Feast Days & The Present Truth

Nader Mansour Published online by:

www.Revelation1412.org

The history of our publishing work and its humble beginnings is of great interest and
import. The great disappointment of 1844 left a scattered flock of Advent believers in
many places. This flock needed encouragement, support, and meat in due season. It
is with this background that the call to begin publishing and sharing the message of
truth came from heaven. James and Ellen White often travelled and held meetings
with different bands of believers. It was in one such meeting that God directed the
believers to the necessity of starting to publish and broadcast the truth in printed
form.

The Dorchester Conference

November 1848
The period between the great disappointment of October 22, 1844, and the
memorable Sabbath conferences of 1848 was a critical four-year phase. It was during
these conferences that the early Adventists better understood the Sabbath truth. In
November of 1848, another such conference convened in the home of Otis Nichols in
Dorchester. This gathering was to discuss the Sabbath and the sealing message.
James and Ellen White were present among the small company of believers. Joseph
Bates, also present, briefly reported on that gathering in the following words:

“A small company of brethren and sisters

were assembled in meeting in Dorchester,
near Boston, Mass. Before the meeting
commenced, some of us were examining
some of the points in the sealing message;
some difference of opinion existed about
the correctness of the view of the word
ascending, etc., and whereas we had
made the publishing of the message a
subject of prayer at the Topsham
Conference (Mv.) a little previous, and the
way to publish appeared not sufficiently
clear, we therefore resolved unitedly to
refer it all to God.” {Joseph Bates, A Seal of the Living God, P.24. 1849}

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A Divine Commission
After some time spent in earnest prayer for light and direction, God gave Sister
White a vision with some very clear instructions.
“At a meeting held in Dorchester, Mass., November, 1848, I had been
given a view of the proclamation of the sealing message, and of the
duty of the brethren to publish the light that was shining upon our
pathway.” {Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, p.125}

The vision also had a clear message for her husband - it was time to publish.
“After coming out of vision, I
said to my husband: "I have
a message for you. You must
begin to print a little paper
and send it out to the
people. Let it be small at
first; but as the people read,
they will send you means
with which to print, and it
will be a success from the
first. From this small beginning it was shown to me to be like streams
of light that went clear round the world."” {Life Sketches of Ellen G.
White, p.125.2}

Despite being penniless and with no steady income, James White seriously pondered
the words spoken in the commission. Regardless of pressing obstacles, he
determined to carry out this instruction.

The Present Truth

July 1849
It took less than a year before James was ready to publish the very first paper which
he entitled The Present Truth. Ellen White gives us an insight about that time:
“While we were in Connecticut in the summer of 1849, my husband
was deeply impressed that the time had come for him to write and
publish the present truth. He was greatly encouraged and blessed as
he decided to do this. … He immediately began to write, and when he
came to some difficult passage, we would unite in prayer to God for an
understanding of the true meaning of His word.” {Life Sketches of Ellen
G. White, pp.125, 126}

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Not only did they pray for an understanding of the word of God as James wrote, but
many other prayers were also offered for this fledgling first step in our publishing
work.

“One day in July, my husband

brought home from
Middletown a thousand
copies of the first number of
his paper. … The precious
printed sheets were brought
into the house and laid upon
the floor, and then a little
group of interested ones were
gathered in, and we knelt
around the papers, and with humble hearts and many tears besought
the Lord to let His blessing rest upon these printed messengers of
truth.” {Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, p.126}

Together they folded the papers and prepared them for mailing. It was a customary
practice to pray over each number before it was sent out. Many years later, Ellen
recalled those early days of that paper:

“It was in Middletown, about 1849, that my husband began the

publication of our first paper, a small sheet called, The Present Truth.
We were then living in Rocky Hills, seven miles from Middletown, and
my husband often walked back and forth between the two places,
though he was then lame. When he
brought the first number of the paper
from the printing-office, we all bowed
round it, and with humble hearts and
many tears besought the Lord to let
his blessing rest upon the feeble
efforts of his servant. My husband
then directed copies of the paper to
all who he thought would read it, and
walked seven miles to the
Middletown post-office, carrying the
precious papers in a carpet-bag. Again

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 and again, before the papers were taken to the post-office, they were
spread before God, and earnest prayers, mingled with tears, were
offered to God that his blessing might attend the silent messengers.
Very soon letters came, bringing means to help in the publication of
the paper, and bringing also the good news that many souls were
accepting the truth.” {E. G. White, Review & Herald, October 6, 1904
par. 9}

This little paper that was divinely commissioned had a very humble beginning. It
would later grow and exert a powerful influence1.

The Message in The Present Truth

Part of the vision
that Ellen White
received in 1848
was to do with the
sealing message and
the Sabbath. James
at the time records
that “She saw many interesting things about this glorious sealing Sabbath, which I
have not time or space to record.”2 Thus it was natural for James to write something
about the Sabbath and the sealing message in the very first numbers of that paper.
This afforded him both time and space to expound on this question in detail. The
articles that followed James White’s opening editorial explanation carried such titles
as “The Weekly Sabbath Instituted at Creation, and Not at Sinai”; “The Sabbath a
Perpetual Weekly Memorial”; “The Law of God, or the Ten Commandments”;
“Scriptures Usually Quoted to Prove the Abolition of the Sabbath Examined.”

James White made it very clear that the seventh-day Sabbath was the eternal
memorial and sign of God’s creative power. It was the seal between God and his
people forever.

1
Present Truth, in 10 issues published over a period of 11 months, heralded the third angel’s message, with
the Sabbath truth as the focal point. It was the forerunner of the paper that would be known by a number of
names: Advent Review, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Review and Herald, and Adventist Review.
2
Elder James White, in an unpublished letter, gave his account of this meeting and vision. More of his
comments can be found in Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, p.116.

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The Present Truth and Feast Days
In addressing the importance and validity of the Sabbath James also had to address
the subject of the feast days and annual Sabbaths. It was necessary to make this
distinction clearly for many were confounding the two. Here are a few extracts from
the first few numbers of The Present Truth setting forth the relation of the feast days
to us today. Note the distinction between the annual Sabbaths and the weekly
Sabbath (emphasis supplied in bold).

“The first covenant which had "ordinances of divine

service, and a worldly sanctuary," was a shadow of
the second, and better covenant. The law was the
shadow, and the Gospel is the body, that cast the
shadow; and as all shadows reach to their body,
and no farther, it is very clear that
the sacrifices and oblations, new-
moons, feast days, and Sabbaths
of the Jewish law ceased, when the precious body and blood of the
Lamb of God was sacrificed on the cross. This is what Paul calls
"nailing it to his cross."” {James White, The Present Truth, August
1849, p.9}

“All shadows cease when they reach the bodies which cast them.
Follow the shadow of a tree to its body, and there the shadow ends.
But the weekly Sabbath will never end; therefore it is not a shadow;
but a body, as well as the other nine commandments. The ten
commandments are of the same nature; and if one is a shadow, they
are all shadows. How can we make swearing,, stealing, and killing,
shadows? This we cannot do. Neither is there a man that can show
that the Sabbath is a shadow.” {James White, The Present Truth,
August 1849, p.10}

“Some regarded the Jewish Sabbaths, new-moons, and feast days,

after they were abolished and nailed to the cross, and others did not.
Paul would not have the Colossians judged by Judaizing teachers, in
respect to those things that had ceased, according to the testimony of
the Prophet. [Hosea 2:11 quoted]” {James White, The Present Truth,
August 1849, p.9}

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 “The Sabbath of the Lord our God was instituted at the creation,
before the fall, when the earth and man were holy, and Eden bloomed
on earth. The convocation sabbaths of the Jews were given at Mount
Sinai, more than twenty-five hundred years after, and were a portion
of the hand-writing of ordinances of the law of Moses, which was
nailed to the cross, at the death of the Messiah.” {James White, The
Present Truth, August 1849, p.9}

“The fact that some were teaching these Jewish customs to the
Christian Church, and judging them in respect to them, drew the
Apostle out to write as he has to the Galatians, Romans, and
Colossians, upon this subject.” {James White, The Present Truth,
August 1849 p.9}3

“Finally, the fact that the early Christians were troubled by those who
were teaching them that they must observe the law of Moses in order
to be saved, shows what Paul's subject was, and that he did not refer
to the Sabbath; but to the shadows of Moses law, which began to
reach their body when the new covenant was introduced by the
death of Messiah.” {James White, The Present Truth, August 1849,
p.11}4

It is important to remember that Ellen and James prayed for God to lead and guide in
the writing of these articles. She reminds us of what James did “when he came to
some difficult passage, we would unite in
prayer to God for an understanding of the
true meaning of His word.” {Life Sketches
of Ellen G. White, pp.125, 126}

A few questions we need to ask ourselves:

Did God answer those prayers or not? Did
God give him a correct understanding of
the Word when it came to the feast days?

3
The relevant texts being referred to are: Galatians 3:2; 4:10; 5:3, 4; Romans 14:1-6; & Colossians 2:14-17.
These passages deal with eating, and feast-days which some of the Church regarded, and others did not.
4
James is here commenting on Colossians 2:16-17 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in
respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: (17) Which are a shadow of things to
come; but the body is of Christ.

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James saw a clear distinction between God’s ten commandment moral law and the
ceremonies and shadows of the typical law:
“The keeping of the commandments of God, is no where spoken of in
the New Testament as a thing of little importance, as circumcision,
eating, and feast-days are; but it is always made a test of Christian
fellowship, and Eternal Salvation.” {James White, The Present Truth,
July 1849 p.8}

He also comments on the situation that existed in the early church. The issue of feast
keeping is not a new debate, but was the doctrine of the Judaizers of Paul’s day:
“The Christians at Rome were labouring under trials, similar to those in
other Churches. Some of them were holding on to the Jewish customs
of eating, and feast-days, and others were opposed to these customs.
Paul's greatest trial with them, was their judging one another, and
making these things a test of Christian fellowship.” {James White, The
Present Truth, July 1849 p.8}

God certainly guided the mind of his servant in answer to the fervent prayers offered
up to him. The God who commissioned the writing of this paper would not leave its
author to stumble in the dark.

Not a Present Truth

As far as James and Ellen White were
concerned, the feast days were not a
present truth message. This is
abundantly clear as one reads through
the first numbers of The Present Truth.
Far from being a present truth message,
the feast days (with their annual
Sabbaths) were part of the shadowy
types that passed away at the cross of
Christ. This position and understanding
was later confirmed by many pioneers of
what later became the Seventh-day
Adventist Church. The sealing message,
which this movement was raised to preach, was to focus on the seventh day
Sabbath, not on the expired shadows.

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New Truth Does No Contradict the Old
If the feast days and their annual Sabbaths were indeed shadowy types as James
wrote, then it is impossible for them to cease being so now. Unless, of course, James
White was wrong in his understanding of them. Some may feel that James did not
have all the light on the matter of the feasts, and today we should observe them as
binding upon us. Perhaps the feast days are a new light, or a progression into a
deeper understanding of truth for today. Maybe they are present truth for us now.

Such a position raises some very serious questions, and doubts, as to the foundation
that God laid at the inception of our publishing work. If the feast days are valid and
binding today then this presents a very serious contradiction with the present truth
message in our early days. Truth does not – cannot – contradict itself. We are left
with only one of two choices:
1- James White was correct and the feast days are not binding on us today, or
2- James white was wrong and the feast days are binding on us today

Thankfully, the pen of inspiration clears the matter up for us easily. We need not
doubt the leadings of God in our past history, nor question the teachings that he
established.

“The truth is the same as it ever has been, and not a pin or a pillar can
be moved from the structure of truth. That which was sought for out
of the Word in 1844, 1845, and 1846
remains the truth in every particular.”
{E. G. White, 1MR 52.2} 1906

“That which was truth in the beginning

is truth now. Although new and
important truths appropriate for
succeeding generations have been
opened to the understanding, the
present revealings do not contradict
those of the past. Every new truth
understood only makes more significant the old.” {E. G. White,
Review & Herald, March 2, 1886}

“The Word of the Lord has guided our steps since the passing of the
time in 1844. We have searched the Scriptures; we have built solidly;

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 and we have not had to tear up our foundations and put in new
timbers.” {E. G. White, 1MR 54.1} 1907

“When the power of God testifies as to what is truth, that truth is to

stand forever as the truth. No aftersuppositions, contrary to the light
God has given are to be entertained. Men will arise with
interpretations of Scripture which are to them truth, but which are not
truth. The truth for this time, God has given us as a foundation for
our faith. He Himself has taught us what is truth. One will arise, and
still another, with new light which contradicts the light that God has
given under the demonstration of His Holy Spirit.” -- Preach the Word,
p. 5. (1905.)” {E. G. White, Counsels to Writers and Editors, pp. 31, 32}

These quotes are too plain for comment. There is no evidence to suggest that James
White changed his position on the feast days and annual Sabbaths. As the head of his
home, his position was doubtless representative of his entire household. Not only
was this the position of the White family, it was actually the position and
understanding of the entire Church at the
time, and for many years to come. After all,
none of the pioneers thought it wise or
prudent to deviate from the foundation that
God had laid at the commencement of our
publishing work. Feast keeping was never
intended to be part of the platform of
eternal truth that God established our
movement on.

Conclusion
These early beginnings of The Present Truth paper reveal a divine guiding hand in its
commission and success. The visions had given assurance that God’s blessing would
attend James White as he wrote. God not only provided the funds to sustain the
paper, but also blessed the mind of James White as he expounded the Scriptures in
its pages. From the very start of our publishing work we find that God did not desire
the inclusion of the feast days with their annual Sabbaths as part of the foundation of
truth that He was building. The structure of truth was to focus on living realities, on
present truth, and not on shadows and types that had ceased to be of force. Let us
stand fast on that platform that God has built and established for us. He has not
commissioned us to alter or add to it that which He intentionally left out.

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