The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 4

VIII. Storrs-“Go Forth!” Is “Cry at Midnight”

GEORG STORRS (1796-1879) was born at Lebanon, in rock-ribbed New Hampshire. Even in childhood his mind was deeply exercised along religious lines. But about the only preaching to be heard in Lebanon during his teens was Congregational and Calvinistic. And the strong leanings toward fatalism, in that preaching, and its emphasis on the eternal torment of the wicked in hell, filled the lad with a dread of God and tended to alienate him from Christianity. But at seventeen he began deliberately to seek to know the. goodness of God. Finally, because of the appeals and prayers of his mother, he accepted Christ, and at nineteen joined the Congregational Church. PFF4 804.2

The conviction grew upon him that he was called to preach. And later, because of kindnesses shown during his wife’s illness, he became greatly attached to a godly Methodist minister, and joined the Methodists. He started out under their traveling connection in 1825, continuing to preach for them until 1836. (Portrait appears on page 801.) By this time Storrs had begun to speak rather constantly on the question of slavery. This he continued to do for three years. In 1835 he was invited to address the Sanbornton Bridge (New Hampshire) Anti-Slavery Society in the Methodist meetinghouse, but was arrested by the deputy sheriff while in the act of prayer—because he had invoked a blessing on the slaves, after having prayed for the President, the Congress, and various other groups. However, he was discharged after trial. ⁴⁴ PFF4 804.3

The Methodist Church at large, and the local bishop especially, was set against agitation on that subject, and took every means to suppress its discussion. As a result Storrs withdrew from the Methodist communion and ministry in 1840. However, back in 1837—three years prior to that withdrawal -Storrs’ mind had been agitated on another question through reading a small tract on the final destiny of man and his state in death, written by Deacon Henry Grew of Philadelphia. ⁴⁵ He first read it in order to pass the time on a slow train trip. But it led him to search the Scriptures carefully on the question. And after several years’ investigation, conversation, and correspondence with some of America’s most eminent ministers, he reached the settled conclusion that man does not possess inherent immortality, but receives it only as a gift through Christ, and that God will utterly exterminate the wicked through fire at the second death.” ⁴⁶ PFF4 805.1

He counted well the cost of the step he felt he must take. He had been highly regarded in the denomination, and was respected by its ministry. He knew that by taking his stand on this delicate doctrine he would sever himself from those congenial relationships. But lie deliberately withdrew in 1840. He wrote three letters to an intimate friend, a prominent minister in the Methodist Church, who replied that he could not answer Storrs’s arguments. And he advised Storrs to publish them—anonymously. So in 1841 Storrs issued An Enquiry; Are the Souls of the Wicked Immortal? In Three Letters. PFF4 805.2

Visiting Albany, New York, he responded to an invitation to minister to a small congregation, taking as his guiding principle, “The Bible as the only creed-Christian character the only test.” Though the congregation knew his views on the nature of man, he did not at first preach on this theme. But by 1842 he felt impelled to speak out clearly on the subject. He spent an entire week on the final preparation of one sermon, realizing that at least two discourses would be necessary. And sensing that he was liable to be misunderstood, he did the unusual—he wrote out and read his sermon. And he kept on preparing and presenting other aspects of the subject until he had given his sixth sermon, with no thought, at the time, of publishing them. Then friends began to urge their publication. So he reviewed, revised, and published them as An Enquiry: Are the Souls of the Wicked Immortal? In Six Sermons (Albany, 1842). These came to be known as Storrs’s Six Sermons. PFF4 806.1

Just a few weeks after their publication, Storrs was visited by Calvin French, preaching Miller’s views on the second advent. Storrs offered him the use of his “House of Prayer” for their public presentation. He became partly convinced of the correctness of the Adventist positions, so much so in fact that he solicited the services of Charles Fitch, who by this time was one of Miller’s most active and effective speakers. Accordingly, a series of tent meetings was arranged, and thousands came to hear. Storrs, now fully persuaded, left his stated ministry in Albany, in 1842, in turn to travel and preach the advent message to multiplied thousands. He did not, however, introduce his personal views on the nature of man into these public services. Nevertheless, he was continually beset with inquiries from ministers and laymen who had read his Six Sermons. PFF4 806.2

At length the Signs of the Times came out against the view of the ultimate destruction of the wicked, as taught by Storrs in his brochure. So he revised his Six Sermons, and published five thousand more copies in newspaper form at New York City, where he was then preaching. These he scattered all over the community at his own expense. In the spring of 1842 Storrs was invited to preach on the second advent in New York, and people came out by the thousands. And inasmuch as the public knew his sentiments on the end of the wicked, they wanted to hear his views on this theme as well. So he stereotyped two thousand copies of his Six Sermons and distributed them to the congregation. He therefore differed from the majority of the Millerites in that he did not believe in an ever-burning hell, regarding such a concept as constituting a blot on the character of God. PFF4 806.3

In the fall of 1843 he went to Cincinnati, and also to Indiana, where in preaching he traveled some five or six thousand miles. Fitch became the first ministerial convert to his position on conditional immortality, writing him on January 25, 1844, that he had taken his stand on Storrs’s side. Other ministers followed. In 1843 his Six Sermons were also published in England to the number of ten thousand. And about this time a number of prominent Britishers-Dr. Frederick R. Lees of Leeds; Mr. Dobney, a Baptist; Mr. White, a Congregationalist; and Archbishop Richard Whately had taken the same stand in Great Britain. A total of some 200,000 copies of Storrs’s Six Sermons are said to have been published. ⁴⁷ PFF4 807.1

But there was opposition. Miller himself took Storrs to task in the Midnight Cry, of May 23, 1844, with these strong words: PFF4 807.2

“I cannot be silent without dissenting from this any longer, it would be a crime against God and man. Therefore I disclaim any connection, fellowship, or sympathy with Br. Storrs’ views of the intermediate state, and end of the wicked.” ⁴⁸ PFF4 807.3

And Litch was so agitated by the issue that he went to the length of issuing a little paper against it, called the Anti-Annihilationist. And I. E. Jones also wrote to Miller in protest. ⁴⁹ PFF4 807.4

Storrs had marked ability as a writer, and in 1843 started the Bible Examiner in Albany, which advocated the coming of Christ in 1843-1844. He was an able expositor of prophecy, being equally effective as a writer or preacher. He had a highly prominent part in the seventh-month movement, stressing the parable of the ten virgins in connection with the return of the Bridegroom. PFF4 807.5