Ellen White: Woman of Vision

The Daily

During the General Conference session in Washington in 1909, signals of potential doctrinal controversy surfaced in which the “daily” of Daniel 8 largely figured.” Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sacrifice was cast down” (Daniel 8:11). WV 510.2

“‘The daily’—this phrase is best limited to the usually accepted sense of the morning and the evening offering, though some prefer a more general sense as an expression of everything connected with the worship of the sanctuary” (F. C. Cook, The Bible Commentary, Vol. VI, p. 344). WV 510.3

The question of the meaning of the “daily” was not a new one in Adventist history. William Miller had taught that it referred to paganism, but even before the Disappointment that view was questioned. The classic 1843 chart produced by Fitch and used by all the Adventist preachers omitted reference to the meaning of the “daily.” WV 510.4

In 1847 O.R.L. Crosier had expressed the view that the “daily” refers to the high-priestly ministry of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary. Uriah Smith in 1854 briefly expounded this position (The Review and Herald, March 28, 1854). But Smith, rising to prominence shortly afterward in his Thoughts on the Book of Daniel (1873 ed., p. 163), went back to the view of William Miller. Smith's became the accepted position until the turn of the century, and thus was known as the “old view.” Prescott's position was similar to Crosier's but nevertheless acquired the less-than-accurate designation as the “new view.” WV 510.5

As careful students took time to examine all the evidence, many were led to accept the new view—A. G. Daniells and W. C. White among them—and polarization began to develop. After the close of the Pacific Union Conference session at St. Helena in late January 1908, some of the workers lingered on to spend a little time at Elmshaven studying the question. They met in the Elmshaven office—Daniells, Prescott, Loughborough, the Haskells, W. C. White, C. C. Crisler, and D. E. Robinson (DF 200). The meeting, in place of bringing some solutions to the problem, served only to harden positions. WV 510.6