Chapter 8—December 1844, Vision

The Full Explanation and More Correct Interpretation Came Later.

In 1891 Uriah Smith wrote:SDD 6.3

In the midst of this evolution of new views, a few weeks after the passing of the time, and while many were making shipwreck of faith, Sister White had her first vision. In it she was shown that “the midnight cry,” which they had just passed through, was a great light set up behind them, and was not to be rejected; that if kept in view, it would shed light on the pathway clear through to the end; but if rashly denied, darkness and ruin to such souls would follow. Now says the objector, “The visions taught the shut door, because the shut-door view was connected with that of the midnight cry; and the vision taught that the midnight cry was not to be given up.” The conclusion does not follow. It is a false charge. The vision said nothing about the shut door. But the midnight cry was a vital pillar of truth, and was not to be surrendered, though some errors had been connected with it. To give up the midnight cry was to give up the whole work, and make utter shipwreck of faith. And any candid reader can judge whether it were better to give up that truth on account of an error which men had attached to it, and so wholly apostatize, rather than hold fast to the truth, and wait patiently till the Lord should remove the error which men had connected with it. Everyone will say the latter. And this they did; and the explanation and correction came in due time.—The Review and Herald, January 6, 1891, p. 8.