The Great Second Advent Movement: Its Rise and Progress

1844 the True Terminus of the 2300 Days

The question may arise, Can we rest assured that 1844 is the true date for the close of the twenty-three hundred days? Yes! For as surely as a false fulfillment of a prophecy cannot come in the right time for the true fulfillment, so surely we come to the conclusion that the year 1844 is the correct terminus for the twenty-three hundred days. God, who sealed up that knowledge till 1798, and promised that then the light would shine out, by his unerring Spirit guided those who earnestly sought him for a correct understanding of the time. His time had come for “knowledge” on the subject to “be increased,” and he gave the true light. GSAM 90.1

Having found the terminus of the time that was brought to the understanding of the people in the “time of the end,” it is well to inquire as to the significance of that discovery. We find in that period, in the closing up of the gospel work, definite time is to be proclaimed for the session of the judgment. “And I saw,” says John, “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.” ²⁷ Literal angels do not preach the gospel to men. Man is the agent chosen by the Lord himself to preach his gospel to the end of the world. ²⁸ This angel, then, is a symbol of a gospel message which announces the time come for the judgment to “begin at the house of God.” ²⁹ Such a message could not be given from the Scriptures until the time that leads to the judgment was discovered in the Scriptures. The twenty-three-hundred-day period, as already intimated, reaches to the investigative judgment of God’s people. GSAM 90.2