THE GREAT 
SECOND ADVENT MOVEMENT

ITS RISE AND PROGRESS

5. THE SECOND ADVENT MESSAGE

“NOW learn a parable of the fig-tree:  When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh; so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it [margin, he] is near, even at the doors.  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”¹

In this scripture our attention is directed to the time when it is possible to learn that the coming of Christ is “at the doors” with the same assurance that we know that summer is near when we see the first tender young leaves putting forth.  It may also be known that we have come to the generation which shall not pass off the stage of action until Christ himself shall come.  When the time comes to learn the parable, it is emphatically true that it is the Lord’s time to raise up teachers to teach the parable.  The inquiry of the apostle on another occasion is equally applicable here, “How shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach, except they be sent?”²

The Time for the Signs

In the previous chapter we saw how knowledge was obtained concerning the termination of the twenty-three-hundred-day period, and that it extended to the “hour of his judgment.”  In the parable here introduced we are brought to the Lord’s time for this parable and the “judgment” 

¹ Matt. 24:32-35. ² Rom. 10:14, 15.

94

message to be proclaimed to the world. After speaking of the great “tribulation” which was to come upon his people which should be “shortened,” the Saviour said, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven.”³

Mark, it does not say of the last sign mentioned that it is a sign of his coming; but a sign that the Son of man is there, is seen coming.  The events given in this text as signs on which to base faith in his near coming, are the signs in the sun, moon and stars.  The other events which follow take place in connection with his actual coming in the clouds of heaven. So immediately after the third of these signs-the one in the stars-comes the Lord’s time to raise up his teachers to teach that Christ’s coming is at the doors.

Now as to the time of the appearance of these signs: It was to be immediately after the tribulation that the sun was to be darkened.⁴  As Mark records, it was to be “in those days, after that tribulation.”⁵  Our Saviour had said that the days should be shortened. By the decree of Maria Theresa, and the Acts of Toleration from 1773 to 1776, the rage of persecution against the church was shortened.  Although the persecuting power retained control of the civil arm until 1798, its persecutions were closed about 1773. Comparing the statements of the Saviour would place the first of these signs between 1773 and 1798.

The Dark Day and Night

On the 19th of May, 1780, the sun was supernaturally darkened.  It was no eclipse, as the moon had fulled the day before.  Notwithstanding this there was a darkness over all the northeastern portion of the United States from eleven o’clock in the morning until eleven o’clock at night.  On that occasion not only  was the sun darkened, but the moon refused

³ Matt. 24:29, 30. ⁴ Matt. 24:29. ⁵ Mark 13:24.

95

to reflect the light of the sun. It was a darkness that prevented the sun from shining on the disc of the moon.  And as expressed by Noah Webster, many years after, “No satisfactory reason has ever been assigned for this darkness.”

Of this dark day Herschel, the astronomer, said: “The Dark Day in North America was one of those wonderful phenomena of nature which will always be read of with interest, but which philosophy is at a loss to explain.”

Those describing the darkness of the night of May 19, 1780, said, notwithstanding there was a full moon, that “if every luminous body in the universe had been struck out of existence, the darkness could not have been more complete.”

The Falling Stars

The third of these signs, the falling of these stars, was fulfilled on the 13th November, 1833.  On that night, or rather from five hours previous to the day dawn, there was a meteoric shower com-pared by some to streams of fire coming down from heaven; by others, to sparks of fire flying off of some great piece of fire-works.  This phenomenon covered all North America, from the Gulf of Mexico on the south to Hudson’s Bay on the north, and from the Sandwich Islands on the west to within a few hundred miles of Liverpool on the east.  Wherever observed, it was the same continuous shower of stars, falling as thick as snowflakes in a snow-storm.

Concerning this star shower in 1833, we further quote from the Connecticut Observer of Nov. 25, 1833:-

“The editor of the Old Countryman makes a very serious matter of the ‘falling stars.’ He says, ‘We pronounce the rain of fire, which we saw on Wednesday morning last, an awful type, a sure forerunner, a merciful sign, of that great and dreadful day which the inhabitants of the earth will witness when the sixth seal shall be opened.  The time is just at hand, described not only in the New Testament, but in the Old Testament; and a more correct picture of a fig-tree casting its fruit 

96

when blown by a mighty wind, it was not possible to behold.”

Thomas Burnett’s Prediction

The people had been taught by those of former times to look for a literal fulfillment of this sign.  Thomas Burnett, in his “Theory of the Earth,” printed in London,

A.D. 1697 said of Matt. 24:29:-

“No doubt there will be all sorts of fiery meteors at that time; and amongst others those called falling stars, which, though they are not consider-able, singly, yet if they were multiplied in great numbers, falling, as the prophet says, as leaves from the vine or figs from the fig-tree, they would make an astonishing sight. . . .  We need not look upon these things as hyperbolical and poetic strains, but as barefaced prophecies, and things that will literally come to pass.”

Olmstead’s Testimony Professor

Professor Olmstead, of Yale College, Mass., who has been called “America’s greatest meteorologist,” said of the falling stars of Nov. 13, 1833:-

“The extent of the shower of 1833 was such as to cover no inconsiderable part of the earth’s surface, from the middle of the Atlantic on the east to the Pacific on the west; and from the northern coast of South America to undefined regions among the British possessions on the north. The exhibition of shooting stars was not only visible, but everywhere presented the same appearance.”

Of this display, which began about 11 P.M., Nov. 12, and continued until about 4

A.M. of the 13th, the professor says:-

“Those who were so fortunate as to witness the exhibition of shooting stars on the morning of Nov. 13, 1833, probably saw the greatest display of celestial fire-works that has ever been seen since the creation of the world, or at least within the annals covered by the pages of history.”

     97

Star Shower Seen Also in Europe

In a book published by Leonard Heinrich Kelber, in Stuttgart, Germany, in the year 1835, we learn that this sign was repeated on that side of the Atlantic, in the same month, but a few days later. He says:-

“On November 25, 1833, there was a fine display of falling stars on the continent of Europe,” and “in Minsterburg, Silesia, stars fell like a rain of fire.  With them fell balls of fire, making the night so light that the people thought that the houses near them must be on fire.

“At the same time in Prin, Austria, there was a falling of stars that covered a space of over five hundred square miles.  It was described by some as like streams of fire coming down from heaven.  Some called it a rain of fire.  Horses were frightened by it, and fell to the ground. Many people were made sick through fear.”

Application of the Parable

Coming down in this line of prophecy past the fulfillment of the third sign,-the falling of the stars, -our Saviour says, “Now learn a parable of the fig-tree.”  This language does not apply to the generation that was living when our Lord gave this discourse, but to the generation that was to see these things fulfilled-not fulfilling, but fulfilled.  The things to be fulfilled as tokens that Christ is at the door do not include the shaking of the heavens when he will be seen actually coming.  These signs of his near coming include this third sign, the one in the stars.  The Lord’s appointed time for the people to learn a parable of the fig-tree dates this side of 1833.  Here is the Lord’s time for the world to be aroused to the great truth that his coming is at the doors, and that  his coming will be before the generation who hear that parable shall pass away.  So we see how the time is marked out in this prophecy when the great advent proclamation should be given to the world.

     98

A World-wide Proclamation

In fulfillment of this prediction we find that right then and there in 1833, the Lord was raising up his messengers or ministers in various parts of the world, who from 1833 to 1834 sounded the cry of Christ’s coming near, “even at the doors;” and these taught the parable of the fig-tree, pointing to these signs of his coming, even as he had instructed them to do.  This message, either by the living teacher or through the agency of the printed page, went to every missionary station in the world, and to every seaport on the earth.

The extent of the message has been plainly set forth by the editor of the Voice of Truth, of Rochester, N.Y., in an issue of January, 1845:-

“The everlasting gospel, as described in Rev. 14:6, 7, has been preached to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people; saying with a loud voice, ‘Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.’  No case can be more clearly substantiated with facts than that this message has been borne to every nation and tongue under heaven, within a very few years past, in the preaching of the coming of Christ in 1843 [1843, Jewish time-our time, 1844], or near at hand.  Through the medium of lectures and publications, the sound has gone into all the earth, and the words to the end of the world.”

Some people, unacquainted with the facts, have looked upon the second advent movement as limited to a certain locality, supposing it a work connected with William Miller and a few hundred ministers associated with him in the northern portion of the United States. To such it may be a surprise to learn that the movement in America, in which Elders Miller and Himes were prominent leaders, was but a small part of a great movement that, as stated above, went “to the ends of the earth.”

     99

HOW THE MOVEMENT STARTED IN VARIOUS NATIONS

The Lord’s time came for this proclamation to go forth to the world, and in a score or more of different parts of the earth, at about the same time, men were raised up, who, without a knowledge of one another’s work, went forth to sound this message to all parts of the earth. Those mentioned in chapter IV, who received the light respecting the close of the twenty-three hundred days, with one exception,-A. Camp-bell,-were moved upon to engage in the proclamation of the first angel’s message of Revelation 14; this also by direct agency of the Spirit of God, and not by communicating the light to one another.

Compared with the Reformation

If we apply the same rule to this movement that D’Aubigne‚ applied to the rise of the great Reformation of the sixteenth century, it must surely be counted as the Lord’s message and in the Lord’s time.  Of that Reformation as a whole the historian said:-

“Germany did not communicate the truth to Switzerland, nor Switzerland to France, nor France to England.  All these countries received it from God, just as one part of the world does not transmit the light to another part; but the same shining globe communicates it directly to all the earth. Christ, the day spring from on high, infinitely exalted above all mankind, was, at the period of the Reformation, as at the establishment of Christianity, the divine fire which gave life to the world.  In the sixteenth century, one and the same doctrine was at once established in the homes and churches of the most distant and diversified nations.  The reason is, that the same Spirit was everywhere at work producing the same faith.

“The Reformation of Germany and that of Switzerland demonstrate this truth. Zwingle had no intercourse with Luther. There was, no doubt, a link between these two

100

men; but we must search for it above the earth.  He who from heaven gave the truth to Luther, gave it to Zwingle. God was the medium of communication between them.  ‘I began to preach the gospel,’ says Zwingle, ‘in the year of grace 1516, in other words, at a time when the name of Luther had never been heard of in our country.  I did not learn the doctrine of Christ from Luther, but from the word of God.  If Luther preaches Christ, he does what I do; that is all.’ “⁶

Speaking of the work of Farel and Lefevre in France, the historian says:-

“The Reformation in France, therefore, was not a foreign importation.  It had its birth on the French soil; it germinated in Paris; it had its first roots in the university itself, which formed the second power in Roman Christendom.  God placed the principles of the work in the honest hearts of men of Picardy and Dauphiny before its commencement in any other country.

“We have seen that the Swiss Reformation was independent of the German Reformation.  The French Reformation was in its turn independent of both.  The work began at once in these different countries, without any communication with each other; as, in a battle, all the different forces comprising the army move at the same instant, though the one does not tell the other to march, because one and the same command, proceeding from the same Commander-in-Chief, is heard by all.  The time was accomplished, the people were prepared, and God began the Reformation of his church in all countries at once. Such facts demonstrate that the great Reformation of the sixteenth century was a divine work.”⁷

Of the Reformation in England, under Thos. Bilney, Fryth, Tyndale, and others, D’Aubign‚ further says:-

“The Reformation of England commenced, therefore, independently of Luther and Zwingle, holding solely from

⁶ History of the Reformation, Book viii, chap. i, pars. ii, iii.  ⁷ Ibid., Book xii, chap. iii, par. x.

101

God. There was in all these countries of Christendom a simultaneous action of the divine word. The origin of the Reformation at Oxford, Cambridge, London, was the Greek New Testament published by Erasmus.  [Tyndale and Thomas Bilney quitted Cambridge in the year 1519.]  There came a day when England was proud of this high origin of the Reformation.”⁸

The advent proclamation arose in a similar manner to that above traced in the Reformation.  Men were moved out simultaneously in more than four times as many parts of the world, with no knowledge of, or any communication of sentiment with, one another, and began the proclamation of the same Scripture truths, not simply in four nations of the earth, but to the whole civilized world.

Joseph Wolff’s Labors

It may be well at this point to call attention to facts respecting the extent of the advent proclamation:- 

“In 1831 Joseph Wolff, D.D., was sent as a missionary from Great Britain to labor among the Jews of Palestine.  He, according to his journals, down to the year 1845, proclaimed the Lord’s speedy advent in Palestine, Egypt, on the shores of the Red Sea, Mesopotamia, the Crimea, Persia, Georgia, throughout the Ottoman Empire, in Greece, Arabia, Turkey, Bokhara, Afghanistan, Cashmere, Hindostan, Thibet, in Holland, Scotland, Ireland, at Constantinople, Jerusalem, St. Helena, also on shipboard in the Mediterranean, and in New York City, to all denominations.  He declares that he has preached among Jews, Turks, Mohammedans, Parsees, Hindoos, Chaldeans, Yesedes, Syrians, Sabeans, to pashas sheiks, shahs, the kings of Organtsh and Bokhara, the queen of Greece, etc.”⁹

In Yemen, the region inhabited by the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ father-in­law, Joseph Wolff saw a book of which he thus speaks: “The Arabs of this place have a book ⁸ History of the Reformation, Book xviii, chap. ii, par. xii.  ⁹ Voice of the Church, p. 343.

102

called ‘Seera,’ which treats of ‘The Second Coming of Christ, and His Reign in Glory!’

_“10

In Yemen he spent six days with the Rechabites, of whom he says:  “They drink no wine, plant no vineyards, sow no seed, live in tents, and remember the words of Jonadab the son of Rechab. With them were children of Israel, of the tribe of Dan, who reside near Terim in Hatramawt, who expect, in common with the children of Rechab, the speedy arrival of the Messiah in the clouds of heaven.”

We see, from the above, that in those fourteen years, Wolff himself had proclaimed the news of Christ’s coming at the doors, in more than twenty different nations. During the same time the doctrine was extensively agitated in Germany, particularly in the South among the Moravians.

The Message in Germany and Russia

An English writer, Mourant Brock, informs us that “in W�rtemberg there was a Christian colony numbering hundreds, who looked for the speedy advent of Christ.”  The doctrine was proclaimed in other parts of Germany by Hengstenberg, at that time said to be the most talented theologian in Germany.

In the Review and Herald of Dec. 13, 1892, Pastor L. R. Conradi of Germany says:-

“Bengel, in Germany, kindled the love for the appearing of our Lord in many a heart, which led thou-sands to study the prophetic word as never before. . . .  The light shone in Germany, and publications showing the application of the twenty-three hundred days were circulated there. A religious awakening followed, especially in W�rtemberg, and as persecu-tion arose, hundreds of families went to Southern Russia, and there spread it among their own countrymen who had moved there many years before.  As the pastors closed their churches, with very few exceptions they would hold their ‘stunden’ or ‘hour’ of meetings, in private houses, and hundreds were converted.  Even at that time the Sabbath was

¹⁰ Wolff’s Mission to Bokhara.

103

discussed among them, but no one making a start, it was smothered.  A Russian farmer was converted in the ‘stunden,’ and then began the same work among the Russians.  This finally led to the great ‘Stundist’ movement of the present day, whose influence extends to the most distant corner of Siberia and the Trans-Caucassus.”

In the Review and Herald of July 31, 1891, is a statement from Pastor Conradi respecting Brother Sch„che of Australia, who, at the time of which he speaks, was a resident of Silesia, and labored a part of the time in the interest of the home mission of Father Gosner, a noted German evangelist divine.  From Brother Sch„che he gives the following respecting Kelber’s book:-

“After 1836, or when Bengel’s Computation had expired, there appeared in the Schweidnitz county paper a notice from the bookstore of Mr. Sommerfeldt there, concerning a book from L. Henry Kelber, concerning the great and glad events which were to take place in the years 1843 and 1844.  The exact title of the book I do not remember.  We procured the said book, and read it with a number of interested persons, with locked doors, in the year 1839-40.  The book showed from Daniel, and the Revelation, and Matthew 24, that the end was at hand, and had also a table of computation showing how the above was reached.”

The Message in Great Britain

In an English publication entitled The Millennium, it is stated that “seven hundred ministers of the Church of England were raising the cry of the return of the Redeemer.”  Among some of the most talented ministers of the time were those who proclaimed the advent doctrine in England from 1840 to 1844.  Of these we will mention the names of Bickersteth, Birks, Brooks, Brock, Habershon, Plyn, Fremantle, Nathan Lord, McNeil, Winters, Cummings, J. A. McCaul, D.D., Dr. Nisbett, Rev. A. Dallas,

M.A. [in his book, Look to Jerusalem, page 114, he applies the parable of

104

Matthew 24 to this generation], Burgess, Routon, Gunner, Barker, Bonham, Dealtry, etc.

The Message in Holland

The doctrine of the second advent was proclaimed in Holland by Hentzepeter, said to have been at that time, the ablest minister in that country. He was keeper of the Royal Museum at The Hague, under the appointment of the king.  He says of himself, in a letter written to the editor of the Midnight Cry, in June, 1844, that his attention was first called to the subject by a very impressive dream.  He investigated the Scriptures on the subject, and in the year 1830 published a pamphlet setting forth the doctrine.  In 1841 he published another pamphlet on the end of the world.  In the same letter he says the first information he received in regard to William Miller and the others who were proclaiming publicly the doctrine of the near approach of Christ, was in 1842, by conversing with a man who had come to Holland from America.

The Message In Tartary

As early as 1821 the doctrine of the Lord’s coming was believed and taught in Tartary. About this time an Irish missionary was sent to that country, and a Tartar priest put the question to him, “When will Christ come the second time?”  He made answer that he knew nothing at all about it, whereupon the priest expressed great surprise at such an answer from a missionary who had come to teach them the doctrines of the Bible, and remarked that he thought “everybody might know that who had a Bible.”  The priest then gave his views, stating that he thought Christ would come about A.D. 1844.  This fact is found in the Irish Magazine, 1821.

The Message in America, India, and on the Continent

In Advent Tracts, Vol. II, page 135, 1844, Mourant Brock of England says:- 

105

“It is not merely in Great Britain that the expectation of the near return of the Redeemer is entertained, and the voice of warning raised, but also in America, India, and on the continent of Europe. In America, about three hundred ministers of the word are thus preaching ‘this gospel of the kingdom;’ whilst in this country, about seven hundred of the Church of England are raising the same cry.”

To Every Seaport on Earth

E. R. Pinney, of Seneca Falls, N.Y., a devoted Baptist minister who gave his life to the proclamation of the advent doctrine, in his Exposition of Matthew 24, pages 8, 9, said:-

“As early as 1842, second advent publications had been  sent to every missionary  station in  Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, both sides of the Rocky Mountains. . . . The commanders of our vessels and the sailors tell us that they touch at no port where they find this proclamation has not preceded them, and frequent inquiries respecting it are made of them.”

Three Thousand Proclaiming the Message

Pastor G. W. Mitchel, of Zanesville, Ohio, another minister who himself proclaimed the doctrine, said to the writer in a conversation at Newark, Ohio, Aug. 8, 1894, that Elder William Miller told him, in a conversation at McConnellsville, Ohio, in September, 1844, that he had the “names and addresses of three thousand ministers in various parts of the globe who were proclaiming, ‘Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come,’ the greater portion of these being in North America and Great Britain.”

William Miller, in speaking of the extensive spread of this “cry,” said:-

“One or two in every quarter of the globe have proclaimed the news, and all agree in the time, -Wolff of Asia; Irving, late of England; Mason of Scotland; Davis of South

106

Carolina; and quite a number in this region, are, or have been, giving the cry.”¹¹

Hutchinson’s Voice of Elijah Sent Broadcast

Elder R. Hutchinson, in 1837, was sent from England as a Wesleyan missionary to Canada. He finally settled in Montreal. He had very extensive acquaintance in foreign countries. In the years 1843 and 1844 he published a paper called the Voice of Elijah, in which he treated of the advent doctrine.  Having ready access to vessels for foreign countries, and being privileged to send large parcels of his papers with no expense for postage, he sent them in great quantities to all parts of the earth.  He said of his own work, that he sent them freely to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, New Foundland, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France, Germany, Constantinople, Rome, and all parts of the British kingdom and its colonies.

In the Sandwich Islands

In the Midnight Cry of Oct. 12, 1843, was a letter from a Mrs. O. S. Burnham, of Kaloa, Isle of Kaui, Sandwich Islands.  She, with her husband, were school teachers at that place. They accepted, and were proclaiming, the advent doctrine there, and a company of believers was worshiping with them on the islands.

The Message Compared with that of John the Baptist

Thus we see that the advent doctrine was proclaimed to an extent quite sufficient to fulfil the scripture predictions concerning it.

The message which was to herald the first advent of Christ was stated by the prophet Isaiah in these words: “The voice of him that crieth in  the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made 

¹¹ William Miller’s Lectures, p. 238, 1843.

107

low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.”¹²  This prophecy was accomplished in the labors of “John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”¹³

This man, alone, during six months of labor in the one country of Judea, fulfilled this wonderful prediction.  While this prophecy limited John’s work as to time and place, it is not so with those prophecies which relate to the heralding of the second advent, for the work was to be with a “loud cry,” world wide in its extent.

Thus it is seen, in the light of the facts present, how accurately prophecy concerning the advent message was fulfilled.  God’s time came for the parable of the fig-tree to be taught, for the first announcement of the first angel’s message to be given, and he raised up his messengers to herald the cry to all nations, peoples, and tongues.

¹² Isa. 40:3-5. ¹³ Matt. 3:1, 2.

 108

6. THE MESSAGE AND THE MESSENGERS

“Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”¹

“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.”²

Those who gave the advent proclamation claimed that this “vision” with its “appointed” time, mentioned by the prophet Habakkuk, included the visions of the prophecies of Daniel and the Revelator. These they made so plain in their delineations of them upon their prophetic charts, that he who read the interpretation could indeed “run” and impart the information to others.

A Definite Message

The proclamation by the Adventist people was not simply the announcement made by Paul before Felix, “Righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come;” nor was it the statement made by Martin Luther, after having completed the translation of the Bible, when, a short time before his death, 

¹ Hab. 2:2, 3. ² Rev. 14:6, 7.

109

he is reported to have said, “I am persuaded that the judgment is not far off; yea, that the Lord himself will not be absent above three hundred years longer.”  Neither was it the statement made by John Wesley, when he said he “thought the millennium might commence in about one hundred years.” The Adventists claimed to be giving the message symbolized in Rev. 14:6, 7, “The hour of his judgment is come,” and the cry of Rev. 10:6, “Time shall be no longer.”  Such a prophecy could not be accomplished by an announcement of an event that was “to come,” coming “in three hundred years,” or “in one hundred years,” but in definite time, “is come.”  Just such a message, with just such definiteness as that demanded by the above prophecies, was heralded by the Adventist people to the whole world.

The Judgment at Christ’s Coming

At the time this message was first announced, every Christian denomination held that the judgment would take place at the second coming of Christ.  So a people under those circumstances, giving the message of the hour of judgment come, while holding that view, would necessarily proclaim the second coming of Christ.  In fact, that which gave force to the message, and most mightily moved the people, was the proclamation of definite time.  First they claimed that the end of the world would come some time during the “Jewish year” 1843, and that this was embraced in the time between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844. After this time passed by, we learn in the Midnight Cry of the year 1844 that the definite day was fixed upon for the termination of the prophetic times.  This was the tenth day of the seventh Jewish month, corresponding to Oct. 22, 1844.

Reckoning of the 2300 Days

The basis of the time-1843-was the twenty-three hundred days of Daniel 8.  It was claimed that as  these “days” were connected with prophecies where  beasts were

110

chosen to represent kingdoms, “days” must be used symbolically to represent years, according to the Lord’s interpretation of symbolic time, as given in Num. 14:34 and Eze. 4:5, 6; that the seventy weeks-490 days-of Daniel 9 were to be the first part of the twenty-three hundred days, and that the two periods began together.  The event given in Daniel 9, which marked the beginning of the seventy weeks, was the “going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem.”  That commandment went forth in the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, 457 B.C., as recorded in Ezra 7.

That this was the true date for the beginning of the seventy weeks was demonstrated by the fact that in just sixty-nine weeks-483 years-from 457 B.C., or in A.D. 27, Christ was baptized by John and entered upon his ministry, saying, “The time is fulfilled,”³ etc. The opening of the ministry of Christ, A.D. 27, his crucifixion three and one-half years from that date, “in the midst [middle] of the [seventieth] week,” the close of the special work among the Jews, A.D. 34, and the speedy conversion of Saul, the apostle to the Gentiles, proved that the seventy weeks did terminate at that date, and therefore that they began B.C. 457. They figured the matter out thus: From 2300 take 457, and there remains 1843.  And as the 457 years were before Christ, we are brought for the close of the 2300 days to the close of 1843.

Admissions of Opponents

It has been truthfully said that “admissions in favor of truth from the ranks of its opponents furnish the highest kind of evidence.”  None of the opponents of the advent message ever intimated that the investigative judgment of the Lord’s people was an event to take place before Christ’s coming; but reasoned on this point in harmony with the Adventists. As proof of this statement we quote from two prominent opponents.

Mr. N. Colver, preaching in Marlboro Street Chapel, Boston, in 1842, in opposition to Adventists, said:-

³ Mark 1:14, 15.

 111

“If these days are years, the world will end in 1843; any school boy can see it; for if 490 terminated at the death of Christ, the 2300 days would terminate in 1843; and the world must end, unless it can be shown that some other event is to take place, and I do not see how that can be done.”

Professor Stuart, about the same time, said: “It is a singular fact that the great mass of interpreters in the English and American world have, for many years, been wont to understand the days designated in Daniel and the Apocalypse as the representation, or symbols, of years.  I have found it difficult to trace the origin of this general, I might say almost universal, custom.”

Professor Bush’s Testimony

Professor Bush said: “Whoever attacks Mr. Miller on his point of time, attacks him on his strongest point.  His time is right; but he is mistaken in the event to occur.” Bush was a believer in the conversion of the whole world before the coming of Christ. His theory was that the millennium would begin in 1844.

The ministers of the advent faith taught in their public discourses that the world’s history showed the various nations to be in just the condition symbolized by the image of Daniel 2, when the stone was to smite the image on the feet, and the God of heaven set up his kingdom; and in chapter 7, when “the kingdom and dominion and greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the saints of the Most High.”  They also called attention to the fact that the signs-physical, political, and moral-were just what the Scriptures foretold would be seen when the Lord was about to appear.

Wonders in the Heavens

The Lord through the prophet Joel says: “I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.  The sun shall be turned

112

into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.”4  The Adventists believed and taught that the aurora borealis of the last centuries (commonly called northern lights) was the “fire and pillars of smoke” that meets the specification of the prophet; and from the best information to be obtained from history (we refer to the Edinburg Encyclopedia as testimony), it had rarely been seen previous to this period.

So, while the message of the Lord’s speedy coming was going to the remotest parts of the earth, signs were hung out in the heavens which gave edge to the truth, and arrested the attention of the people.

On Jan. 25, 1837, there was a most magnificent display of the fiery aurora borealis, which seemed to  lead the minds of many directly to the prophet Joel’s prediction of what was to precede the great day of the Lord.  The following description of the scene is from the New York Commercial Advertiser of Oct. 22, 1839.  It agrees exactly with the scene as the writer witnessed it in Victor, Ontario County, N.Y.

The Fiery Aurora of 1837

“On the evening of Jan. 25, 1837, there was a remarkable exhibition of the same phenomena [meaning the aurora borealis] in various parts of the country, as our readers will doubtless recollect.  Where the ground was covered with snow, the sight was grand and ‘fearful’ in a most unprecedented manner.  In one place, situated near a mountain, the people who witnessed the scene, informed us that it resembled ‘waves of fire rolling down the mountain,’ and generally, so far as learned, the snow covering the ground appeared like fire mingled with blood, while above (as the apostle  says), ‘the heavens being on fire,’ resembled so much the prophetic description of the last day that many were amazed; the children beholding it were affrighted, and 

⁴ Joel 2:30, 31.

113

inquired if it were the coming of the judgment; and even the animals trembled with much manifest alarm.”

It was not alone in America that this sign of the prophet Joel was displayed, but as the doctrine of the Lord’s coming was gaining publicity in Great Britain, the same sign was hung out in the heavens in that country.  The New York Commercial Advertiser of Oct. 22, 1839, quotes the following from London papers concerning a remarkable phenomenon witnessed in that country on the night of September 3:-

The Aurora of 1839

“LONDON, SEPT. 5 [1839].-Between the hours of ten on Thursday night and three yesterday morning, in the heavens was observed one of the most magnificent specimens of these extraordinary phenomena, the falling stars and northern lights, witnessed for many years past.  The first indication of this singular phenomenon was ten minutes before ten, when a light crimson, apparently vapor, rose from the northern portion of the hemisphere, and gradually extended to the center of the heavens, and by ten o’clock or a quarter past, the whole, from east to west, was one vast sheet of light.  It had a most alarming appearance, and was exactly like that occasioned by a terrific fire. The light varied considerable; at one time it seemed to fall, and directly after rose with intense brightness. There were to be seen mingled with it volumes of smoke, which rolled over and over, and every beholder seemed convinced that it was ‘a tremendous conflagration.’

“The consternation of the metropolis was very great; thousands of persons were running in the direction of the supposed awful catastrophe.  The engines  belonging to the fire brigade stations in Baker Street, Farringdon Street, Watling Street, Waterloo Road, and likewise those belonging to the west of London stations-in fact, every fire engine in London, was horsed and galloped after the supposed ‘scene of destruction’ with more than ordinary energy, followed

114

by carriages, horsemen, and vast mobs.  Some of the engines proceeded as far as High Gate and Halloway [about four miles] before the error was discovered.  These appearances lasted for upwards of two hours, and toward morning the spectacle became one of grandeur.

“At two o’clock in the morning the phenomenon presented a most gorgeous scene, and one very difficult to describe. The whole of London was illuminated as light as noon-day, and the atmosphere was remarkably clear.  The southern hemisphere, at the time mentioned, though unclouded, was very dark; but the stars, which were innumerable, shone beautifully. The opposite side of the heavens presented a singular but magnificent contrast; it was clear to extreme, and the light was very vivid; there was a continual succession of meteors, which varied in splendor-they appeared formed in the center of the heavens, and spread till they seemed to burst.  The effect was electrical. Myriads of small stars shot out over the horizon, and darted with such swiftness toward the earth that the eye could scarcely follow the track; they seemed to burst also, and throw a dark crimson vapor over the entire hemisphere.  The colors were most magnificent.

“At half past two o’clock the spectacle changed to darkness, which, on dispersing, displayed a luminous rainbow in the zenith of the heavens, and round the ridge of darkness that overhung the southern portion of the country.  Soon afterward columns of silvery light radiated from it.  They increased wonderfully, intermingled among crimson vapor which formed at the same time, and when at full height the spectacle was beyond all imagination.  Stars were darting about in all directions, and continued until four o’clock, when all died away.”

Strange Appearances in the Sun

While the living preachers were setting forth the truth of the Lord’s coming, many and varied wonders in the heavens were seen in various parts 

115

of the world. Of these our space will permit only the representation of the appearance of the sun in Norwich, England, in December, 1843.  A similar one occurred in New Haven, Conn., Sept. 9, 1844, for two hours before and after noon, and was witnessed by thousands of people.

**** Picture Here*****

STRANGE APPEARANCE OF THE SUN.

The small inner circle represents the sun.  It was of a light orange hue.  The outer part of the two circles at unequal distances from and surrounding the sun, appeared of the same hue; but the inner part of

these circles was a deep yellow, the sky within those circles appearing of a dusky brown color, and the
three large circles passing through and below the sun, appeared as of distinct bright light.
*****

 

Of the occurrence in England we read, in a letter from E. Lloyd, London, Jan. 3, 1844, as follows:-

“There has been a remarkable ‘sign in the sun,’ seen by the principal citizens of Norwich and the surrounding country, such as has never been seen in England before.  It was seen in December last, about 12 o’clock at noon, and continued for two hours.  It very much alarmed the inhabitants.  It occurred  just before Brethren Winter, Burgess, and Routon

116

opened their mission in that city.  It seemed to prepare the way for the truth, so that they met with good success there.”

The account of the phenomenon as it occurred in New Haven, Conn., is given in the Midnight Cry of Oct. 10, 1844, and was taken from the New Haven Palladium of Sept. 10, 1844. In the account in the Cry the editor says, “No philosopher has been able to give an explanation of the cause of this phenomenon which satisfies himself.”

An account of this sight which appeared in connection with the sun in New Haven, Conn., Sept. 9, 1844, was also published in the Hartford Courant of Sept. 12, 1844, and reads as follows:-

“The rings around the sun on Monday, Sept. 9, 1844, for two hours before and after midday, appear to have been generally observed by our citizens with much interest, and have awakened an intelligent curiosity to learn more respecting appearances of the same kind and their cause.

“The present halo was remarkable for its duration, and afforded favorable opportunities for observation. About midday it consisted chiefly of two complete rings, one about forty-five degrees in breadth, encircling the sun at its center, and the other about seventy-two degrees broad, having its center in the zenith, while its circumference passed through the sun.  The smaller circle was accompanied by an ellipse of the major axis, and of small eccentricity.  Directly opposite the sun, and thirty-six degrees north of the zenith, the large circle was intersected by two other circles of nearly or quite the same diameter, forming at the point of intersection a bright spot, such as would naturally result from the combined light of three luminous rings.  The ring that encircled the sun exhibited the colors of the rainbow, frequently with much vividness and beauty.  The other rings were white and fainter, as they were more distant from the sun.  Small portions of circles, however, with prismatic [rainbow] hues, appeared at different times, both in the east and west. . . . Such uniformity of structure must depend on some law which regulates

117

the formation of halos; but the nature of the law is not fully developed. . . .  Not much difficulty has been experienced in accounting for the production of the ring that encircles the sun, since the cause is somewhat similar to that which produces the rainbow, but to explain the origin of the ring which has its circumference in the sun’s center, has been found more difficult.”

Wonders Fulfilling Scripture Predictions

Of the use that was made, both in England and America, of these wonders seen in the heavens, we may learn by reading from the Exposition of the Twenty-fourth of Matthew, by Sylvester Bliss, published in Boston in 1843.  After quoting some of the above accounts, he says:-

“Thus the ‘great signs’ and ‘fearful sights’ that are predicted in the Scriptures of truth, seem to be all fulfilled, as well as those which the Saviour declared should precede his coming. 

“As sure as the leaving out of the trees is an indication of summer, just so sure, on the fulfillment of these signs, are Christians to know that the coming of Christ is near, even at the doors. It is not a mere permission to know it, but our Saviour commands them to know it.”⁵

THE MESSENGERS

Having called attention to some of the leading features of the second advent message, as first proclaimed, it may be of interest to notice a few of those who acted a prominent part in the great proclamation.  We have already given the names of many who were among the most talented ministers of that time in foreign lands who gave the cry. As we call attention to some of those who led out in America, upon whom the Lord laid the burden of the work, it will serve to illustrate still further that the Lord’s hand was indeed in the movement.

⁵ Exposition of the Twenty-Fourth of Matthew, pp. 49-60. S. Bliss, Boston, Mass., 1843.

118

William Miller

First we will note the case of William Miller, who was so prominent in the advent movement in the United States that with many the movement is only known as “Millerism.” 

William Miller was born in Pittsfield, Mass., in February, 1782.  In his early childhood, marks of more than ordinary intellectual strength and activity were manifested. A few years made these marks more and more noticeable to all who were in his society. He possessed a strong physical constitution, an active and naturally well-developed intellect, an irreproachable moral character.  He had enjoyed the limited advantages of the district school but a few years before it was generally admitted that his attainments exceeded those of the teachers usually employed.

Mr. Miller married in 1802, and settled in Poultney, Vt.  The men with whom he associated from the time of his removal to Poultney, and to whom he was considerably indebted for his worldly favors, were deeply affected with skeptical principles and deistic theories. They were not immoral men, but as a class were good citizens, and generally of serious deportment, humane, and benevolent.  However, they rejected the Bible as the standard of religious truth, and endeavored to make its rejection plausible with such aid as could be obtained from the writings of Voltaire, Hume, Volney, Paine, Ethan Allen, and others. Mr. Miller studied these works closely, and at length avowed himself a deist. He has stated himself that his deistical life covered a period of twelve years, beginning about 1804.

Receiving a captain’s commission, he entered the army in 1810.  On his return from the army, he moved his family to Low Hampton, N.Y., to begin there the occupation of farming in 1812.  As a farmer, he had more leisure for reading.  He found that his deistical views gave him no assurance of happiness beyond the present life. Beyond the grave all was dark and gloomy.  To use his own words: “Annihilation

119

was a cold and chilling thought, and accountability was sure destruction to all.  The heavens were as brass over my head, and the earth as iron under my feet.  Eternity! -what was it? And death!-why was it?  The more I reasoned, the further I was from demonstration.  The more I thought, the more scattered were my conclusions.  I tried to stop thinking, but my thoughts would not be controlled.  I was truly wretched, but did not understand the cause. . . . Soon after, suddenly the character of the Saviour was vividly impressed upon my mind.  It seemed there might be a being so good and compassionate as to himself atone for our transgressions, and thereby save us from suffering the penalty of sin. I immediately felt how lovely such a being must be; and imagined that I could cast myself into the arms of, and trust in the mercy of such an one.”

William Miller’s Conversion

He further said: “I saw that the Bible did bring to view just such a Saviour as I needed; and I was perplexed to find how an uninspired book should develop principles so perfectly adapted to the wants of a fallen world.  I was constrained to admit that the Scriptures must be revelation from God.  They became my delight; and in Jesus I found a friend. . . . The Bible now became my chief study, and I can truly say, I searched it with great delight. I found the half was never told me.  I wondered why I had not seen its beauty and glory before, and marveled that I could have ever rejected it.”

William Miller’s manner of studying the Bible is thus described by himself: “I determined to lay aside all my prepossessions, to thoroughly compare  scripture with scripture, and to pursue its study in a regular, methodical manner. . . . Whenever I found anything obscure, my practice was to compare it with all collateral passages; and, by the help of Cruden, I examined all the texts of scripture in which were found any of the prominent words contained in any obscure

120

portion. . . . In this way I pursued the study of the Bible, in my first perusal of it, for about two years, and was fully satisfied that it is its own interpreter.

“While thus studying, I became satisfied if the prophecies which have been fulfilled in the past are any criterion by which to judge of the manner of the fulfillment of those which are yet future, that the popular views of the spiritual reign of Christ-a temporal millennium before the end of the world, and the Jews’ return-are not sustained by the word of God. . . . I found it plainly taught in the Scriptures that Jesus Christ will again descend to this earth, coming in the clouds of heaven, in all the glory of his Father.

“I felt a delight in studying the Scriptures which I had not before supposed could be derived from its teachings.  I commenced their study with no expectation of finding the time of the Saviour’s coming, and I could at first hardly believe the result to which I had arrived; but the evidence struck me with such force that I could not resist my convictions. I became nearly settled in my conclusions, and began to wait, and watch, and pray for the Saviour’s coming.”

Again he says: “I believed; and immediately the duty to publish this doctrine, that the world might believe and get ready to meet the Judge and Bridegroom at his coming, was impressed upon my mind.  I need not here go into a detailed account of my long and sore trials.  Suffice it to say, that after a number of years I was compelled by the Spirit of God, the power of truth, and the love of souls, to take up my cross and proclaim these things to a dying and perishing world.”

Mr. Miller, like those moved out by this message in other countries, first thought to fulfil his commission by writing and publishing in the public journals and in pamphlets. He first published his views in the Vermont Telegraph, a Baptist paper, printed in Brandon, Vt. This was in the year 1831. He first spoke in public on the subject in the year 1832. He said of this meeting, “The Lord poured his

121

grace on the congregation, and many believed to the salvation of their souls.”

In 1836 his lectures were printed in some of the public journals of the day.  In the winter of 1837- 38 his lectures were issued in a pamphlet.  In 1838 a second pamphlet of 204 pages was printed, and in this pamphlet Mr. Miller stated that the Ottoman power might fall in the year 1839 or 1840.  His first lectures in any of the large cities were in the year 1836. He then spoke in the cities of Randolph, Lowell, Gratton, and Lynn, Mass.

Down to 1840 Mr. Miller stood almost alone as a public speaker on the theme of the near advent of Christ. In that year, suddenly, hundreds joined him in proclaiming the message.  What produced this great change will be noted in the following chapter.  In the winter of 1839-40 Mr. Miller gave a series of lectures in Exeter, N.H.  He there first met Elder J. V. Himes, who at that time accepted the faith, and from that date stood side by side with Elder Miller as publisher and ardent preacher of the great second advent message.

Joshua V. Himes

Concerning this earnest worker in this great movement we cannot do better than to quote from his biographer, who says:-

“Joshua V. Himes was born at Wickford, R.I., May 19, 1805.  His father was well known as a West India trader, and was prominent as a member of St. Paul’s Episcopal church in Wickford.  His mother possessed an amiable disposition, and a love for the Saviour, which she poured into the willing ears of her son.

“It had been the intention of the father to educate his son, Joshua, to the ministry of the church to which he belonged himself, but circumstances prevented it.  God had another work for that son to do, and he was ordering things in that way which should bring about the desired result.

122

In 1817 the father sent out a valuable cargo in charge of Captain Carter, with Alexander Stewart as supercargo. These men proved unfaithful, and having reached a West Indian port, sold both vessel and cargo, and fled. This event changed all the plans which had been made for the future of the young Joshua, who was to have been sent to Brown University, in Providence, R.I. Instead, in April, 1821, he was taken to New Bedford, Mass., and bound to William Knights to learn the cabinet-maker’s trade.

“Reaching his new home, he entered earnestly upon the work assigned him, determined to become a master at his trade.  He soon found, however, that his religious surroundings were not altogether to his taste.  He says, ‘My master was a Unitarian, and he took me to his church.  The Rev. Orville Dewey was the pastor.  He was a late convert from orthodoxy.  My training under Bishop Griswold and Rev. William Burge, rector of St. Paul’s, Wickford, and often hearing the eloquent Dr. Crocker of St. John’s, in Providence, R.I., quite unfitted me for accepting Mr. Dewey’s eloquent negations of the teachings of Christ and his apostles.’

“There being at that time no Episcopal church in New Bedford, he decided to attend the First Christian church [not Disciple] and subsequently united with that body. ‘Here,’ he says, ‘I found the open Bible and liberty of thought, and made good use of both.’ This church was under the pastoral care of Rev. Moses Howe.  Rev. Mr. Clough baptized Joshua V. Himes on Feb. 2, 1823.  With a heart burning with zeal for his Master, he began at once, at the age of eighteen years, to tell the story of the cross and to urge men to repent.  He says of himself:-

“ ‘I soon became an exhorter, and license was given me to improve my gift. . . .  I served out my apprenticeship with satisfaction, and received commendation.  But for five or six years I was in the habit of doing overwork and thus obtained one or two days in the week for study and missionary 

123

work in destitute neighborhoods, the fruits of which I gave to my pastor.’

“In 1825 he was commissioned as missionary of the conference of Christian churches in southern Massachusetts.  ‘There was no plan or means for the support of missionaries,’ says Elder Himes, ‘and I resolved to enter into business for my support, and preach what I could.’

“In 1828 he left New Bedford, not with misgivings or lack of energy, but with a determination that was bound to win, going to Plymouth, where he preached God’s word in school-houses, in improvised rooms, and wherever he could get a hearing.  In 1829 he prosecuted the same character of work at Fall River until 1830, when he moved to Boston as pastor of the First and Second Christian churches; and here he remained for thirty-three years.  In 1839 he became a convert to the Advent cause, as expounded by the famous Elder William Miller.  He entered the new cause with all the enthusiasm he possessed, and his ministrations were full of fire and power.  In 1840, he began the publication of the Signs of the Times, advocating the cause into which he had thrown his whole heart. All his money, all his labor, all his energy were thrown into the lap of this cause, and thousands of converts were won.”

The United Labors of Miller and Himes

From 1840 to the autumn of 1844 the labors of Elders Miller and Himes were largely united as they went from city to city, in the summer with their mammoth tent, in the winter in churches and public halls.  The great physical force of Elder Himes preserved him till he entered his ninety-second year.  His faculties of mind were vigorous to the last. In the year 1894, Sept. 28, he gave a most stirring discourse to a congregation of over three thousand Seventh-day Adventists on the camp-ground in Lansing, Michigan. He seemed to speak with much of the earnestness and vigor of olden days.  This was truly marvelous for a man who was

124

three months into his ninety-first year, and who was suffering with an incurable malady from which he died the following year.

Elders Miller and Himes, stood, as it were, in the “fore front of the battle” in the second advent move-ment in America, and were only two among scores who labored with them in proclaiming the doctrine of the advent of Christ, whose leading characteristics were firmness of purpose and sterling integrity.  These men were largely of that class called by the world “self-made men,”-men who had developed by contact with the stern realities of life, who had learned to decide upon the merits of a cause from principle and not from policy.  They were of the character of those who Elder Miller said usually accepted the message from the churches, “the most pious, devoted, and living members.”  This fact was confirmed by the ministers of the various churches, who said, after the final separation of the Adventists from them, “It [the doctrine] has taken the cream of our flock.”

Other Prominent Adventist Preachers

It may be of interest to mention by name some of the men who acted a prominent part with Elder Miller and Himes in the movement of those early times.  First to head the list is Charles Fitch, of Cleveland, Ohio, who in 1842 suggested the idea of having charts to illustrate the visions of Daniel and the Revelation.  The origin of the thought was based upon Habakkuk 2:2, 3. The death of Charles Fitch occurred Oct. 10, 1844.

Dr. Josiah Litch, of Philadelphia, who, as we shall see in the following chapter, was moved upon by the Lord to proclaim a truth that in its fulfillment caused the sudden and rapid development of interest in the advent message.  

Elon Galusha, of Lockport, N.Y., a noted Baptist minister, whose writings and ministrations on the subject of the Lord’s near coming made a great stir in that denomination. 

125

E. R. Pinney, of Seneca Falls, N.Y., another devoted minister of the Baptist church whose ministry and writings were a power in the work.  He could well be called “The salt of the earth.”

Geo. Storrs, of New York City, who previous to his conversion to the advent doctrine was a prominent revivalist.  His writings exerted a mighty influence in moving the people to a greater consecration of self and substance to the work; especially was this the case in the closing weeks of the twenty-three hundred days.  It was he, who, after the disappointment, brought to the consideration of the Adventist the state of the dead, and future punishment.  

Elder Stockman, of Portland, Maine, was another earnest worker in William Miller’s revivals in that city.  His death occurred a few weeks before the close of the Jewish year 1843, while the Adventist people were hoping and expecting the Lord would come at that time.⁶

There were other men of prominence that for lack of space we will merely mention, such as N. N. Whiting, who made a translation of the New Testament into English, known as Whiting’s Translation;  S. S. Snow, F. G. Brown, Appollos Hale, L. D. Mansfield, Geo. Needham, O. R. Fassett; George, Wesley, and Edwin Burnham (three brothers), all efficient workers in the message.

⁶ It can readily be seen, as represented in Early Writings, page 17, why Elders Fitch and Stockman were anxious to know what had happened since they fell asleep.