Daniel
8:14 was held by the Millerites to be a literal prophecy which
claimed this cleansing or
“purification by fire” would follow 2300 days (read
years) from some point in
history. White affixes this point to the year 457 BC, a speculative
date presumed to correspond with the decree of Artaxerxes to “go
forth and rebuild Jerusalem.” To reenforce this position, she
continues to assert by reason of the declaration of an angel in
Daniel that during the first seventy weeks or
490 years of this period, the Jews would be “cut off” from the
divine covenant. She counts 483 years to the beginning of Jesus'
ministry, in A.D. 27, and seven more until his death, during which he
“confirmed his covenant for one week” which she and the
Millerites held to be the last of the first seventy. With some simple
math and a few intuitive leaps, she therefore soon arrives at a date
for the difference...1844.
Here, White
departs from Miller, and many disappointed Millerites, by
rationalizing that even though Christ didn't seem to show up when
expected, the “strength of the argument” was “not in the least
affected.” With a flurry of obscure quotes from the New Testament
she confidently vindicates the Millerite assumption on the wholly
original premise that the date itself could be taken to mark a
paradigm shift in Man's relationship with God, transitioning from
“1800 years” of finding “access to God” through a “door of
hope and reason” to a new age of salvation through the
“intercession of Christ.”
White
and the disaffected Millerites redeem themselves by thus standing on
a completely unique new theological conclusion, from which she
clearly and immediately distinguishes who is to be their galvanizing
antagonist: the Papacy. Having provided a sufficiently convincing
narrative, this was all that was needed to cement the movement in
Protestant American culture. The Sabbath is used as an example of the
papist “attempt to
change the law” from the seventh day(now, literally just a day
again, having been promoted and demoted again in less than half a
century) to “the first instead” and is thus taken as evidence of
the Church (both Catholic, by decree, and Protestant, by complicity)
usurping divine law, and therefore treated as further validation of
the aforementioned prophecy.
White
does not directly equate skepticism or criticism of her highly
inductive abilities with mandatory damnation, but she does draw a
vivid picture of the potential consequences. Likening the Roman
Catholic Church to the beast
of Revelations, she sternly warns that the church, which “has not
relinquished her claim to supremacy” has “rejected the bible
Sabbath” and will unite “[with the] State to compel...all those
who worship the beast and his image...to receive his mark.” It is
upon the rejection of the “biblical Sabbath” that White hangs
Catholics and Protestants alike. Yet, in spite of this oddly
confrontational approach, the Seventh Day Adventist movement
never-the-less found fertile ground in the Age of Reason, survived
the Civil War, and grew a wide, eager following which would influence
the twentieth century in many counter-intuitive, and arguably
counter-productive ways. The easiest way to settle the dispute, from
an employer's point of view, is to give both Saturday and Sunday off.
Viola! The modern American weekend is born.
And now,
Protestants and Catholics alike all thank God it's Friday.
Image Source: http://www.whiteestate.org/pathways/images/e_white.gif
Image Source: http://www.whiteestate.org/pathways/images/e_white.gif