The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

3. DIFFICULTIES INVOLVED IN THE QUEST

In order to present the development of prophetic interpretation in its proper historical setting, it was necessary, of course, first to collect, so far as possible, all the available books, manuscripts, and other materials bearing on the subject, for study and evaluation. It was no small task even to discover many of the rarer items. Prophetic interpretation has for decades been a neglected study, and all too many of its source materials have been untouched for a long period of time. PFF1 11.2

Many a gem of prophetic interpretation has been reposing for scores of years, if not for centuries, on the dusty shelves of the great book collections of the Old World and the New, These jewels of prophetic exposition are scattered among the extensive holdings of great national libraries and large universities, the archives of smaller colleges and old theological schools, and the libraries of ancient churches and monasteries, as well as notable private collections. Some, indeed, are in the possession of rare book collectors, or, perchance, in quaint old bookshops. PFF1 11.3

It was to seek out these expositions from among the musty tomes that clutter the crowded shelves of the world’s great archives, and to make them available to all students of prophecy in usable, documented form that three research trips to Europe were undertaken—in 1935, in 1938, and again in 1948. This search for the prophetic interpretations of the centuries was consequently undertaken in the favoring lull between the two world wars. And fortunate—or providential, it would surely appear to be—was the timing. PFF1 11.4

Such unhampered research is no longer possible today on the continent of Europe, and there is no assurance concerning the future. Moreover, many of the libraries from which these materials were secured have been damaged or destroyed by the ravages of World War II, along with many of the almost irreplaceable originals of these rare prophetic treasures that they housed, but many of which are now in our possession in microfilm or photostatic form, in extract if not in entirety. The Photostat copies are therefore the more valuable, and in the case of certain manuscript materials they may be the only copies now in existence. PFF1 11.5

Meanwhile the seemingly endless bookshelves of the New World have also been combed for significant prophetic materials. And we are happy to report that the results of this extensive quest, on both sides of the Atlantic, have far exceeded all earlier hopes and expectations. One is reminded of the apt expression in Ezra 6:1 : “Search was made in the house of the books, where the treasures were laid up.” (Margin.) The materials assembled, forming the bulk of the source documents for all four volumes of The Prophetic Faith o f Our Fathers, comprise what is known as the Advent Source Collection, the largest in its field ever to be brought together in one place. It is housed in a special vault in the Seventh—day Adventist Theological Seminary at Takoma Park, Washington, D.C. PFF1 12.1