The Eastern Question

Elder [Uriah] Smith spoke on the Sabbath question to a large congregation this morning, and this evening he speaks on the Eastern question. I feel so grateful that Brother Smith is not lost to the cause. He seems fully and thoroughly united with us; seems like Brother Smith of old. Oh, thank the Lord! Praise His Holy Name, that His love, His wondrous love has been exercised toward the children of men. It is so dark, I must stop. Will write you tomorrow.
4LtMs, Lt 55, 1884, par. 6 Aug. 25, 11:00 a.m

The first two pages were written Sunday after I had spoken to the crowd. The evening meeting was largely attended. Elder Smith spoke with great clearness, and many listened with open eyes, ears, and mouths. The outsiders seemed to be intensely interested in the Eastern question. He closed with a very solemn address to those who had not been preparing for these great events in the near future.
4LtMs, Lt 55, 1884, par. 7

Elder Daniells speaks this evening upon the Eastern Question. May the Lord give His Holy Spirit to inspire the hearts to make the truth plain.
13LtMs, Ms 189, 1898, par. 9

Brother Robinson spoke in the evening. Elder Canright came upon the ground Sunday morning with a request that I should go to Danvers and speak to the people there on Monday night. I ventured to say I would go, trusting in the Lord to give me strength. My throat and lungs were still very sore, and made speaking difficult. Sunday forenoon Elder Smith spoke upon the Eastern Question, just the subject the people wished to hear. The cars and three steamboats were pouring the living freight upon the ground until we thought that there were nearly as many as last year. And indeed there were more attentive listeners than last year. The mammoth tent was well seated, with backs to the seats.
3LtMs, Lt 10a, 1877, par. 9

Notwithstanding I had held the people some time, they seemed unwilling to leave the tent and the grounds. Elder Smith improved the hour at five o’clock in addressing the large crowd upon the mark of the beast. Brother Haskell spoke in the evening to a large and attentive audience, and the great day of the meeting was over. Many had listened to the truth, and the day of final reckoning will reveal the results of that day’s meeting. We hope and pray that the good seed sown may spring up and bear fruit to the glory of God.
3LtMs, Lt 10a, 1877, par. 11

J.N. Loughborough Letter to Wilfrid Belleau, California, March 25, 1915
“Dear brother, Your letter of recent date received. Yesterday I mailed to you a copy of the book on the sealing message. And I have sent a dime to the Pacific Press requesting them to mail to you a copy of “Prophetic Gift in the Gospel Church.” As to where you can get information on “The World War.” Brother Uriah Smith laid no claims to “inspiration,” but his view on the king of the North is well established by Sister White in speaking of one occasion when he spoke on the “Eastern Question." This you can read in Volume 4 of the Testimonies, page 278-279 where she called the discourse “a subject of special interest.” etc. It would bother those holding to another view than what he advocated to find a word from her favoring their views. One brother who had intimated in his writing on the subject that the king of the north might be the pope, told me that Sister White told him he “never should have intimated any such thing, and that his idea would only create confusion.” This was not put in print, but it was what he told me in Autumn 1878.”

(This quote is referenced in the letter by J.N. Loughborough)
Sunday morning the weather was still cloudy; but before it was time for the people to assemble, the sun shone forth. Boats and trains poured their living freight upon the ground in thousands. Elder Smith spoke in the morning upon the Eastern Question. The subject was of special interest, and the people listened with the most earnest attention. In the afternoon it was difficult to make my way to the desk through the standing crowd. Upon reaching it, a sea of heads was before me. The mammoth tent was full, and thousands stood outside, making a living wall several feet deep. My lungs and throat pained me very much, yet I believed that God would help me upon this important occasion. While speaking, my weariness and pain were forgotten as I realized that I was speaking to a people that did not regard my words as idle tales. The discourse occupied over an hour, and the very best attention was given throughout. As the closing hymn was being sung, the officers of the Temperance Reform Club of Haverhill solicited me, as on the previous year, to speak before their association on Monday evening. Having an appointment to speak at Danvers, I was obliged to decline the invitation.
4T 279.1