of the seventh-month movement, one from the “Advent Shield,” published
January, 1845. And let it be borne in mind that the “Shield” was a
standard work, of 440 pages, for all Adventists at that time, and that
the following testimony from it was not published till about three
months after the seventh-month movement, when Adventists had taken time
to review the past, and settle, as was supposed, upon a firm, united
position.
“It produced everywhere the most deep searching of heart and
humiliation of soul before the God of high Heaven. It caused a
weaning of affections from the things of this world, a healing of the
controversies and animosities, a confession of wrongs, a breaking down
before God, and penitent, broken-hearted supplications to him for
pardon and acceptance. It caused self-abasement and prostration of
soul, such as we never before witnessed. As God, by Joel, commanded,
when the great day of God should be at hand, it produced a rending of
hearts and not of garments, and a turning unto the Lord with fasting,
and weeping, and mourning. As God said by Zechariah, a spirit of grace
and supplication was poured out upon his children; they looked to him
whom they had pierced, there was a great mourning in the land, every
family apart and their wives apart, and those who were looking for the
Lord afflicted their souls before him. Such was its effect upon the
children of God.
“While none could deny the possibility of the Lord’s then coming, and
as the fulfillment of some of the types chronologically at Christ’s
first advent rendered it highly probable that those which typified the
second advent, would also be chronologically fulfilled, so general an
awakening, and with such blessed fruits, could not but impress many
minds; and those who were not convinced of the soundness of the typical
argument, were led to regard it as a fulfillment of the parable of
the ten virgins, in the twenty-fifth of Matthew,--as their arising to
trim their lamps, after having gone forth to meet the Bridegroom, and
slumbering while he tarried; so that the definite time was finally
embraced by nearly all of the Advent faith. So universal a movement
among those who a short time before were comparatively asleep on this
question, could not be unnoticed by the world.
“The wicked, consequently, flocked to the various places of meeting,
some out of idle curiosity to hear, others out of concern for their
spiritual interests, and others still to scoff at solemn things. Those
who believed they should so shortly stand in their Saviour’s presence,
and whose works corresponded with their faith, could not but feel a
nearness of access to God, and sweet communion with him; and the souls
of such were greatly blessed. With a realizing sense of such a nearness
of the greatest of all events, as we came up to that point of time,
all other unnecessary cares were laid aside, and the whole soul was
devoted to a preparation for the great event. God being more ready to
give than we are to receive, does not permit any thus to plead in vain;
and his Holy Spirit came down like copious showers upon the parched
earth. It was then evident that there was faith upon the earth, such
faith as is ever ready to act in accordance with what the soul believes
that God has spoken; such faith as would, in obedience to a supposed
command, bid all the pleasures of this world adieu, having respect to
the recompense of reward. Such was a faith like that of Abraham’s when,
at the command of God, he went out, ‘not knowing whither he went,’
nor withheld his only son; and here were those all ready to join the
multitude, who through faith will inherit the promises.”
THE PASSING OF THE TIME.
The tenth day of the seventh month of the Jewish year 1844, came and
passed, and left impressions upon the minds of believers not easily
effaced; and although a quarter of a century has passed since that
memorable period, yet that work has not lost its interest and force
upon the minds of those who participated in it. Even now, when one
who shared in that blessed work, and who feels its hallowed influence
rekindling upon his mind--if in obedience to the injunction of the
apostle when he says, “Call to remembrance the former days in which,
after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions,
partly whilst ye were made a gazing stock, both by reproaches and
afflictions, and partly whilst ye became companions of them that were
so used”--shall speak of that solemn work, of that consecration of
all, made in full view of eternal scenes, and of that sweet peace and
holy joy which filled the minds of the waiting ones, his words will not
fail to touch the feelings of all who shared the blessings of that work
and have held fast.
And those who participated in that movement are not the only ones who
can now go back in their experience, and feast upon the faith-reviving,
soul-inspiring realities of the past. Those who have since embraced
the Advent faith and hope, and who have seen in the three messages,
of Revelation xiv, the past consecration and blessedness, the present
work of preparation, and the future glory, may go back with us to
the autumn of 1844, and with us share the rekindling of the heavenly
illumination. Was that our Jerusalem, where we waited for, and enjoyed,
the outpouring of the Holy Spirit? Then as all Christians, as well as
Christ’s first disciples who were present on the occasion, have looked
back to the day of Pentecost with pleasure and profit, so may these who
have embraced the doctrine of the Second Advent since the memorable
seventh-month movement, look back to that period with all that interest
those can who participated in it.
The impressions made and left upon the minds of believers were deep and
lasting. However far one has since departed from God and his truth,
there still remains upon the soul of the apostate traces of the work.
Let him hear the subject afresh; let the simple facts be again brought
before his mind, and he will feel upon this subject as he can feel upon
no other. And those who took part in that work, who are far backslidden
from God, yet cherish regard for the word of God and Christian
experience, will yet feel deeply over this subject, and the faith of
many of them will be resurrected to new life. God grant that these
pages may prove a blessing to many such.
The disappointment at the passing of the time was a bitter one. True
believers had given up all for Christ, and had shared his presence as
never before. They had, as they supposed, given their last warning
to the world, and had separated themselves, more or less, from the
unbelieving, scoffing multitude. And with the divine blessing upon
them, they felt more like associating with their soon-expected Master
and the holy angels, than with those from whom they had separated
themselves. The love of Jesus filled every soul, and beamed from
every face, and with inexpressible desires they prayed, “Come Lord
Jesus, and come quickly.” But he did not come. And now to turn again
to the cares, perplexities, and dangers of life, in full view of the
jeers and revilings of unbelievers who now scoffed as never before,
was a terrible trial of faith and patience. When Elder Himes visited
Portland, Me., a few days after the passing of the time, and stated
that the brethren should prepare for another cold winter, my feelings
were almost uncontrollable. I left the place of meeting and wept like a
child.
But God did not forsake his people. His Spirit upon them still abode,
with all who did not rashly deny and denounce the good work in the
Advent movement up to that time. And with especial force and comfort
did such passages as the following, to the Hebrews, come home to the
minds and hearts of the tried, waiting ones: “Cast not away therefore
your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have
need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might
receive the promise. For yet a little while, and He that shall come
will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; but
if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are
not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to
the saving of the soul.” Chap. x, 35-39. The points of interest in this
portion of Scripture are--
1. Those addressed are in danger of casting away their confidence in
that in which they had done right.
2. They had done the will of God, and were brought into that state of
trial where patience was necessary.
3. The just at this time are to live by faith, not by doubting whether
they had done the will of God, but faith, in that in which they had
done the will of God.
4. Those who should not endure the trial of faith, but should cast away
their confidence in the work in which they did the will of God, and
draw back, would take the direct road to perdition.
But why apply all this to the subject of the second advent? Answer:
Because Paul applies it there. His words, in the very center of the
foregoing quotation from his epistle to the Hebrews, forbid any other
application: “For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come,
and will not tarry.” No one will for a moment question that the second
advent is the subject upon which the apostle treats. The peculiar
situation of those who should be looking for the second appearing of
Jesus, is the burden of his exhortation. And how wonderfully applicable
to those who were sadly disappointed, tempted and tried, in the autumn
of 1844, are his words. With great confidence had they proclaimed the
coming of the Lord, with the assurance that they were doing the will
of God. But as the time passed, they were brought into a position
exceedingly trying to faith and patience. Hence the words of Paul
to them, just then, and just there. “Cast not away therefore your
confidence ... Ye have need of patience.... Ye have done the will
of God.” To this decision of the apostle every true Adventist, who
tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, in the
movement of 1844, will respond, Amen.
But how fearful the words which follow: “Now the just shall live by
faith; but if any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him.”
As Adventists came up to the point of expectation in the blazing light
of unsealed prophecy, and the rapidly-fulfilling signs that Christ’s
coming was at the doors, they walked, as it were, by sight. But now
they stand with disappointed hopes, and stricken hearts, and live by
faith in the sure word, and the work of God in their Second-Advent
experience. With these who hold fast, God is well pleased; but in those
who draw back he has no pleasure. These believe to the saving of the
soul; while those who become impatient, cast away their confidence in
the way God has led them, and give it up as the work of man, or of
Satan, and draw back to perdition.
This and many other portions of Scripture of like import, having a
direct application to the condition of believers at that time, served
not only as an encouragement to them to hold fast their faith, but as
a warning to them not to apostatize. And a general impression remained
upon the minds of believers for some time after the disappointment,
that the seventh-month movement was in the direct providence of God,
and that those who had been engaged in this work had done his will.
And according to the best light they then had, there was a general
agreement that the seventh-month movement was the last great test,
that the harvest of the earth was ripe for the sickle of the Son of
man, and that the door was shut. That the salvation of the soul, or
perdition, hung upon the manner in which those who heard treated that
solemn message, I doubt not. And this is especially clear in the case
of the disappointed believers after the time passed. In holding fast
and believing, there was salvation; in drawing back, the result would
be perdition. The view, however, that the harvest of the earth was
ripe, and that the door was shut, was soon abandoned. But although all,
long since, gave up this position as incorrect, I fail to see why they
should be censured for taking it upon the passing of the time. In fact,
the conclusion seems very natural, and I hardly see how they could have
come to any other. I will here mention some of the reasons why such a
conclusion was reasonable, if not unavoidable.
1. William Miller and others had taught that the door would be shut,
and that probation would close a short time before the second advent.
In a letter to Elder J. V. Himes, October 6, 1844, he said: “I am
strong in the opinion that the next will be the last Lord’s day sinners
will ever have in probation. And within ten or fifteen days from
thence, they will see Him whom they have hated and despised, to their
shame and everlasting contempt.”
2. And, certainly, that probation will close prior to the second advent
is plainly taught in the following emphatic testimony from Rev. xxii,
11, 12: “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is
filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him
be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And
behold I come quickly.” I will only add, that the order of events here
given is, first, the final decision of all men living at the close of
probation, and, second, then follows the advent of Him who says, “And
behold I come quickly.”
3. All true believers expected that probation would close as soon as
the tenth day of the seventh month. And as the time of expectation
drew near, their burdened spirits felt more and still more heavily
the weight and responsibility of doing every duty to others. But as
the point of expectation was finally reached, all this burden at once
fell off. This was as true of the isolated brother or sister, in some
distant part of the country, as with those in the crowded city mingling
with hundreds of like faith. It was true of all. All felt that their
work in warning sinners was done. No one can have a just idea of this
great change, only those who participated in the movement, and came
up to the time of expectation with the burden of the solemn work upon
them. Jesus had not come as they expected, and why this great change
had come over all was a matter of proper inquiry. And how natural the
conclusion, to say the least, that probation was ended.
4. The change that had suddenly come over the ungodly seemed to
strengthen the conviction that the door was shut. Although the passing
of the time, removing their fears, may now be regarded as a sufficient
cause for the change in them, yet at that time the fiend-like conduct
of many after the tenth day passed, who but a few hours or days before
had appeared penitent, gave the idea that the restraining influence of
the Spirit of God had forever left them.
In view of these things it should not be a matter of surprise to any,
that Adventists were agreed that the midnight cry was the last great
test, that the work for the world was finished, and that the door was
shut. That this was their faith, may be seen by reviewing the writings
of leading men in the cause, published immediately after the passing of
the time.
William Miller, in a letter addressed to J. V. Himes, says:
“We have done our work in warning sinners, and in trying to awaken a
formal church. God, in his providence, has shut the door; we can only
stir one another up to be patient; and be diligent to make our calling
and election sure. We are now living in the time specified by Malachi
iii, 18; also Dan. xii, 10; Rev. xxii, 10-12. In this passage we cannot
help but see that a little while before Christ should come, there would
be a separation between the just and unjust, the righteous and wicked,
between those who love his appearing and those who hate it. And never,
since the days of the apostles, has there been such a division line
drawn as was drawn about the tenth day of the seventh Jewish month.
Since that time they say ‘they have no confidence in us.’ We have now
need of patience, after we have done the will of God, that we may
receive the promise.”
The _Advent Herald_, for November 13, 1844, J. V. Himes, S. Bliss, and
A. Hale, editors, says:
“But the alarm was everywhere made; the cry was everywhere given. And
again we can see that God was with us. It was a soul-purifying work;
and the children of God bowed themselves in his presence and received
blessings to their souls, unprecedented in the history of the Advent
cause. And yet we are disappointed; the day passed away and we are
still here. And those who only looked on, and passed by, were ready
to exclaim that it was all a delusion; and that now of a certainty
we must relinquish all our hopes, and abandon all our expectations.
We, however, do not thus feel. As great a paradox as it may be to our
opponents, yet we can discern in it the leadings of God’s providence;
and when we are reviled and censured by those to whom the world look as
the Gamaliels of our age, we feel that they are only speaking evil of
the things they understand not.
“Those who have not been in this late movement, can appreciate nothing
respecting it. And we regard it as another, and a more searching test,
than the first proclamation of the time. It has searched Jerusalem
as with candles; and it has purged out the old leaven. It has tested
the hearts of all who heard it, and awakened a love for the Lord’s
appearing; or it has called forth a hatred, more or less perceivable,
but known to God, of his coming. It has drawn a line, and awakened
sensibilities, so that those who will examine their own hearts, may
know on which side of it they would have been found, had the Lord then
come; whether they would have exclaimed, ‘Lo! this is our God, we have
waited for him and he will save us;’ or whether they would have called
to rocks and mountains to fall on them to hide them from the face of
Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. God
thus, as we believe, has tested his people, has tried their faith, has
proved them, and seen whether they would shrink, in the hour of trial,
from the position in which He might see fit to place them; and whether
they would relinquish this world and rely with implicit confidence in
the work of God.
“And we as much believe that we have done the will of God in thus
sounding the alarm, as we believe that Jonah did when he entered into
Nineveh a day’s journey, and cried, saying, ‘Yet forty days and Nineveh
shall be overthrown.’ Nineveh was not then overthrown; nor has the
Lord yet wrought deliverance in the earth, nor the inhabitants of the
world fallen. Was Jonah a false prophet when he preached the _time_
of Nineveh’s destruction? No; he had only preached the preaching that
God had bid him. But God had said that ‘at what instant I shall speak
concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to pluck up and to pull
down and to destroy it; if that nation against whom I have pronounced,
turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do
unto them.’ Jer. xviii, 7, 8. ‘So, the people of Nineveh believed God
and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them
even to the least of them; and God saw their works that they turned
from their evil way; and God repented of the evil that he said he would
do unto them; and he did it not.’ The preaching of Jonah served as a
test to the inhabitants of Nineveh, and accomplished God’s purposes, as
much as it would have done had the city perished.
“So we believe that this last cry has been a test; and that with our
views of duty, we should as much have sinned against God, had we
refrained from giving that message, as Jonah did when ‘he rose up to
flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord;’ that we should as
much have sinned, had we refused to give heed to it, as the Ninevites
would in refusing to repent at his preaching; and that all who are
angry that we have preached a time which has not been realized, are as
guilty as Jonah was when he was angry and prayed the Lord to take his
life from him, because God had spared that great city.”
The following is from the _Advent Herald_ of October 30, 1844, relative
to the suspension of meetings in the Advent Tabernacle of Boston. The
article from which it is taken, had previously been inserted in several
of the daily papers of that city. It is important, as it correctly
sets forth the views and feelings of Adventists at that time. In view
of such testimony, it is vain for any man to deny that it was the
universal belief of Adventists, in the autumn of 1844, that their
work for the world was forever done. After giving some of the reasons
why they expected the Lord on the tenth day of the seventh month, the
writer of the article says:
“With this expectation we were desirous to meet once more, to mingle
our prayers, and to encourage one another in the last work of
preparation; and for this purpose we had met at our well-known place of
worship in this city. We gave no special notice of our meeting, we made
no appeal to the public, and it was characterized by no exercises which
were calculated to excite either the mirth or vengeance of any portion
of the community.
“We were serious, we were bowed in penitence and prayer before God, or
heartily affected by the mutual confessions of tried and dear friends.
We had no ill-feeling to indulge toward any man; we felt that we were
done with the world, and had forgiven them the many injuries they had
inflicted upon us; but stale and silly slanders in reference to us
were revived; the restless spirits of the community have been aroused;
we could not meet in peace, and our meetings in consequence have been
suspended. And we now make these remarks to disabuse the public, and
with the hope that some, who would not otherwise give their attention
to the calls of the present time, may lay them to heart.
“To the city authorities, who faithfully rendered their services, we
are grateful, though we could not promote the objects of the meeting
when such protection was needed.
“We forgive our enemies. They have not injured us; and oh! that they
could see how much they may have injured themselves; but we have done
with them now. We expect the realization of the promise of God. He who
delivered Noah and Lot; he who brought his people out of Egypt and
Babylon, has promised (as we believe) to save them finally ‘by his Son
from Heaven.’ We expect it. We have hazarded all on that expectation;
and we only ask that God may give us, and all who look for him, grace
to abide the issue.
“In behalf of the Adventists in Boston and vicinity,
“JOSHUA V. HIMES.”
I have not a word of censure for a single soul who came to the honest
conclusion that the work of warning sinners closed with the burden of
the midnight cry. And more, I solemnly believe that the providence of
God brought us to that position. And there the Advent hosts should
have remained, patiently waiting, watching and praying, until our true
position could have been clearly seen by the light of the heavenly
sanctuary.
ARGUMENT FROM THE TYPES.
In the providence of God, in the seventh-month movement the attention
of the people was turned to the types of the law of Moses. The
argument which had been given, that as the vernal types, namely, the
passover, the wave sheaf, and the meat-offering, were fulfilled in
their order and time in the crucifixion, the resurrection of Christ,
and the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, so would
the autumnal types be fulfilled as to time, in the events connected
with the second advent, seemed to be conclusive and satisfactory. The
position taken was, that as the high priest came out of the typical
sanctuary on the tenth day of the seventh month and blessed the people,
so Christ, our great High Priest, would on that day come out of Heaven
to bless his waiting people.