the door of salvation was shut and Miller Hand given the final warning.
​

No. Honestly I didn't.

I'm sorry I don't like cut-and-paste posts and I don't respond to monologues. If you have the quotes, post them here. If not, just forget it.

here is post #43 again. since you missed it the frist time. notice EGW says the that Jesus left this meditioral role and went to recive to his kingdom. that is refering to the second coming.

 

[tall73]

Since you are asking for quotes I will provide some usually associated with the question.



Here is a quote from EGW's first vision in which she notes that those who did not keep the light of the past (regarding 1844) fell off the path of salvation.


Others rashly denied the light behind them, and said that it was not God that had led them out so far. The light behind them went out leaving their feet in perfect darkness, and they stumbled and got their eyes off the mark and lost sight of Jesus, and fell off the path down in the dark and wicked world below. It was just as impossible for them to get on the path again and go to the City, as all the wicked world which God had rejected.

A Word to the Little Flock

http://www.earlysda.com/flock/lflock-egwhite.html


It is clear that

a. She thought that those who rejected 1844 were lost.

b. She thought that God had REJECTED the wicked world--the door was shut, there was no salvation any more for them.

This goes right along with what icedragon put about the mediatorial throne.

 

[tall73]

But more than that, later we have , in 1850, six years after the vision. James still affirming what the meaning was. This is from the present truth, May, 1850:

While the bridegroom tarried they all slumbered and slept." from the 457, when the decree went forth. From the best light we could then obtain from the autumnal types we were very confident that the days would end at the seventh month, and the cry - "Behold the Bridegroom cometh" was actually raised, and swelled louder and louder throughout the land, until the advent people were fully awake, anxiously expecting to see Jesus on the tenth day of the seventh month. When we came up to that point of time, all our sympathy, burden and prayers for sinners ceased, and the unanimous feeling and testimony was, that our work for the world was finished for ever.
"As he [Christ] is, so are we in this world." 1John iv,17. The living branches on earth, will sympathize with, and move in concert with the "true vine" in heaven. The reason why the living branches felt that their work was done for the world, was, because the 2300 days were ended, and the time had come for Jesus to shut the door of the Holy, and pass into the Most Holy, to receive the kingdom, and cleanse the Sanctuary. This change, so wonderfully described in Dan.vii,13,14, answers to the coming of the bridegroom and shut door, in the parable.

"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. "But the wise answered, Not so: lest there be not enough for us and you: but rather go to them that sell and buy for yourselves.
"And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready, went in with him to the marriage and the door was shut."
"Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened [compared] unto ten virgins," &c. When? At this very time, when the faithful servant is giving meat to the "HOUSEHOLD," (not to the unbelieving world,) and is opposed by the evil servant, and when the advent history, marked out by the parable, is fulfilled, and the shut door in the past. Now we may see that the only place for the shut door was in 1844. Amen.
But says the objector - "The door of mercy will not be closed until Jesus comes." We do not read of such a door as "the door of mercy" in the Bible; neither do we teach that such a door was shut in 1844. God's "mercy endureth for ever." See Ps.cxxxvi; cvi,1; cxviii,1. He is still merciful to his saints, and ever will be; and Jesus is still their advocate and priest. But the sinner, to whom Jesus had stretched out his arms all the day long, and who had rejected the offers of salvation, was left without an advocate, when Jesus passed from the Holy Place, and shut that door in 1844. The professed church, who rejected the truth, was also rejected, and smitten with blindness, and now, "with their flocks and with their herds" they go "to seek the Lord" as still an advocate for sinners; but, says the prophet, [Hosea v,6,7,] "they shall not find him; he hath WITHDRAWN HIMSELF from them. They have dealt treacherously against the Lord; for they have begotten strange children."
The reason why they do not find the Lord is simply this, they seek him where he is not; "he hath withdrawn himself" to the Most Holy Place. The prophet of God calls their man-made converts, "STRANGE CHILDREN;" "now shall a month devour them, and their portions."


Here James clearly teaches that both sinners and the professed church are lost. There is no more mercy for them.

 

[tall73]

This next one is EGW from the Present Truth, Aug., 1849, page 22
http://www.adventistarchives.org/docs/PT-AR/PT-AR-Part1-03/index.djvu



I saw that the mysterious signs and Won- ders, and false reformations would increase,
and spread. The reformations that were
shown me, were not reformatien from er-
ror to truth ; but from bad to worse. F'or
those ,who -professed a change of heart, had
only wrapt about them a religious garb,
which covered up the iniquity of a wicked
heart. Some appeared to have been really
converted, so as to deceive God's people;
but if their hearts could be seen,
they would appear as black as ever.

My accompanying angel bade me look for
the. travel of soul for sinners as used to be.
I looked, but could not see it; for the time
for their salvation is past.

They believed that true conversion for the sinner was no longer possible.

 

[Adventist Dissident]

Here is a quote from EGW's first vision in which she notes that those who did not keep the light of the past (regarding 1844) fell off the path of salvation.


Others rashly denied the light behind them, and said that it was not God that had led them out so far. The light behind them went out leaving their feet in perfect darkness, and they stumbled and got their eyes off the mark and lost sight of Jesus, and fell off the path down in the dark and wicked world below. It was just as impossible for them to get on the path again and go to the City, as all the wicked world which God had rejected.

A Word to the Little Flock

http://www.earlysda.com/flock/lflock-egwhite.html


It is clear that

a. She thought that those who rejected 1844 were lost.

b. She thought that God had REJECTED the wicked world--the door was shut, there was no salvation any more for them.

This goes right along with what icedragon put about the mediatorial throne.

I beleve this is the edited version. the original makes a referece to those millerites who were in the 1844 movement and states 1844 directly

 

[tall73]

Next we have the Cambden vision. It is disputed by some, but Uriah Smith quotes it and defends it in his work Visions of Mrs. E.G. White, showing that it was acknowledged by supporters of the time.
http://www.ellenwhitedefend.com/Vision-sup/visions_supported2.htm

The letter is quoted in Ford’s Daniel 8:14 document.

Then I saw that Jesus prayed for His enemies, but that should not cause us to pray for the wicked world, whom God had rejected—when He prayed for His enemies there was hope for them, and they could be benefited and saved by his prayers, and also after He was a mediator in the outer apartment for the whole world; but now His spirit and sympathy were withdrawn from the world; and our sympathy must be with Jesus, and must be withdrawn from the ungodly. I saw that God loved His people—and in answer to prayers would send rain upon the just and the unjust—I saw that now, in this time, that he watered the earth and caused the sun to shine for the saints and the wicked by our prayers, by our Father sending rain up the unjust, while He sent it upon the just. I saw that the wicked could not be benefited by our prayers now—and although He sent it upon the unjust, yet their day was coming. Then I saw concerning loving our neighbors. I saw that scripture did not mean the wicked whom God had rejected that we must love, but He meant our neighbors in the household, and did not extend beyond the household; yet I saw that we should not do the wicked around us any injustice—But, our neighbors whom we were to love, were those who loved God and were serving Him.

At the first of the vision it starts by saying "The Lord showed me...."

We hve EGW stating that the Lord showed her things, and among these things was that the wicked were beyond hope.

 

[tall73]

I beleve this is the edited version. the original makes a referece to those millerites who were in the 1844 movement and states 1844 directly

The edited did not contain the part about the wicked world. But if you can find another version please post it.

 

[Adventist Dissident]

ORL Croiser: The Investigative Judgement Originator, says He made it up to explain why the Door of Mercy was still shut, and why the world could not be saved.

INQUIRY -- THE SANCTUARY, &c.
Bro. Crosier:

1. Are your views the same now on the sanctuary as published in the Advent Review? If so, will you inform me by letter or other way through the Harbinger?
2. Tell us whether you now believe that Christ entered into the most holy place on the tenth day of the seventh month 1844. If so, how you obtain that knowledge, whether by a new revelation or by the old one, and where?
3. If you believe Christ entered immediately into the most holy place, even heaven itself, and has offered his blood 1800 years ago, or ever since?
4. We feel somewhat interested in this, as our Sabbath (Saturday) keepers throw out that they do not know how you would answer your own article on that subject. We should like to know whether you are disposed to answer it or not?
5. Furthermore, if you feel free to do so, will you say whether you enjoyed your mind better while keeping the Sabbath than since? If so, what was the cause. Those here that keep the Sabbath say they enjoy themselves better than before, because they keep all the commandments.

Yours,

Chelsea, Mich. J. B. FRISBIE

ANSWER:​

1. My view have been somewhat changed on the subject of the "Sanctuary" since 1845, when I wrote the article on the Law of Moses, from which the Sabbatarian Adventists quote so often. As early as 1848 I saw enough of the nature of the coming Age to satisfy my mind that our view on the Atonement needed some modifying. The above named persons [the Sabbatarian Adventists] appear to me to be insincere in quoting from that article, (1) because they know that it was written for the express purpose of explaining and proving the doctrine of the "shut door" which they now, I understand, disclaim. (2) The persons referred to never received my views on the Atonement, as their leaders well know; and the points on which we always differed were the means of leading me out from shut door errors.
2. I think we have no means of knowing the precise time when the antitype of the ancient 10th day of the 7th month service did or will begin; but we have evidence that it will not close the "door of mercy" against all the previous impenitent. According to the best light I can obtain from the Scriptures, I conclude that that service will occupy the next age. I have no confidence in any "revelation" except those contained in the Bible.
3. I think the terms "the most holy place" and "heaven itself," as they occur in Heb. ix. are not convertible. The contrast, you will see by verse 24, is between "the holy places made with hands" and "heaven itself." In my opinion we fail to see much of the instruction obtained in the type, if we confound the services of the "holy place" with those of the "most holy place." They had distinct apartments in the sanctuary, services were performed at different times, and under different circumstances. These differences are recognized in the New Testament exposition. For the law to have a complete "shadow of good things to come," it must, like the prophecies, indicate the Age to come. -- This I think it does in the atonement services of the sanctuary. I see no more evidence that our Great High Priest entered upon the antitype of the peculiar service performed in the holy of holies on the 10th day of the 7th month under the law when he ascended to heaven, than that the millenium began at that time.
4. If they consider that article unanswerable, why do they disclaim the doctrine of the shut door which it teaches? Is it to shun reproach, and to get access to intelligent people under false colors? I exceedingly regret ever having published the errors contained in that article and feel thankful to our heavenly Father for the clear light of his word which enabled me to see and renounce them. The many truths it contains are still precious; and had I time to write and means to publish, I would like to separate the latter from the former and more clearly and fully develop them.
5. What enjoyment I had while trying to keep the Sabbath is not to be placed to its credit. I had as much before, and more since. My observations and experience have convinced me that there is no real Christian enjoyment in attempts at Sabbath keeping. The enjoyment persons have in such attempts spring from other sources -- from having the prejudice of early and erroneous education satisfied, and from preventing disunion among believers, and from truths they may hold in practice. The Sabbath is legal, not Christian; therefore it cannot yield Christian enjoyment. It carries with it the spirit of "bondage" as all know who have tried to keep it; and torments with a constant consciousness of coming short of meeting its imperious demands. How often have I heard Sabbatarians say, "We can't keep it: we do the best we can; yet we can't keep it according to the Bible." The reason is, it was never designed for Christians to keep. Hence there are no directions in the New Testament how to keep it, nor to keep it at all. The Sabbatarian leaders never considered me sound on that question. I could not "wrest" the plain language of Scriptures to suit my prejudices and theories with so much facility as they. I had to admit it all, though my prejudices made the Scriptures appear to contradict themselves, and then decide what was duty from what seemed the balance of obligation, all things considered. Of this my article in the Day Dawnmutilated form. is proof, which Sabbatarians quote in a I subsequently saw the full and harmonious testimony of the New Testament against Sabbatizing. The testimony being clear and abundant, removed every doubt from my mind, so soon as I dared open my mind to receive it. Then the truth afforded me Christian enjoyment. Excited feeling is no evidence of Christian enjoyment or Christian character. It may spring from various causes and be had by the worst of men. Christian enjoyment, as such, can only spring from a sincere reception, confession and practice of the truth.

O.R.L. CROSIER

​

here is another croiser stament

Sabbath Advocate
'The Entrance of thy Words giveth Light.'
W. C. LONG, - - - - - - - Editor.
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS.
S. S. DAVISON, A. F. DUGGER, A. C. LONG,
JACOB BRINKERHOFF, J. A. NUGENT.
STANBERRY, MO., MARCH 7, 1899.
The "Shut-Door' in 1844.
Dear Bro. Long: -I herewith enclose you a letter
from Bro. O. R. L. Crozier, which speaks for itself.
However, I will add that I have known Bro. Cro-
zier by reputation from my boyhood; and having a
work in course of preparation on the Visions I
Sanctuary, and Shut-door, etc., and as many of
the Seventh-day Adventists of to-day do not seem
to know that their people taught in their early
writings (these writings being suppressed or in-
geniously explained away,) that the door of mercy
was closed in 1844; and knowing that Bro. Crozier
had been identified with them in their early his-
tory, and therefore had a correct knowledge of
their early teaching, I therefore wrote him for a
statement of facts in the case to place in my book,
not intending at the time to publish it In the ADVO-
CATE; but its I have been sick all winter, and am
still confined to my room, and not knowing when
I shall be able to do any literary work of any kind,
I therefore send it to you for insertion In the paper.
This short introductory and Bro. Crozier's letter
are submitted in the interest of truth, through
which we are to be sanctified and saved. A. F. D.

––––––––––––​

ANN ARBOR,MICH., Feb. 20, 1899.​

Mr. A. F. Dugger, Bassett, Neb.:
Dear Brother: —Answering your esteemed favor of the3rd inst,-I was born Feb. 2, 1820. I have received and answered many such letters as yours on the same subjects. It is unfortunate that many good people are unwilling to correct their mistakes. Denying them, covering them up, explaining around them, is not so honorable, not so Christian, as acknowledging them. A candid confession,—"I was mistaken,"—is a spiritual tonic.
The visions you speak of, having been a cheap and powerful means of financial and party success, the temptation to defend and encourage them has been very strong. Having known their history quite well for fifty-thee years, I have always believed their inspiration to be entirely human, seldom unselfish, and often false as to facts, and obviously unscriptural as to doctrine.
I did not "originate their present sanctuary view." The facts in the case are—William Miller deserves the credit for shut-doorism among the Advent people; and he got the idea from some of the most learned commentators of the "orthodox" churches. I am not aware that either he or they built it upon the sanctuary service. They inferred it chiefly from passages in the New Testament. Mr. Miller expressed his opinion that the door of mercy would be closed in 1838. When "the 10th day of the 7th month" time passed in the fall of 1844, he and others (with few exceptions,) who were interested in that midnight cry, as they called it, believed that the door of mercy was then shut,—that no more sinners would or could be converted. That opinion prevailed in 1845 and 1846. In the latter year I published in an Extra of The Day Star, a paper published by Enoch Jacobs, at Cincinnati, an exposition of the Sanctuary and its Service in the law ofMoses, to explain how and why the door of mercy was shut. On account of our ignorance of the Scriptures my argument was more fully and more widely accepted than it deserved to be. In the next three years ('47-49) I saw and published its defects as to the shut door. They were:
1. There is no proof that the processes of repentance and pardon were suspended on the Day of Atonement.
2. "His mercy endureth forever." It is presumption to limit God's mercy. The bar does not come from God's side, but from man's side.
3. Jesus never refused pardon to anyone repenting and asking for it.
4. There is Scripture proof that there will be pardon and salvation under the reign at Christ—for the left of the nations, after the second coming. This, chiefly , brought me out of the shut-door.
5. Out of it, we can see that the shut-door conception is crude, gross, narrow, puerile.
You ask, "Did you hold to the shut-door theory, that salvation was past, and that there was no more pardon for sinners?" I did.
"And did . . . the author of the visions, and those who believed them, adopt these views?" They did; and were among the first to declare them and the most persistent in retaining and publishing them; and what is more, they must still hold those views, because they still adhere to my sanctuary exposition, which was written to prove the shut-door. They even make (or did make a few years ago,) a foolish excuse for the conversions that have occurred since the fall of 1844, viz., that the names of those millions of converts were borne into the holy of holies on the breastplate of the high priest on the 10th day of the 7th month in that year—most of them yet unborn! There was no hint of say such thing in the type. The first shut-door believers put the issue on higher and more obvious ground, viz., that the Lord would very soon come—was actually on his way, some said,—and the world would be immediately destroyed. But as he did not come, and as conversions could not be prevented, nor denied even under the labors of shut-door believers, the names of future converts on the breastplate was a Yankee invention to suit the emergency. But, in the type, the names of the twelve tribes—not the names of all faithful individuals —were on the breastplate.
In the love of the truth, in the blessed hope, and in the precious work of the gospel,
Your brother,
O. R. L. CROZIER.

 

[tall73]

Another supporting statement by James in the Present Truth, December 1849

http://www.adventistarchives.org/docs/PT-AR/PT-AR-Part1-06/index.djvu

Our feelings rhay be the im-
pulse of the moment, produced by sur-
rounding circumstances, which may make
a deep impression on the mind, and af-
terwards we may see that our feelings
were not in accordance w.ith the word of
God. when one leaves the Bible, and
trusts in his feelings, heplaces himself inn
position to be acted upon by the devil at his
pleasure. Many will point us to one
who is said to be converted, for positive
proof that the door is not shut, thus yield-
ing the word of God for the feelings of an
individual. Every feeling, action, and
thought of' man may be tested by the
word : if not, how can he be brought into
judgement for every thought? How
strait the way is. God wiil have the
whole heart."

 

[OntheDL]

here is post #43 again. since you missed it the frist time. notice EGW says the that Jesus left this meditioral role and went to recive to his kingdom. that is refering to the second coming.

It in no ways says she abandoned her original stance. EGW and the early adventists believed Oct 22, 1844 was the begining of judgment and cleansing of the earth by fire. They were wrong on the application to the literal return. Notice she said their teaching of the 1844 is correct and were given by the Lord. But the Lord showed them the heavenly reality that the shutdoor applies to the end of Jesus Holy Place ministry and the beginning of the judicial ministry in the MHP. Their original message of 1844 judgment hour was still correct.

 

[Adventist Dissident]

A pro SDA site. on the shurt door. The best Online Article dealing with the History of the Shut Door.

http://www.presenttruthmag.com/7dayadventist/1844/5.html
During the seventh-month movement of 1844 the Adventists proclaimed in unison and power that the parable of Matthew 25 was being fulfilled. The parable was regarded as if it were a detailed allegory of their own history. They therefore believed that the Bridegroom would come on October 22 and shut the door.

After the time passed, there was a general feeling among the Adventists that God had shut the door on the wicked world and on the fallen churches, which had rejected the Advent message. A few weeks after the Disappointment, Miller wrote:

"We have done our work in warning sinners, and in trying to awake a formal church. God in his providence had shut the door. . . . And never since the days of the apostles has there been such a division line drawn, as was drawn about the 10th or 23rd day of the 7th Jewish month."1
​

However, as time tarried and Christ did not come, many felt that the door of Matthew 25:10 and Luke 13:25—the door of probation—was not shut after all. They reasoned that the ordinary affairs of life must go on, that sinners must still be converted and that the gospel appeal must still be given to the world. At the Albany Conference of 1845 the Adventist leaders renounced the shut-door concept altogether. Because this shut door was so much a part of their message, they took the position that they were not only mistaken in preaching the October 22 date, but in literally applying Matthew 25 to their experience. Many were led not only to renounce the shut door, but their whole Advent experience, as a mistake and a delusion. These comprised by far the majority of Adventists and all the main leaders of the movement. They became known as the "open-door" Adventists. Those who stoutly resisted the idea of the open door called them "nominal Adventists," "the synagogue of Satan" or "Laodiceans."

A few believed that they could not deny the validity of their past experience without sinning against the Holy Spirit. Their past experience was so intimately bound up with their understanding of the parable of the ten virgins that they thought that holding to God's leading in the movement meant holding to a shut door. These became known as the "shut-door" Adventists.

But there were tensions within the shut-door group. They held several views regarding those who were now excluded from salvation. Some, like Joseph Turner, insisted that probation had closed for all but those already in the Adventist ark. Others, including the pioneers of Seventh-day Adventism, modified this extreme shut-door concept over a period of nearly ten years. At first they confined their witnessing to other Adventists. Then they suggested that the door was not shut to those under the age of accountability on October 22. Later they proposed that it was not shut to those who had not been presented with the light. Later still, they included "honest souls" in the fallen churches and even in the world. There is quite clear evidence that they did not talk about converting sinners or prosecuting a mission to "the wicked world" until well into the 1850's. The pioneers of Seventh-day Adventism, however, never relinquished the idea that God had shut the door on all who had rejected the October 22 date. This date was a "test," they said, and all who refused to accept it were rejected of God. The churches which rejected the test of the October 22 date became Babylon.

But the uncertainty regarding who might still be saved was not the only cause of tension among the shut-door Adventists. They had problems with fanaticism. By their open-door opponents they were all called fanatics. Some shut-door Adventists advocated such ridiculous things as no work, spiritual wifery and creeping on the floor. The pioneers of Seventh-day Adventism, initially comprising a tiny band of about a dozen individuals, opposed these excesses, but they embraced things which appeared to place them with the fanatics. Among these were the visions of Ellen Harmon, feet washing, holy kissing and Sabbath keeping. To the outsider all the shut-door Adventists were raving fanatics. If some of these Adventists opposed the fanaticism of their brethren, it was simply regarded as fanatics denouncing fanatics. All were shut-door believers. This was seen as the ultimate delusion which bound all the fanatics together.

Some weeks after the Albany Conference in 1845, William Miller and Joshua V. Himes visited the Adventists in the Portland, Maine, area in order to help them. (This was Ellen Harmon territory.2) But the Albany Conference was anathema to the shut-door believers. To them it seemed that open-door Adventists had renounced their Advent experience. Himes reported on the condition of the shut-door believers in the Morning Watch of June 12, 1845, as follows:

There is another class in the city, who hold no public meetings. They have, and still hold to the view, that the door is shut, and that we have nothing more to do with, or for the world. They, with others, have been looking for the Advent with deep interest, at different periods, for the last few months. But all the specific times to which they looked, now being past, they, of course, must look every day. We would accord to them honesty and sincerity, in time past, in adopting and carrying out their views. They were then afraid to reject any message, that had the semblance of truth, lest they should offend God, and incur his displeasure.

We visited them just after the 10th of the 7th month. We found that they had carried out their faith, as we then understood it, in works worthy of the followers of Christ. We advised them to make provision for the destitute, and that all who had, or could obtain employment, should enter upon their work, and faithfully attend to all their duties as formerly; but, at the same time, that they should heed the admonition of the Savior, Luke 2 1:34-36.

Soon after this, as we learn, Bro. J. Turner, and others, took the ground, that we were in the great Sabbath—that the 6000 years had ended—consequently, no Adventist should perform any more manual labor. To do so, would surely, in their estimation, result in their final destruction. With instructions of this kind, from those in whom they had confidence, and being quite disheartened as to labor in worldly matters, and longing to see their Savior, and have their hope consummated in the kingdom of God, they embraced this new and erroneous view, and acted accordingly. This resulted in strong censure, and condemnation of our sincerely-tendered advice, and also in opposition to the "Herald" and "Watch," and all holding views in common with us.

While waiting in this position of idleness, as to worldly, manual labor, a new light, as it was thought, shone upon Bro. Turner's mind, viz., that the Bridegroom HAD COME—that he came on the 10th of the 7th month, of the Jewish year last past—that the marriage then took place—that all the virgins then, in some sense, went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut—None of these could be lost, and none without could be saved. Thus all the spiritual affairs of this mighty globe were finished!

These views being adopted by the publisher of the Maine paper, entitled the "Hope of Israel," together with many of those who had been devoted, and faithful in the cause, they made a spirited effort to disseminate their views by the press. In this way, and by public testimony, these new notions were disseminated among most of the Advent congregations in Maine, and other parts of the country.

The influence of these views have been disastrous in the highest degree. While some brethren and sisters, of firm habits of piety and integrity, have been able to keep themselves pure, and still live consistently, and even to repudiate all departures from the common duties of life, and the ordinances of the gospel, others, of less stability of mind, and withal given to visionary and fanciful interpretations of the holy Scriptures, have been turned aside from the more important duties of life, and of gospel ordinances, to the practice of many vain and superstitious things. We know of none who have been made better by these views. The Christian graces of humility, charity, brotherly love, kindness, and meekness, of the advocates of these perversions of truth and duty, have not been improved. But there has been, in many instances, a sad departure—a falling away—a spirit of bitter proscription, a despising of those who are good, which go far to show, that they have not the right spirit, at least. And finally, more stress, in most cases, has been laid upon the performance of certain practices, such as feet-washing, salutations, abstinence from all manual labor, etc., than upon the "weightier matters of the law." It would require great firmness and moral rectitude in any person, to withstand the fanaticisms and evils incident to such a system. Think of a class of unsuspecting disciples, living in general idleness, having frequent meetings, in the most free association with one another, given up to their feelings and impressions, with the view that they are the favorites of God, and are shut in with the Bridegroom in safety, and withal, practicing frequent salutations, washings, etc., and let common sense decide what must be the result. It would require the strength of an angel to keep such from deteriorating in manners and morals. Add to this yet another view, viz., that the door of salvation is for ever closed, so that they cannot exercise benevolent feelings towards sinners, with a view to save them, so that the most essential element of the spirit of Christ, and of Christian character, is annihilated. Under such circumstances, the wonder with us is, not that there have been some extravagances, but that there have not been more.

THE DUTY OF THIS CLASS OF ADVENTISTS.

Now that they have seen the mistakes into which they were honestly led, their duty is plain. Nothing can be gained by wilfulness, in holding to positions that are demonstrated by the passing of the time to be incorrect. We should yield to God, and confess and give up our mistakes, when he makes them perfectly clear. All our brethren must see, that if the jubilee trump sounded in the seventh month of last year, that we should all have been made free in the first month of this year. We have no right to another moment of time. This view, then, was not the correct one.

Again, if the cry given in the seventh month was the midnight cry, after the tarrying time, then the morning must have come, in three months from that time, as the night could be but six months long, on their principle of interpreting it.

And, finally—if the first "watch" commenced then, and there are but four "watches," and the prophetic night being but six months, and this time having now passed, that view also has failed. For Christ must come in one of the "watches;" and yet, on this view, they are all passed, and the Saviour has not come. There is now no view which we can take of the seventh month movement, which makes it a final one. Time has demonstrated our mistakes respecting it. Then let us all abandon our errors, and return to our duty as honest and faithful servants. The door of salvation being open wide, and the gospel still sounding a sweet release to all the perishing sons of Adam, let us as ministers, and members of the church of Christ, awake, and engage with new zeal and interest in the work of God.

Let all who have not already, return to their several callings in life, and be diligent in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.

We are much rejoiced to find so many coming up to the work, in harmony and love. The Lord is smiling upon us, and we may look for his blessing to attend us in the faithful discharge of our duty as formerly.

Above all, we must "watch and pray always," that when the Son of Man cometh, we may be found of him in peace.

J. V. HIMES.
New York, June 6, 1845. 3
​

This letter illustrates how hard it was for open-door believers to distinguish more moderate shut-door believers from the rank fanatics. Joseph Turner was at that very time (1845) a friend of Ellen Harmon and of James White. They visited in each other's homes. And while they later parted company, they appeared at that time to be mutual believers.

While open-door Adventists pointed to continuing conversions as evidence that the door was not shut, the shut-door Adventists discounted all reports of conversions in other religious bodies. They claimed that these conversions were all of Satan. This attitude toward the possibility of new conversions must be appreciated against the background of hostility experienced by these Adventists. They were vilified in both the public and religious press—particularly after the October 22 debacle. The Adventists regarded this as evidence that the door was shut.

We must also consider the psychological effect that ridicule and persecution had upon the Adventists. They were deeply sensitive to ridicule and persecution. They talked much about enduring persecution for the Advent faith, about being rejected and cast out of the churches, and their hurt was in proportion to their deep seriousness. It seems that the shut-door doctrine was only their way of saying, "Since the world and the churches reject us, we reject the world and the churches." Shutting the door of salvation to those who had rejected the October 22 date was the measure of their reaction to their own rejection. When the bitter wounds of their rejection healed, they were ready to open the door of salvation to "the wicked world." Yet we would not suggest that this psychological reaction wholly explains the shut-door mentality. These Adventists were wrestling with real theological problems.

The Advent Mirror, edited by Apollos Hale and Joseph Turner, and the Day-Star,4 edited by Enoch Jacobs, were the main periodicals advocating a shut door. Turner said that the Bridegroom had come on October 22, finished His atonement and shut the door. He advocated a no-work doctrine, since he said that the Millennial Sabbath had begun. He was one of the most radical shut-door Adventists. But he was certainly not alone in denying the possibility of new conversions. J. D. Pickands declared that they must deny the reality of sound conversions or "deny the whole history of Adventism."5 This was the great reason for holding to a shut door.(cont'd)

 

[Adventist Dissident]

Jacobs took a more moderate position, although he advocated a number of shut-door views. He believed that the close of probation spoken of in Revelation 22:11 had already arrived. But he refused to call the shut door "the door of mercy" lest God might yet gather some souls out of the world.​

​

The Adventists faced a problem. If they held to the validity of the 2300 days and of 1844, they must explain what happened at the end of the prophetic time. If the parable of Matthew 25 was fulfilled in the Advent Movement, then the Bridegroom must have come and the door must be shut. They could come to no other conclusion. They felt they could not accept an open door without denying God's hand in the movement.​

​

But what was meant by the coming of the Bridegroom? This was another source of tension among the shut-door Adventists. Some, like Turner, said that the Bridegroom had come spiritually to His spiritual temple and sealed His people in the ark like Noah's family. It was impossible for the lost to be saved or the saved to be lost. Those who held this view were often called the "spiitualists." Some of them developed perfectionistic theories and soon exhibited the most bizarre fanaticism.​

​

The pioneers of Seventh-day Adventism explained the coming of the Bridegroom differently. The morning after the Disappointment, Hiram Edson was impressed that the High Priest, instead of coming out of the holy of holies on October 22, had gone into that apartment for the first time to make His atonement.6 This view was not a great innovation when we consider the background of Edson's "discovery." The Millerites had already focused their attention on the day-of-atonement ministry. If Christ had not come out of the holy of holies as predicted, He must have gone in. Edson, Crosier and Dr. Hahn explored this alternative until Crosier was able to present a well-reasoJacobs took a more moderate position, although he advocated a number of shut-door views. He believed that the close of probation spoken of in Revelation 22:11 had already arrived. But he refused to call the shut door "the door of mercy" lest God might yet gather some souls out of the world.​

​

The Adventists faced a problem. If they held to the validity of the 2300 days and of 1844, they must explain what happened at the end of the prophetic time. If the parable of Matthew 25 was fulfilled in the Advent Movement, then the Bridegroom must have come and the door must be shut. They could come to no other conclusion. They felt they could not accept an open door without denying God's hand (cont'd)​

ned explanation for this position in the Day-Star Extra of February, 1846.7 The tiny band of Seventh-day Adventist pioneers gathered around Crosier's thesis. They said that Christ had come as High Priest to the most holy place of the heavenly temple on October 22, 1844. Against the spiritualizers, they stressed a literal sanctuary with two apartments where Christ ministers. Consequently, they were labeled "literalizers."​

​

Although this highly literal concept of a two-partite sanctuary in heaven was presented in an immature, even childlike way, it gave the pioneers of Seventh-day Adventism a distinct advantage. It was a strong anchor in those confusing days:​

​

1. It enabled them to believe that the atonement or intercession of Christ was not yet finished. This saved them from perfectionism and the claims to sinlessness made by their spiritualist opponents.​

​

2. The concept of an intercessory work in the heavenly temple gave them an objective focus and anchor. This has been one of the most praiseworthy features of Seventh-day Adventism to this day. To an Adventist, "the temple is in heaven" means that there is something outside and above him in which to anchor his faith.​

​

3. It later provided an escape from the unfortunate shut-door posture. In the setting of the sanctuary they saw another meaning to the "shut door". They said that when Christ entered the most holy place for His final work, He shut the door of the first apartment, which no man could open, and opened the door to the second apartment. They believed that Revelation 3:8 applied to this new situation: "I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept My word and have not denied My name" (NIV).​

​

At first this "open door" was only for the benefit of "the little flock," "the remnant," "the Israel of God," and of no benefit to the wicked world and fallen churches. But as time went on, this view gave the pioneers a way out of their shut-door dilemma. Gradually their wounds healed and their horizons broadened. They admitted "honest souls," "jewels," "hidden ones," first from the "nominal Adventists," then from the fallen churches and finally from the world. In the 1850's they eventually saw that the "daily" service of reconciliation was not suspended on the ritual day of atonement. Therefore they finally recognized an "open door" for sinners and the world. They could do this while maintaining a shut door-one door was shut and another open. Moreover, the pioneers, including Ellen G. White, always maintained that the door was shut to those who had grieved the Holy Spirit by rejecting the Advent Awakening. In this way the pioneers of Seventh-day Adventism tried to maintain their credibility by denying that they were mistaken about the shut door. It seems that the Great Disappointment was all they could stand.​

-----------------​

​

1 William Miller, letter in Advent Herald and Signs of the Times Reporter, 11 Dec. 1844, p. 142, cited by P. Gerard Damsteegt, Foundations of the Seventh-day Adventist Message and Mission, p. 106.​

2 Ellen Gould Harmon was married to James White on August 30, 1846, at the age of nineteen.​

3 Joshua V. Himes, "Editorial Correspondence: Visit to Portland with Bro. Miller-A Good Hearing, State of the Cause-Duty of Adventists," Morning Watch, 12 June 1845, p. 192. Letter written from New York, June 6, 1845.​

4 Called the Western Midnight Cry before February 18, 1845.​

5 J. D. Pickands, letter to Snow in Jubilee Standard, 19 June 1845, p. 120, cited by Damsteegt, Message and Mission, p. 108.​

6 William Miller had already shifted the atonement from the cross to the intercessory work of Christ.​

7 R. L. Crosier, "The Law of Moses," Day-Star Extra, 7 Feb. 1846, pp. 37-44. It should be noted that others had also arrived at a similar conclusion.​

 

[Adventist Dissident]

The Shut Door and the Pioneers of Seventh-day Adventism

All the pioneers of Seventh-day Adventism were among the shut-door group. They strongly opposed the open-door Adventists. When the pioneers embraced the seventh-day Sabbath about 1846, they became known as the shut-door Sabbatarians. The evidence is clear that for a period of about seven years they believed that the door of Matthew 25:10 and Luke 13:25 had closed on October 22, 1844.

In 1847 James White published his first pamphlet, A Word to the "Little Flock." He said, "From the ascension, to the shutting of the door, Oct. 1844, Jesus stood with wide-spread arms of love, and mercy; ready to receive, and plead the cause of every sinner, who would come to God by him."1 The implication is clear that intercession for sinners had ceased after the October 22 date.

In this same publication James White justified the time setting of 1844. The October 22 date was called "a test," but the "final test" for the little remnant was said to be the Sabbath truth. Jesus was seen to be in the most holy place pleading the cause of "the little flock," whose names were on "the breastplate of judgment." He was not pleading for "sinners" or "the wicked world."2

James White further said: "That Jesus rose up, and shut the door, and came to the Ancient of days, to receive his kingdom, at the 7th month, 1844, I fully believe. See Luke 13:25; Mat. 25:10; Dan. 7:13, 14."3 The other pioneers also frequently employed Luke 13:25 to describe the October 22 event: "When once the Master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and He shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are...." This parable identifies the "door" as the door of probation.

A Word to the "Little Flock" also presented some remarks by Joseph Bates, one of the most prominent pioneers of Seventh-day Adventism. These remarks related to the work of Ellen G. White. He wrote, "I believe the work is of God, and is given to comfort and strengthen his 'scattered,' 'torn,' and 'pealed [sic] people,' since the closing up of our work for the world in October, 1844."4 This clear statement on the shut door helps explain why the pioneers were known as the "Sabbath and shut-door" brethren.

In 1848 James White wrote two letters to Brother and Sister Hastings. These letters reveal that the pioneers majored on two points—the

Joseph Bates preached the Sabbath to them with strong argument, much boldness and power. My principal message was on Matthew 25:1-11 [the parable of the ten virgins]. The Brethren are strong on the Sabbath and Shut Door.5
​

On October 2 of the same year, in calling a conference at Topsham, Maine, James White declared:

The principle [sic] points on which we dwell as present truth are the 7th Day Sabbath and Shut Door. In this we wish to honor God's most holy institution and also acknowledge the work of God in our Second Advent experience.6
​

In 1849 James White launched the Present Truth, the first journal of the shut-door Sabbatarians. The two points of "present truth" were the Sabbath and the shut door.

The issue of December, 1849, carried an article by David Arnold in which he argued for a literal fulfillment of the parable of Matthew 25. He wrote:

Thus we had in our experience, previous to the tenth day of the seventh month, 1844, a perfect fulfillment of all the events in the parable, as stepping stones to the SHUT DOOR; and since that time, the event, (knocking at the shut door,) that was to take place after the shutting of the door, has not failed to fill up the concluding scene in the drama.7
​

Arnold also linked this shut door to the door of the first apartment of the sanctuary. He argued that Christ had withdrawn and ceased to be a priest for the sins of the world. He had gone into the most holy place to plead only for the faithful. As for those trying to find Christ as before, Arnold applied the words of Hosea 5:6, 7:" 'They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord; but THEY SHALL NOT FIND HIM—HE HATH WITHDRAWN HIMSELF FROM THEM. They have dealt treacherously against the Lord, for they have begotten STRANGE CHILDREN.' "8

Arnold understood "strange children" to be the "professed conversions" since the door was shut on October 22. Yet he softened the position for those who had not yet reached the age of accountability by October 22, 1844. "They were then in a state of INNOCENCY, they were entitled to a record upon the breast-plate of judgment . . . and are therefore subjects of the present intercession of our great high priest."9 But the pioneers believed there was no mercy for those who had rejected their October 22 message. Against them they (God?) had irrevocably shut the door. Even forty years later Ellen G. White still affirmed that the door was shut to those who had resisted the "midnight cry." They had sinned away their day of grace. Even those who killed the Son of God were given an opportunity to repent, but no such chance was given those who rejected the "cry" of 1844 with its October 22 date!

Writing in the same issue of Present Truth in December, 1849, James White also declared that the parable of Matthew 25 "shows that the door is shut."10

In the Present Truth of March, 1850, Arnold said that "the daily ministration [of Jesus] for the world ceased" when the first apartment of the sanctuary was shut in 1844. He also made another significant point. He declared that the end of the 2300 days was the end of the times of the Gentiles (see Rom. 11:25).11

In May, 1850, James White again reviewed the parable of Matthew 25 in the light of the 2300 days. He said: "That there is to be a shut door prior to the second advent, many will admit.... I think we shall clearly see that there can be no other place for the shut door but at the Autumn of 1844." White wrote that "the door of mercy" is not a scriptural term, but said that those "who had rejected the offers of salvation, was [sic] left without an advocate, when Jesus passed from the Holy Place, and shut that door in 1844." Like Arnold, White then quoted Hosea 5:6, 7. His article clearly shows that he meant a probationary door. He concluded by saying, "Scripture clearly fixes the shut door in 1844."12

In 1850 a special issue of the Advent Review showed through past testimonies that the Sabbatarian Adventists still stood by the original Advent faith. The paper almost appears to be a defense of the shut-door doctrine. It reprinted a letter by William Miller from the Voice of Truth, February 19, 1845, which declared that the door of Matthew 25:10 had closed on October 22. Miller said, "And I have not seen a genuine conversion since.' '13

The issue included a long article by J. B. Cook, who had joined the Sabbatarians in 1845-46. He made clear that he believed in the shut door and that there was a cross of shame in such an unpopular doctrine. Reasoning that the parable of Matthew 25 was literally fulfilled in every detail in the events of 1844, Cook said, "The world, the flesh and the devil will not consent to the door's being shut.... The Advent cause is the cause of God, and must be confessed before men—quite through the shut-door.... The cross of it must be borne." Cook then said that the "shut-door" is "present truth." "There is need for the shut-door to separate us finally and forever from the world, preparatory to ascension." Likening this shut door to the door that was shut when Noah entered the ark, Cook concluded by making the doctrine of the shut door a test of salvation. "If you avoid the cross of 'present truth' [the shut door], you are with the world, which is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned."14

In 1850 Joseph Bates wrote a little book, An Explanation of the Typical and Anti-typical Sanctuary, by the Scriptures. He said, "The 'Present Truth,' then, of this third angel's message, is, THE SABBATH AND SHUT DOOR."15

In December of the same year, Bates affirmed the shut-door doctrine in a lengthy article in the new Second Advent Review and Sabbath Herald. Describing what happened in 1844, he said, "Jesus... rises up, and shuts to the door [Luke xiii, 25,] where he had been the Mediator for all the world." In support he cited Miller's words issued just after the Disappointment: "'We have done our work in warning sinners, and in trying to awake a formal church. God in his providence has SHUT THE DOOR."16

 

[Adventist Dissident]

Then Bates launched a bitter attack on the Albany Conference and the open-door Adventists. He said that the Laodicean church was organized at the Albany Conference in 1845. And he denounced this conference for confessing that the shut door of 1844 was an error. For this he called the open-door Adventists "rebels." Bates denied that they had won a single convert in six years, because the door of Matthew 25:10 and Luke 13:25 was shut and the time for converting Gentiles (sinners) was finished (Rom. 11:25 cited). The only way to make a convert, he said, would be to trample over the Son of God and open the door which He had shut. Bates concluded with this amazing exclamation, "Talk about searching out sinners, that the work of the Midnight Cry left in outer darkness six years ago!"17

The last really hard-line shut-door statement appeared in the Review and Herald of June 9, 1851. It was written by James White. He said:

At the seventh month, 1844, we were called out from the world. At the tenth, our sympathy was wholly with the expected Jesus. Previous to this, we were warning the world with tears to be ready for the Lord's coming; but on that day, or about that time, our labor for unbelievers rolled off from us, and an unseen hand drew us away from the world, and shut us up in sweet communion with Jesus. The thrilling testimonies of leading brethren, published after the tenth, and the experience of the entire body of Advent brethren establish this point. The church of Christ, since the day of pentecost, has not experienced so sudden and so great a change in labor and feeling, as Adventists experienced in 1844. A few days before the tenth of the seventh month, thousands were running to and fro, giving the cry, and papers containing the message were scattered everywhere, like the leaves of autumn. But about the tenth, every Advent paper was stopped, and the traveling brethren returned to their homes, feeling that they had given their last message to the world. The state of feeling throughout the entire body of Advent brethren can be accounted for in no other way, than that a change then took place in the position of the "vine," [Jesus,] and the living "branches" felt it. And as he ceased to plead for the world, and moved within the second vail, the living branches were called away from the world, and their sympathy was with Jesus, and with each other....

"And the door was shut." This also was a literal door in the marriage, and was designed to mustrate an important event connected with Advent history, which we have already referred to in our remarks upon the coming of the bridegroom, and the going in with him to the marriage. Christ, the "Minister of the Sanctuary, and of the True Tabernacle," was to officiate in the antitypical daily ministration, until the termination of the 2300 days. Then that work for the world was to cease forever; and he was to pass within the second vail, and enter upon the work of cleansing the Sanctuary.18
​

James White also cited the words of Hosea 5:6, 7. About 1851, however, a change began taking place in the shut-door thinking.19 Until this time there had been no missionary outreach to the world at large. Bates' outlook was typical.

Although he desired the salvation of non-Adventists, he was bound by a theological understanding of the shut door which made further mission work unbiblical. He therefore had to reject the rumors of new conversions from the "Babylonian revivals," seeing as his only task the reclaiming of backsliders among Adventists.20
​

In the Review and Herald of March 17, 1853, James White cited a complaint by Crosier, who was no longer with the pioneers of Seventh-day Adventism. Crosier said that he had written his Day-Star Extra article of 1846 to prove the shut door. He thought it was not right for Sabbatarian Adventists to use it, since they no longer believed in the shut door. James White then retorted that these critics should therefore no longer reproachfully call them "shut-door Sabbatarians." He added, "While the great work of saving men closed with the 2300 days, a few are now coming to Christ, who find salvation."21

Writing on April 14, 1853, James White tried to refute those who said that all details of the parable of Matthew 25 could not be applied to the experience of the Adventists. He insisted on interpreting the parable as if it were an allegory of their own history. But he gave evidence of a distinct shift in their position. While he said that the door was shut in 1844, he said that the knocking of the foolish virgins on the door was still future.22 Using the opening of the door to the most holy place in 1844 as a way out, he declared, "We rejoice to publish.., that there is an Open Door." The door of 1844, he said, was only shut to the foolish virgins, and the foolish virgins did not include those who had not heard the message.23

Finally, in the Review and Herald of May 26, 1853, James White declared that the shutting of the door in the parable of Luke 13:25 was still future.24

On June 9, 1853, Win. S. Ingraham declared, "We present an open door." It was shut only to those who had grieved away the Spirit in their positive rejection of the Advent message.25

Thus the pioneers turned from their restricted shut-door days and increasingly realized that the gospel had to go not only to "honest souls," but to real sinners in "the wicked world." What really made them genuine open-door Adventists?

1. The passing of time made a rigid exclusivism more and more difficult to maintain.

2. The sanctuary doctrine directed them to an open door, and gradually they came to realize that it was open to sinners.

3. Certain statements from the young Ellen G. White indicated not only a continuing ministry for Christ in the holy of holies, but a broadening work on earth in proclaiming new truths—such as the Sabbath. Although her visions were not immediately understood to teach anything different from what the pioneers all believed, the visions did have a positive influence which slowly moved the early Adventists toward a mission for "the wicked world."

4. The most significant factor was the providence of God. The pioneers were like the first Jewish Christians, who preached only to Jews. The first Christians did not seek out Gentile sinners. Gentile sinners came to them. The Jewish Christians were forced to recognize that God wanted to save Gentiles. In fact, the first Gentiles were saved with almost no human effort except for Peter's sermon in response to a vision (see Acts 10). So it was with these pioneers. After they were consolidated by the Sabbath Conference of 1848, unbelievers began showing an interest in the message. To the surprise of the Adventists, some were converted. At first the pioneers thought these must be the few "hidden ones," the "honest in heart." But the work and interest grew in a way which astonished them. How could they keep the door shut when God was clearly indicating that it was open? The process of emerging from shut-door isolation to the vision of a worldwide mission took about ten years.
——————————————
1. James White, in A Word to the "Little Flock" (1847; facsimile reproduction, Washington, D.C.: Review & Herald Publishing Assn., n.d.), p. 2.
2. James White, "The Voice of God," in A Word to the "Little Flock," p. 5.
3. James White, "The Time of Trouble," in A Word to the "Little Flock,"p. 8.
4. Joseph Bates, "Remarks," in A Word to the "Little Flock," p. 21.
5. White to Brother and Sister Hastings, 26 Aug. 1848, cited by Arthur L. White, "Ellen G. White and the Shut Door Question" (Statement prepared by Arthur L. White to serve as an appendix to his forthcoming biography of Ellen G. White), p. 23.
6. White to Brother and Sister Hastings, 2 Oct. 1848; cited in White, "Shut Door Question," p. 23.
7. David Arnold, "The Shut Door Explained," Present Truth, Dec. 1849, p. 45.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. James White, "Who Has Left the Sure Word?" Present Truth, Dec. 1849, p. 46.
11. David Arnold, "Reviewed.—(concluded)." Present Truth, Mar. 1850, p. 60.
12. James White. "The Sanctuary, 2300 Days. and the Shut Door," Present Truth, May 1850, pp. 78-9.
13. The Advent Review, Containing Thrilling Testimonies, Written in the Holy Spirit, by Many of the Leaders in the Second Advent Cause, Showing Its Divine Origin and Progress (Auburn: printed by Henry Oliphant, 1850), p. 10.
14. J. B. Cook, "The Necessity and Certainty of Divine Guidance," in ibid., pp. 33-4.
15. Joseph Bates, An Explanation of the Typical and Anti-typical Sanctuary, by the Scriptures (New Bedford: press of Benjamin Lindsey, 1850), p.16.
16. Joseph Bates, "Midnight Cry in the Past," Review and Herald, Dec. 1850, p. 22.
17. Ibid., pp. 23-4.
18. James White, "The Parable, Matthew xxv, 1-12," Review and Herald, 9 June 1851, p. 102.
19. In the Review and Herald of April 7, 1851, James White wrote that "there are those who may be converted"—"erring brethren"... "in the Laodicean church"..., "children, who were not old enough to understandingly receive or reject the truth," and "precious souls, some even in the churches" (p. 64). But later, in the Review and Herald of February 17, 1852, he declared that the "shut door.., event shuts out none of the honest children of God, neither those who have not wickedly rejected the light of truth, and the influence of the Holy Spirit" (James White, "Call at the Harbinger Office," Review and Herald, 17 Feb. 1852, pp. 94-5).
20. P. Gerard Damsteegt, Foundations of the Seventh-day Adventist Message and Mission, p. 158.
21. James White, "The Sanctuary," Review and Herald, 17 Mar. 1853, p. 176.
22. James White here anticipated the position, taken by Ellen G. White in the 1888 edition of The Great Controversy, that the shutting of the door of the parable points forward to the close of human probation.
23. James White, "The Shut Door," Review and Herald, 14 Apr. 1853, p. 189.
24. James White, "Remarks on Luke XIII, 23-25," Review and Herald, 26 May 1853, p. 4. In earlier years this text was always applied to 1844.
25. Wm. S. Ingraham, "The Parable—Matt. XXV," Review and Herald, 9 June 1863, p. 10

 

[Adventist Dissident]

http://www.presenttruthmag.com/7dayadventist/1844/index.html great article so I will give you the entire book on the web. This article is Great Article for The History. I don't agree with his conclusions, but his history is excellent.


1844 Re-Examined

• Title Page
• Preface
• 1. Adventist Roots
• 2. William Miller
• 3. Time Setting
• 4. The Great Disappointment
• 5. The Shut Door
• 6. The Shut Door and the Pioneers of Seventh-day Adventism
• 7. The Shut Door and Ellen G. White
• 8. The Development of the Concept of the Investigative or Pre-Advent Judgment
• 9. Some Observations on the Millerite and Pioneer Seventh-day Adventist Movements
• 10. 1844 and the New Testament Era
• 11. The Doctrine of Judgment in the Old and New Testaments
• 12. Spiritual Gifts
• 13. Proper and Improper Use of Spiritual Gifts
• Appendix

 

[Adventist Dissident]

It in no ways says she abandoned her original stance. EGW and the early adventists believed Oct 22, 1844 was the begining of judgment and cleansing of the earth by fire. They were wrong on the application to the literal return. Notice she said their teaching of the 1844 is correct and were given by the Lord. But the Lord showed them the heavenly reality that the shutdoor applies to the end of Jesus Holy Place ministry and the beginning of the judicial ministry in the MHP. Their original message of 1844 judgment hour was still correct.

again you are wrong. If you are looking for the, phrase "we have abandoned our old postion for a new one you will not find it. " If you are looking for a change of belief you will.

The problem with the EGW stament, is Jesus did not tell her that he was not coming when he "gave" her the vision" .

Why did he not say "Ellen tell everyone that I am in he Most holy place fulfilling the Type of the Day of atonement. I am reviewing the Records and I will be back and when I am finished. You still have work to do Go save the lost. I'm not coming yet." That is what jesus should have told her, because that is the postion the she eventually ended up at. Do you see the problem??

 

[OntheDL]

again you are wrong. If you are looking for the, phrase "we have abandoned our old postion for a new one you will not find it. " If you are looking for a change of belief you will.

The problem with the EGW stament, is Jesus did not tell her that he was not coming when he "gave" her the vision" .

Why did he not say "Ellen tell everyone that I am in he Most holy place fulfilling the Type of the Day of atonement. I am reviewing the Records and I will be back and when I am finished. You still have work to do Go save the lost. I'm not coming yet." That is what jesus should have told her, because that is the postion the she eventually ended up at. Do you see the problem??

No. Obviously some are trying to find something that isn't exactly there.

The facts are:
1. Judgment began in 1844.
2. A door was closed to symbolize the completion of Jesus' mediatorial ministry in the Holy Place.

TSDAs today still believe in the same doctrines the pioneers taught. Was the application to the heavenly clarified to the pioneers? Yes. But in no way it constitutes an abandonment as you suggested.

 

[OntheDL]

Why did he not say "Ellen tell everyone that I am in he Most holy place fulfilling the Type of the Day of atonement. I am reviewing the Records and I will be back and when I am finished. You still have work to do Go save the lost. I'm not coming yet." That is what jesus should have told her, because that is the postion the she eventually ended up at. Do you see the problem??

You really want to know the reason???


Rev 10

6 And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:
7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.
8 And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.
9 And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
10 And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. 11 And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

What happened in 1844 was the fullfillment of Revelation 10.

The disciples had a bitter sweet experience after Jesus died and before He resurrected. They had a great disappointment that they thought 'He had been the one that should redeem Israel'.

The 1844 disappointment was God's way to call His people to persevere, to soul search before He'd call them to prophesy to all the world.

11 And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

 

[tall73]

DL, please explain the quotes in posts 63-70 that show that they believed the wicked to be beyond grace.