The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 4

V. Main Millerite Prophetic Positions Simply Reaffirmed

With a minimum of discussion they reaffirmed the great outline prophecies, especially of Daniel, and their inseparable time periods. They held in essentially the same form as in the Millerite seventh-month movement the following doctrines: Daniel 2: The standard Historical School interpretation-the four world powers of Babylonia, Persia, Grecia, and Rome, succeeded by the non-adhering ten kingdom-divisions of medieval and modern Europe, with Christ’s impending kingdom as the smiting stone, to fill the earth. Daniel 7: The same four empires of prophecy, with the ten horns as the same ten kingdoms, and the Little Horn as the Papacy, with its spiritual dominance of 1260 years (538-1798)-the power (equated with Antichrist and the Man of Sin) that had not only persecuted the saints but had presumptuously imposed a change of the Sabbath upon Christendom, and had sought to reduce the designated 1260 years of the prophecy to 1260 days at the end of the age, and with the judgment and second advent closing the outline. PFF4 1037.1

Daniel 8: The last three kingdoms-Persia, Grecia, and Rome-with the paralleling 2300 years 1457 B.C. to A.D. 1844), extending to the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary and its truth of the heavenly priesthood of Christ cast down (as stressed primarily by Edson and Crosier), during the Roman section of the 2300 years (symbolized by the desecrating horn that cast down the truth to the ground), which period reaches specifically to October 22, 1844, when the heavenly judgment began. Daniel 9: The 70 weeks from the autumn of 457 B.C. to A.D. 34, with the crucifixion of Christ the Messiah in the “midst” of the seventieth week-of-years, in the spring of A.D. 31-the 70 weeks being “cut off” as the first part of the 2300 years, and thus automatically dating the beginning of the larger period. PFF4 1037.2

Daniel 11: The same three powers-Persia, Grecia, and Rome (with James White holding the position advocated by Miller, that the Papacy was the power prominent in the latter part of the chapter, just as in Daniel 2, 7, and 8, ²⁴ and Uriah Smith at that time agreeing with him on the Papacy, but later changing to the view that Turkey was the power in Daniel 11). Daniel 12: The increase of the prophetic knowledge, as men searched the Bible; and Michael as Christ, soon to stand up; the 1290 years and the 1335 dated the same as in the Millerite seventh-month movement. PFF4 1038.1

They held similar views concerning the book of Revelation: The seven churches were seven periods, or phases, of the true church, spanning the Christian Era, though they were not yet quite settled on just what comprised the seventh, or final, Laodicean section ²⁵ or when it began. The seven seals represented the progressive apostasy in the Christian church, the sixth seal including the signs in the heavens heralding Christ’s return (as the darkening of the sun and moon, on May 19, 1780, and the falling of the stars on November 13, 1833, et cetera). The first four of the seven trumpets were the Barbarian scourges on western Rome, and the fifth and sixth trumpets, the 150-year and 391-year special periods of the Turk, the latter ending in August, 1840. And the time message of the angel with the little book was that there should be specified prophetic “time” no longer (similar to the angel of Revelation 14:6). The little book was the sweet anticipation and bitter aftermath of the Disappointment of October 22, 1844, and then a further witnessing before mankind. (This last Edson emphasized.) PFF4 1038.2

God’s Two Witnesses were the Old and the New Testament, slain in France (1793-1797), with France as the tenth part of the City, and the French Revolution as the great earthquake. The woman clothed with the sun (Revelation 12) was the true church persecuted by the Roman power, and preserved during the 1260 years (538-1798), and then the dragonic wrath turned on the last-day commandment-keeping remnant^ characterized also by “the testimony of Jesus” (defined as the Spirit of prophecy-Revelation 12:17; Revelation 19:10). The papal beast of Revelation 13 was, of course, the Papacy, with the deadly wound given by the stroke of the French sword in 1798, at the end of the 1260 years. But the identity of the second beast was not yet too clear-whether France, or possibly Protestantism in some form (as variantly held in the Millerite movement)-but there was a profound conviction that the mark of the Beast involved the change of the Sabbath. The 144,000 were bound for the city of God, and Christ was ministering in the heavenly holy of holies, in the second and final phase of His mediatorial ministry. PFF4 1039.1

Two of the three angels’ messages, as noted, were first given under the Millerite movement; the third was just now taking shape-and its scope and content were now the chief area of their study and concern. The second advent and the gathering of the harvest of God and of the grapes of wrath for His vintage were shortly to come. The seven last plagues were evidently future, according to James White, to fall after the close of probation and to eventuate in the second advent. The symbolic woman in scarlet, the Harlot, or Babylon Mystery, of Revelation 17, was the Papacy, but the daughters were, they said, creed-bound Protestant churches that spurned the second advent, clung to the mark of papal apostasy, and persecuted dissenters. Babylon’s final overthrow was imminent, and the supper of the Lamb was likewise at hand. PFF4 1039.2

The premillennial position was tenaciously held-the second advent with its attending first resurrection to usher in the millennium and the second resurrection to mark its close. And the saints reign with Christ during the thousand years, followed by the new heavens and the new earth, springing out of the ashes of the old and to continue on forever. That was the grand outline-essentially the Millerite seventh-month movement positions on prophecy reaffirmed and clarified. PFF4 1039.3

Further study was to follow. Their attitude toward advancing light was simply this: They held undeviatingly to the principle of a progressive unfolding and perception of light, and that there was to be a constant advance in knowledge of the Word. They were ready to exchange a dozen errors for one truth. With no formulated creed to defend, they were not ashamed to acknowledge their limitations and not afraid to grow in the knowledge of advancing truth. They never sought to surround themselves with an aura of perfection. Years later, when one critic complained at the revision of an exposition, James White replied: “Now we never claimed that we wrote by inspiration, and have supposed that we had the same privilege of learning and exchanging error for truth with other men.” ²⁶ PFF4 1040.1