The Great Second Advent Movement: Its Rise and Progress

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, 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 Revelation 14:6, 7, “The hour of his judgment is come,” and the cry of Revelation 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. GSAM 108.4