An expression taken apparently from Prov. 22:28 (“Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set” ( cf . Prov. 23:10 ; see also Deut. 19:14 ) and used by Seventh-day Adventists to describe the doctrines that have made them a distinct religious group. These doctrines are commonly understood to be those relating to the sanctuary, the three angels’ messages of Rev. 14 , the Second Advent, the millennium, death, the seventh-day Sabbath, and the Spirit of Prophecy. Among other terms used with a meaning similar to landmarks are: “waymarks,” “special points,” “pillars of our faith,” “the foundations,” “pegs,” and “pins.” In SDA thinking, the landmarks are doctrines of such vital importance that they cannot be altered without changing the nature of the SDA Church.
Among the early Sabbathkeeping Adventists the term landmarks was used with reference to the ending of the 2300 days of Dan. 8:14 . It was later that the expression came to denote other doctrines that have made SDA s a distinct religious group.
The earliest appearance of the term landmarks in an SDA publication was James White’s use of it in connection with the 1844 ending of the 2300 days of Dan. 8:14 ( A Word to the “Little Flock” [1847], p . 5).
Another of the early occurrences of the expression in Seventh-day Adventist writings is a letter by Ellen White (in The Present Truth 1:64, March 1850) in which those who abandoned Miller’s chronology of the 2300 days and set a new date for the end of the period are said to “have removed the landmarks.”
In a statement about a year later, those who were setting new times for the ending of the 2300 days were again warned that they were removing the landmarks. “Do not think us harsh and unchristian when we, honestly and in love, tell you that this work of removing the ‘landmarks,’ and following on from one point of time to another to find the end of the 2300 days, like a man following his shadow, dishonors the Advent cause, destroys true faith, offends God, and if persisted in, will lead to certain ruin” (James White, in Review and Herald 1:52, March 1851).
An article entitled “Removing the Landmarks” appeared in the Review and Herald of June 9, 1853, written by E. R. Seaman, of Rochester, New York, deploring the fact that some who had acted a conspicuous part in giving the judgment-hour message had ranked themselves “among the number who were still removing the landmarks,” because they persisted in fixing new dates “for the termination of the days.” As SDA doctrines developed, the term came to include other distinctive Adventist teachings. In retrospect in 1889 on the ancient landmarks Ellen White wrote: “The passing of the time in 1844 was a period of great events, opening to our astonished eyes the cleansing of the sanctuary transpiring in heaven, and having decided relation to God’s people upon the earth, [also]the first and second angels’ messages and the third, unfurling the banner on which was inscribed, ‘The commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.’ One of the landmarks under this message was the temple ofGod, seen by His truth-loving people in heaven, and the ark containing the law ofGod. The light of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment flashed its strong rays in the pathway of the transgressors of God’s law. The nonimmortality of the wicked is an old landmark. I can call to mind nothing more that can come under the head of the old landmarks” (Counsels to Writers and Editors, pp . 30, 31).
On several occasions Ellen White warned concerning attempts to remove the landmarks of the Seventh-day Adventist faith. “After the truth has been proclaimed as a witness to all nations, every conceivable power of evil will be set in operation, and minds will be confused by many voices crying, ‘Lo, here is Christ, Lo, he is there. This is the truth, I have the message from God, he has sent me with great light.’ Then there will be a removing of the landmarks, and an attempt to tear down the pillars of our faith” ( Review and Herald 69:769, Dec. 13, 1892).
“Spurious scientific theories [pantheism]are coming in as a thief in the night, stealing away the landmarks and undermining the pillars of our faith. . . . The most specious temptations of the enemy are coming in on the highest, most elevating plane. These spiritualize the doctrines of present truth until there is no distinction between the substance and the shadow” ( General Conference Bulletin, Apr. 6, 1903, p . 87).