The Advent Herald, and Signs of the Times Reporter [Himes], vol. 8
November 13, 1844
Vol. VIII. No. 14. Boston, Whole No. 184
Joshua V. Himes
THE ADVENT HERALD,
AND SIGNS OF THE TIMES REPORTER.
BEHOLD! THE BRIDEGROOM COMETH!! GO YE OUT TO MEET HIM!!!
VOL. VIII. NO. 14. Boston, Wednesday, November 13, 1844. WHOLE NO. 184. HST November 13, 1844, page 105.1
THE ADVENT HERALD
IS PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY BY
J. V. HIMES,
AT NO. 14 DEVONSHIRE STREET, BOSTON.
J. V. Himes, S. Bliss, & A. Hale, Editors. HST November 13, 1844, page 105.2
J. V. Himes; S. Bliss, & A. Hale, Editors. HST November 13, 1844, page 105.3
Terms.—One Dollar per Volume, of 26 Numbers. Five Dollars for 6 Copies, Ten Dollars for 13 Copies. HST November 13, 1844, page 105.4
All communications for the Advent Herald, or orders for Books or remittances, should be directed to “J. V. Himes, Boston, Mass,” post paid. HST November 13, 1844, page 105.5
Post Masters are authorized by the Post Office Department to forward free of expense orders for, or to discontinue publications, and also money to pay for the tsame. HST November 13, 1844, page 105.6
THE ADVENT HERALD
BOSTON, NOVEMBER 13, 1844.
New York and Philadelphia.—We visited these cities last week, and lectured in both places. We found the brethren firm in the faith, and determined to stand fast,until the King of kings appears. The meetings in New York are kept up, with their usual congregation. So also in Philadelphia. The prospects there are encouraging. Some have been converted of late. Bro. Litch will confine his labors to that city and vicinity. We also heard cheering accounts from other places in that vicinity, both of the steadfastness of the faith of our brethren, and of the conversion of sinners. HST November 13, 1844, page 105.7
In relation to the time of the Advent, most have settled down upon the fact, that it is the next event, and is “nigh, even at the doors,” and are waiting patiently the coming of their King. Those who left their business, have mostly returned, and are faithfully discharging all their duties and obligations, in all the relations of life. HST November 13, 1844, page 105.8
The Destitute—We desire that in every town where there are Advent believers, our brethren would make provision for those who are worthy.—Some have sent to us from a distance for aid, whose poverty, I learn, did not arise from their connection with the Advent cause. Many more have been benefited by our charities, than have suffered by their connection with the Advent faith. We doubt not that all who can will make provision for themselves, by a wise, and proper attention to their Christian duties. HST November 13, 1844, page 105.9
The Tabernacle, was opened again on Sabbath last. The house was filled with a candid and very attentive audience. In the morning we read our “Address to the Public,” contained in this days paper. It was listened to with profound attention and respect. In the afternoon we read Prof. Gausson’s exposition of the 7th chapter of Daniel. Prof. G. fully sustains Mr. Miller’s views of the prophecies of Daniel. It was read in order to show that the Low-Hampton farmer, is sustained by one of the most learned Professors in Divinity in Europe. And that although we have mistaken the exact time of the coming of Christ’s kingdom, yet we are right in our expositions, and may therefore look for the Second Advent, as the next event, which may now come at-any hour. The tide is now turning. The people still flock to hear us, and have more confidence in our teachings than they do in the vagaries of the advocates of the world’s conversion. HST November 13, 1844, page 105.10
Our Defence.—We have a quantity of the paper containing our defence. Brethren and friends can have them for distribution, when needed, by sending for them. HST November 13, 1844, page 105.11
The Press.—The tone of the public press towards us, has been essentially changed within a few weeks. In this city, the Boston Post, Daily Bee, Daily Mail, N. E. Puritan, Liberator, and Mercantile Journal, etc. (though differing from us in our views of the prophecies,) have done us justice by publishing our defence, or giving such notice of it as to contradict the foul slanders against our moral character. They have our thanks for this act of justice. HST November 13, 1844, page 105.12
The Advent Faith.—We hear of the strong and unwavering faith of the Advent brethren in all parts of the country. They believe “their redemption is nigh.” So they still wait and watch, and keep their garments, not heeding the fatal cry of the Church or the world, to “draw back unto perdition.” HST November 13, 1844, page 105.13
The Christian Watchman of last week contains a slanderous communication, from a New York correspondent, written in the spirit and style of John Dowling, A.M. The editor, also, has an insulting article relating to us, which we shall duly notice. HST November 13, 1844, page 105.14
Mr. Himes’ Defence
We copy the following from the Daily Mail of Nov. 4th. HST November 13, 1844, page 105.15
The Post of Saturday contains an elaborate Defence by Elder Himes, against the aspersions which have been cast upon him in various ways, in relation to his connection with the Second Advent movements. It is but justice to say that he most effectually disarms his enemies, and nails their slanders to the counter. For our own part, we have never given countenance to any of the insinuations against the personal honesty of Mr. Himes. We have known him for years, and have ever considered him an honest and upright, though a deluded man. That his proceedings have done great mischief we have no doubt; but this is no reason why he should be needlessly slandered. HST November 13, 1844, page 105.16
In relation to the statement we copied in our Saturday’s Second Edition, from the N. Y. Commercial Advertiser, relative to the renunciation of Mr. Himes, he informs us that he was not in that city at the time he is reported to have spoken there, and of course that must go with the other tales of the day. HST November 13, 1844, page 105.17
The Mail inserts the defence entire, with the exception of the affidavits and adds. HST November 13, 1844, page 105.18
[Here follows a correspondence between Mr. Bliss, in behalf of Mr. Himes, and the various individuals who have been referred to, in order to sustain the charges made against Mr. Himes. We have not room for them; and it is only necessary to say they are written by respectable individuals, and fully exhonorate Elder H. from every slander which has been industriously circulated against him by his enemies. What could be the object in getting up such unblushing frauds and falsehoods, is past our comprehension; unless it be to awaken the mob spirit against Mr. Himes, and “make the city too hot to hold him.” HST November 13, 1844, page 105.19
Dear Brother Himes:—Who would have believed ten years ago that there ever would have been so much opposition as there has been the year past, to the doctrine of “the advent,” by those who have professed the religion of Jesus? We find they are not only out against the Millerites—so called, but, also against many able commentaries, which they pretended formerly to believe, renouncing them just so far as the Advent of Christ is concerned. I should think that some of the religious papers, from the tone of them, were out against every work which acvocates the Lord’s Advent, not excepting the Bible. According to their reasoning, Jonah must have been a great Impostor. How wickedly he deceived the Ninevites by telling them that Ninevah would be destroyed in forty days! He had even the presumption to set the exact time. How foolish they must have been to have believed him! for his time passed by, and no harm came upon the people. How foolish those Jonahites were for laying by their work—even all, from the King to the beggar, to fast in sackcloth! They were even so infatuated as to deprive their cattle of food and drink. No doubt some of them were made crazy, and sent to the Insane Hospital; but after the time had passed no doubt they came to their right minds again, and bid fair to live in peace yet longer; and no doubt would, if God had not cut them off for their sins, some time after. Now beware of these Millerites, who seem to be deceiving the people in the same manner. HST November 13, 1844, page 105.20
That the professed Infidel should reason thus, would not seem strange; but that professed believers in Revelation should do so, is indeed strange to me. Now who is it that makes infidels? let infidels themselves be judges. But says the professed believer in the Bible, I believe that Jonah was sent of God to warn the people of the time of their visitation: it is true, the day past by and brought no judgment upon them, yet it all meant something: God was in it all. But God is not with the Millerites. All their dreams and visions are nothing; their convictions are nothing. Men can understand things that are made plain. We can discern the face of the sky, and tell when it will be fair weather; but we know nothing of the signs of the times. No doubt there are many good men who are preaching what is called the “Advent doctrine,” but God has suffered all to be deceived; while the world, in denying it, have found themselves on the right side. Thus they talk, and thus they reason: for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the ereation of the world. But I think God will soon speak in a voice that will, be understood. E. F. HST November 13, 1844, page 106.1
Nov. 6th 1844.
From the Midnight Cry.
The only sure Guide
“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Timothy 3:16, 17. HST November 13, 1844, page 106.2
This text is but one of a multitude which might be quoted, to prove that the written scriptures are our only guide in all matters of religious faith or duty. He who attends to them, he who believes them, is perfect in all which the Lord has revealed, and is thoroughly furnished unto all good works. We are expressly warned to make no additions to the truths which are embodied in the book of God. Proverbs 30:6, “Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.” It is obvious that supposed revelations in this age involve the guilt of adding to the word of God, whether such revelations come in the shape of dreams, (when regarded as matters of faith) visions, or the suggestion of new and unexpected trains of thought, or in the supposition that we hear an audible voice, which is imagined to proceed from the Lord. In reference to every thing of this kind, it may be well for those who would give heed to them, to inquire whether we need any thing more than that true word which is able to make us perfect? Again, is there any thing in a suggestion or a voice beyond the power of Satan? We know from the history of the Savior’s temptations, as recorded in Matthew 4:1-11, that he was able to suggest or utter a text of Scripture which was a lie in his mouth, inasmuch as it was entirely misapplied. HST November 13, 1844, page 106.3
When it is said that the Scriptures are the only and the sufficient rule in Christian faith and practice, it is not to be inferred that every truth presented in the Bible can be seized at a single glance. Familiarity with Scriptural language, habits of patient investigation, and a willingness to proceed slowly and carefully in ascertaining “the mind of the Spirit,” are indispensably necessary. A failure in these points has often been the source of lamentable mistakes. A sound judgment, a control of the imagination, are mental qualities without which no one will ever succeed in the interpretation of the Word of God. But where these exist, the humble and teachable disposition which receives “the ingrafted Word with meekness,” constitute that moral preparation which is of more value than all other things. The man who distrusts his own wisdom in the deep things of God, who takes warning from the mistakes of others, and from his own, has the fairest prospect of being profited when he attempts to “search the Scriptures.” HST November 13, 1844, page 106.4
By a singular inconsistency, it is not unusual to find persons, who tell us that they “pin their faith to no man’s sleeve,” inordinately influenced by a reliance on human judgment in their views of truth. While explicitly renouncing all reliance on written commentaries, they often listen to, and embrace the oral commentaries of their fellows, and are as effectually misled by error in the form of a sermon or lecture as they would have been had it been embodied in a book; nay more; frequently the tones of voice, the impassioned manner of the speaker, tend to make an impression which cannot be produced by the printed page. HST November 13, 1844, page 106.5
I find no fault with animation in a speaker; but, at the same time, it is quite obvious that men may be animated in communicating error as well as truth. Extreme confidence in the speaker, that he speaks by something like the immediate inspiration of a prophet or apostle, often produces a wonderful effect on a certain class of hearers, yet it is hardly necessary to say that the reader’s memory will furnish him with illustrations, which prove that all this confidence has been seen in instances where facts, in the sequel, have proved that what he taught was far from the truth. Hearers are often deceived by making their own feelings a standard of truth; yet is it necessary to urge that ideas which fall in with the current of our inclinations must produce emotions of joy? Every day’s experience shows that a tale of good news will excite agreeable emotions if we believe it, though it may have no solid foundation. Now, in every such case, the character of the emotion determines nothing in reference to the truth or falsehood of the thoughts which gave it birth. A criminal under sentence of death might rejoice, were he told that his pardon had been signed, though it were not so in fact, and he might be extremely unwilling to listen to one who should labor, on the best grounds, and with good motives, to convince him that there was no rational prospect of escaping the penalty of the law. What should we think of the sanity of the felon were he to maintain that the news which he had heard must be true; because he was filled with rejoicing, in view of a speedy liberation? HST November 13, 1844, page 106.6
Time will not allow me to pursue this train of reflection. May we remember the divine declaration,—“To this man will I look, saith the Lord, who is humble and of a contrite spirit, and who trembleth at my word.”—Philo. HST November 13, 1844, page 106.7
Massacre of St. Bartholomew
No country, perhaps, has produced more martyrs than France; after many cruelties had been exercised towards the Protestants, there was a most violent persecution of them in the year 1752, in the reign of Charles IX. Many of the principal Protestants were invited to Paris under a solemn oath of safety, upon the occasion of the marriage of the King of Navarre. HST November 13, 1844, page 106.8
The Qeen Dowager, a zealous Protestant, however, was poisoned by a pair of gloves before the marriage was solemnized. Coligny, Admiral of France, was basely murdered in his own house, and then thrown out of the window, to gratify the malice of the Duke of Guise; his head was afterward cut off, and sent to the King and queen-mother, and his body, after a thousand indignities offered to it, hung up by the feet on a gibbet!—After this the murderers ravaged the whole city of Paris; and butchered, in three days, above ten thousand lords, gentlemen, presidents, and people of all ranks. A horrible scene of things, says Thuanus, when the very streets and passages resounded with the noise of those that met together for murder and plunder, the groans of those who were dying, and the shrieks of those who were just going to be butchered, every where heard; the bodies of the slain thrown out of the windows, the courts and chambers of houses filled with them, the dead bodies of others dragged through the streets, their blood running through the channels in such plenty, that torrents seemed to empty themselves into the neighboring river; in a word an innumerable number of men, women with child, maidens, children, were involved in one common destruction, and the gates and entrances of the King’s palace all besmeared with blood! From the city of Paris, the massacre spread throughout the whole kingdom. In the city of Mesaux, they threw about two hundred into jail; after they had ravished and killed a great number of women, and plundered the houses of the Protestants, they executed their fury on those they had imprisoned; and calling them one by one, they were killed, as Thuanus expresses it, like sheep in a market. In Orleans, they murdered above five hundred men, women, and children, and enriched themselves with the spoil. HST November 13, 1844, page 106.9
The same cruelties were practised at Angiers, Troyes, Bouyges La Charite, and especially at Lyons, where they inhumanly destroyed eight hundred Protestants; children hanging on their mother’s necks, parents embracing their children; putting ropes about the necks of some, dragging them through the streets, and throwing them, mangled, torn and dead, into the river. According to Thuanus above thirty thousand Protestants were destroyed, in this massacre, or as others affirm, above one hundred thousand. But what aggravated these scenes with greater wantonness and cruelty, was the manner in which the news was received at Rome. When the letters of the Pope’s legate were read in the assembly of the cardinals, by which he assured the Pope that all was transacted by the express will and command of the King, it was immediately decreed that the Pope should march with his cardinals to the Church of St. Mark, and in the most solemn manner give thanks to God for so great a blessing conferrd on the See of Rome and the Christian world; and that on the Monday after, solemn mass should be celebrated in the Church of Minerva, at which the Pope, Gregory XIII., and Cardinals were present; a jubilee should be published throughout the whole christian world and the cause of it declared to be, to order thanks to God for the extirpation of the enemies of the truth and church in France! In the evening the cannon of St. Angelo was fired, to testify the public joy, the holy city illuminated with bonfires; and no one sign of rejoicing omitted that was usually made for the greatest victories obtained in favor of the Roman Church. HST November 13, 1844, page 106.10
Instances of dilligence in readings the Scriptures
“Read and revere the sacred page; a page
Which not the whole creation could produce,
Which not the conflagation shall destroy.”—Young.
HST November 13, 1844, page 106.11
Josephus testifies of his countrymen, that if asked concerning the laws of Moses, they could answer as readily as to their own names. The Bereans are commended for searching the Scriptures. Timothy knew the Scriptures from a child. Aquila and Priscilla were so well acquainted with them, that they were able to instruct the eloquent Apollos, and “expound unto him the way of the Lord more perfectly.” HST November 13, 1844, page 106.12
Erasmus, speaking of Jerome, says, “Who ever learned by heart the whole scripture, or imbibed, or meditated upon it, as he did?” Tertullian, after his conversion, was engaged night and day in reading the Scriptures, and got much of them by heart. HST November 13, 1844, page 106.13
The Emperor Theodosius wrote out the whole New Testament with his own hand, and read some part of it every day. Theodosius the second, dedicated a great part of the night to the study of the Scriptures. George, Prince of Transylvania, read over the Bible twenty-seven times. Alphonsus, king of Arragon, read the Scriptures over, together with a large comentary, fourteen times. HST November 13, 1844, page 106.14
Bonaventure wrote out the Scriptures twice, and learned most of them by heart. Zuinglius wrote out St. Paul’s epistles, and committed them to memory. HST November 13, 1844, page 106.15
Cromwell, Earl of Essex, in his journey to and from Rome, learned all the New Testament by heart. Bishop Ridley thus attests his own practice, and the happy fruit of it:—“The walls and trees of my orchard, could they speak, would bear witness that there I learned by heart almost all the Epistles; of which study, although in time a greater part was lost, yet he sweet savor thereof, I trust, shall carry me to heaven.” HST November 13, 1844, page 106.16
Dr. George used to read fifteen chapters of the Scriptures every day; five in the morning, five after dinner, and five before he went to bed. Mr. Jeremiah Whitaker usually read all the Epistles in the Greek Testament twice every fortnight. HST November 13, 1844, page 106.17
Sir Henry Wotton, after his customary public devotions, used to retire to his study, and there spend some hours in reading the Bible. The excellent Sir John Hartop, in like manner, amidst his other vocations, made the Book of God so much his study, that it lay before him night and day. James Bonnel, Esq., made the Holy Scriptures his constant and daily study; he read them, he meditated on them, he prayed over them. M. De Renty, a French nobleman, used to read daily three chapters of the Bible, with his head uncovered, and on his bended knees. HST November 13, 1844, page 107.1
Lady Frances Hobart read the Psalms over twelve times every year; the New Testament thrice, and the other parts of the Old Testament once. Susanna, Countess of Suffolk, for the last seven years of her life read the whole Bible over twice aunually. HST November 13, 1844, page 107.2
The Rev. William Romaine studied nothing but the Bible for the last thirty or forty years of his life. A poor prisoner, being confined in a dark dungeon, was never indulged with a light, except for a short time when his food was brought him, he used to take his Bible and read a chapter, saying he could find his mouth in the dark, when he could not read. Henry Willis, farmer, aged 81, devoted almost every hour that could be spared from his labor, during the course of so long a life, to the devout and serious perusal of the Holy Scriptures. He had read, with the most minute attention, all the books of the Old and New Testament eight times over; and proceeded as far as the book of Job in his ninth reading, when his meditations were terminated by death. HST November 13, 1844, page 107.3
It has been the regret of several eminent men at the close of life, that they had not studied the Scriptures with greater assiduity Salmassius, who was one of the most consumate scholars of his time, saw cause to exclaim bitterly against himself—“Oh!” said he, “I have lost a world of time! Time, the most precious thing in the world! Had I but one year more, it should be spent in perusing David’s Psalms and Paul’s Episles! Oh! sirs.” said he to those about him, “mind the world less, and God more.”—Christian Sentinel. HST November 13, 1844, page 107.4
Joshua Barnes is said to have read a small pocket Bible, which he usually carried about him, a hundred and twenty times over. Mr. Roger Cotton read the whole Bible through twelve times in a year. The celebrated Witsius was able to recite almost any passage of Scripture in its proper language, with its context; and the criticisms of the best commentators. HST November 13, 1844, page 107.5
Religious Intelligence
France.—Those who have the very best opportunity of observing the aspect of things, seem to be apprehensive of most serious and perhaps bloody opposition, from Romanism, and its connection with the civil arm in France and Switzerland. A late Circular of the Geneva Evangelical Society says:— HST November 13, 1844, page 107.6
“The union which is forming between the Roman clergy and the civel authorities, turns the ambiguity of the laws more and more to the advantge of the Papists. In many places congregations would be formed if a guaranty for peaceable, regular worship, had not been refused. We must expect a new state of things to be seen in France, from the bonds with which the Court of Rome seeks every where to entangle governments.” HST November 13, 1844, page 107.7
Prof. Gaussen, an eminent member of the Evangelical College of Geneva, addressing his students on the prospects of France, etc., after speaking of the Popish and Protestant forces, says: HST November 13, 1844, page 107.8
“I do not allude to a battle of argument and controversy, but to a violent assault on the faith and patience of the saints. It seems clear to me, that we are on the eve of times when, like our fathers, we must hold our lives in our hands as an offering to Jesus Christ.—The church, apparently vanquished, dispersed, reduced to the smallest number, will begin to conquer again by the preaching of the cross, by patience, and by faith.” HST November 13, 1844, page 107.9
Prof. Monod bears a similar testimony: HST November 13, 1844, page 107.10
“We live in a time in which God does great things. But we cannot but take notice that this happy movement meets with great obstcles, and that we are in the epoch of crisis and transition, whose result it is impossble to foresee. HST November 13, 1844, page 107.11
The Restoration of Crosses.—“We do confidently look (says an English Puseyite Periodical,) for the general restoration of both church-yard and village crosses. The cross is the true protection of Christians: they are never so safe as under it. The graves in the church-yard and the cottage cluster around in security. HST November 13, 1844, page 107.12
“The church-yard crosses will be placed about half way between the lycligate and the south porch, to the east of the path. This position, which is the usual one, appears to have been chosen from a regard to the two great objects of these crosses: which are to excite the devotion of the living, and to secure the peaceful repose of the departed. HST November 13, 1844, page 107.13
It is obvious then that the cross should stand on the south of the church, on which side the porch is, and also to the east of the principle path, since toward that quarter are the prayers of the faithful ever directed.” HST November 13, 1844, page 107.14
“The first obstacle arises from the Romish Church. Although that Church has rarely descended more low in doctrine, and although there reigns almost every where a great incredulity regarding her and the gospel which she compromises, it is certain that the influence of that church, here, as elsewhere, increases in a frghtful manner. A strange fact! Without reigning over the heart, it enslaves the mind. Even indications of persecutions manfest themselves here and there—More than one young person has been carried off and put into a convent, in particular, the young Abbe de D——; and his parents have recovered him only after great dificulty. You will have observed that the daughter of the Dutch Minster at Turin has been carried off for similar purpose. HST November 13, 1844, page 107.15
“By the law suit instituted by the Abbe Maurette, we are theatened to loose the liberty of cotroversy—In seeing what is passing in France just now, we rub our eyes’ and ask if we are really awake.” HST November 13, 1844, page 107.16
The Papal Government.—The political annual for Roman States has just been published. It contains the following facts:—On the 18th inst. the Pope will have accomplished his 79th year. He has occupied the Holy See since the 2nd of Febuary, 1831. The sacred college consists of 60 cardinals, 6 of whom are cardinal-bishops, 44 cardinal-priests, and ten cardinal-deacons. There are still living two cardinals created by Pius VII, Oppizani Riaro Sforxa, and seven by Leo XII. The 51 remaining were appointed by the present Pope. Monsignor Tardini, the oldest cardinal, is 85 years of age, and the youngest, Monsignor Schwartzenberg, 35. At the close of 1843, Rome possessed a population of 172, 601 inhabitants, exclusive of the Israelites. HST November 13, 1844, page 107.17
Persecution.—A French correspondent of the N. Y. Observer says, the Pontifical States have been lately disgraced by odious executions. Not long since, six citizens were condemned and executed for political offences. Two others victims are mentioned in the journals. A laboror, Joseph Gardenghi, who had taken part in the insurrection of Bologna, was prosecuted, seized in a foreign country, brought back into the Roman States and shot, without mercy. Another, Raphael Minelli, was condemned to ten years, in the galleys: for what? Would you believe it? Merely because he gave asylum to an accused person! Thus, compassion and sympathy are crimes in the view of the Pope and Cardinals! It is impossible to describe the indignation of the whole population.—Were it not for the Austrian bayonets on the frontiers, some miles from Rome and Bologna, pontifical government would be overturned in two days. HST November 13, 1844, page 107.18
Persecution of the Jews.—There is passing at this moment in the North of Europe, (says the National,) a fact of the highest importance. We allude to the barbarous measures which are being carried into execution in Russia against the Jewish population.—Autocrat has decreed the transportation in a body of 150,000 individuals. Their only fault is that some of them are addicted to smuggling, and the fault of a few is to be visited on thousands of our fellow-citizens.—At the moment we are writing these lines the sentence is being executed, the spoliation and ruin of those unfortunate men are consummated. Torn with violence from their fire-sides, obliged to sell their properties considerably less than their value, they are compelled to seek an existence in the silent deserts of the interior of Russia, where they will dispute the possession of those immense wastes with the birds and beasts of prey, which are their sole population. There they will find their tomb, and in presence of this calamity the author of such atrocity relies upon the science of all Europe. HST November 13, 1844, page 107.19
Religious Liberty.—It is hardly possible to exaggerate the interesting nature of the present crisis in France and Switzerland, in regard to religious liberty. Some of the most extraordinary occurrences have taken place, and are still passing, to show that Romanism is again putting its persecuting energies in motion, as if resolved to re-conquer the world; and that in France there is, as yet, little enjoyment or knowledge of real religious freedom. Could it have been dreamed, a few years ago, that at this day, when the French have got a charter of their liberties, and a pretended security and guaranty of religious freedom in it, an amiable and virtuous man, without the shadow of a crime alleged against him, would be condemned to fine and imprisonment for becoming a Christian and a Protestant? Yet this is the case. The Abba Maurette is now imprisoned in a cell in Paris, for simply publishing, in a little pamphlet, his reasons for renouncing the Romish church—Zion’s Herald. HST November 13, 1844, page 107.20
The Porte has granted to the Greek Church permission to build a chapel over the holy sep-sepulchre, to the exclusion therefrom of the Roman Catholics.—Ib. HST November 13, 1844, page 107.21
LATIMER’S PREACHING
Of the earnestness of Latimer’s manner of preaching, we have the following specimen, in a sermon delivered at court against the corruptions of the age. HST November 13, 1844, page 107.22
“Take heed and beware of covetousness! take heed and beware of covetousness! take heed and beware of covetousness! And what if I should say nothing else for three or four hours but these words?—Great complaints there are of it, and much crying out, and much preaching, but little amendment that I can see. Covetousness is the root of all evil. Out with your swords, ye preachers, and strike at the root. Stand not pruning and toying with the branches, for new boughs will spring out again; but strike at the root, and fear not these great men, these men of power, fear them not, but stike at the root.” HST November 13, 1844, page 107.23
Advent Herald & Reporter
“The Lord is at Hand.”
BOSTON, NOVEMBER, 13 1844.
ADDRESS TO THE PUBLIC
Our Confession—Defence of our Course—Our Position
To all who love the Lord’s appearing. HST November 13, 1844, page 108.1
In the passing by of the seventh month, our friends and the public have a right to, and will expect from us, a statement of our views, and the reasons of the hope that is within us. And first, as many are expecting from us a— HST November 13, 1844, page 108.2
CONFESSION,
We are ready, in the language of the apostle, to “confess unto them, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship we the God of our fathers, believing all things which are written in the law, and in the prophets; and have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and of the unjust. And herein do we exercise ourselves, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and toward man.” HST November 13, 1844, page 108.3
Striving thus to live, it has ever been our aim to make the scriptures the man of our counsel, to believe all that is written therein, and to teach that, and that only, which in our souls we believed. Having thus taught, the church and the world regard us as misguided and deluded; and they suppose, and no doubt honestly, that all our expectations and hopes have been demonstrated by time, to be incorrect. And they look upon us with amazement that, after so many disappointments, we should still adhere with such tenacity to our confidence in the immediate appearing of the blessed Savior. Many no doubt are utterly unable to conceive how we can honestly continue to look for the Lord, and are therefore expecting that we must necessarily now relinquish our hope. And they call upon us, as honest men, to retract. HST November 13, 1844, page 108.4
We are free to confess that we have been twice disappointed in our expectations in the time of the Lord’s Advent—first in the year 1843, and second, in the tenth day of the seventh month of the present Jewish Sacred year. Those who do not believe with us honestly suppose that such disappointments cannot be reconciled with an adherence to our faith. With Adventists no reconciliation is needed:—they all understand how it is;—but that the world may, if they will, understand the reason of the hope that is in us, and that if by so doing we may be instrumental in opening the eyes of any, and thus turn a brother from the error of his way, save a soul from death and hide a multitude of sins, we will review the way in the which the Lord has, in his mercy and providence, led us, and show how we understand these disappointments to be a part of the great plan in the accomplishment of God’s purposes respecting us, and in the preparation of his children for his coming and kingdom. HST November 13, 1844, page 108.5
We will therefore give HST November 13, 1844, page 108.6
A VINDICATION
of the positions we have occupied from the first, and which seem so contradictory to those of whom the scriptures (Daniel 12:10,) have said they “shall not understand;” but which to our minds only serve to open to us more clearly the word of God, and confirm us in the confident expectation that our hopes will shortly be realized. In doing this, we shall only notice the times in which we have been disappointed; and not the other features of our faith, upon which the passing by of a point of time can have no influence. HST November 13, 1844, page 108.7
And first,— HST November 13, 1844, page 108.8
1843
This, it is well known, was our first published time. It was the year [original illegible] in which we looked for the Lord. There were never any set days in that year, as our opponents have repeatedly asserted, upon which the Adventists were united in their expectations, as the day which would be honored by the Lord’s Advent. There were, however, several days in that year, which were looked to with great interest; but while some had their eye upon one day, others had their minds directed to other days, so that there was no unanimity of expectation respecting them. In the year we were all united, and believed that sometime between March 21st, 1843, and March 21st, 1844, the Lord would come. HST November 13, 1844, page 108.9
Our minds were directed to that point of time, from the fact that dating the several prophetic periods from those years in which the best chronologers assign the fulfillment of those events which were to mark their commencement, they all seemed to terminate that year. This was however only apparent. We date the “seven times” or 2520 years, from the captivity of Manasseh, which is, with great unanimity, placed by chronologers B. C. 677. This date is the only one we have ever reckoned from, for the commencement of this period; and subtracting B. C. 677 from 2520 years, there remained but A. D. 1843. We, however, did not observe, that as it would require 677 full years B. C. and 1843 full years A. D. to complete 2520 years, that it would also oblige us to extend this period as far into A. D. 1844, as it might have commenced after the beginning of B. C. 677. The same was also true of the other periods. The great jubilee of 2450 years, commencing with the captivity of Jehoiakim B. C. 607; and the 2300 days, commencing with the 70 weeks B. C. 457, would respectively require 1843 full years after Christ, added to as many full years before Christ, as the years in which we have always respectively commenced each period, to complete the number of years in each; and as subtracting from each period the date B. C. of its commencement, there would remain A. D. 1843, no reference whatever was made to the fraction of the year, which, in each case, had transpired from its commencement, and which would require that each period should extend as much beyond the expiration of A. D. 1843, as they respectively began after the commencement of the year B. C. from which they are dated. HST November 13, 1844, page 108.10
While this discrepancy was not particularly noticed by us, it was also not noticed by any of our learned opponents. Amid all the arguments which were brought to bear against our position, no allusion was made to that point; and time alone accomplished what our opponents had been unable to do, in showing our mistake in the definite year. HST November 13, 1844, page 108.11
In making no account of the fraction of the year in which the respective periods were dated which had expired before their commencement, we could only look to about the year 1843 for their termination. And to that year we looked with confident assurance; and, as honest men, we proclaimed to the world that which we believed. For so doing, we have been most severely censured and condemned; but yet, on reviewing the whole question, we can not see how we could have acted honestly in the sight of God, and had a conscience void of offence towards men, without so doing: HST November 13, 1844, page 108.12
We were not hasty in embracing our opinions. We believe that we were honest and sincere inquirers after truth. We obeyed our Savior’s command to search the scriptures. We relied not upon our own wisdom; but we looked to God for guidance and direction, and endeavored to lay ourselves upon his altar, trusting that he would direct our footsteps aright. We examined all the arguments which were advanced against us, with a sincere desire to know the truth and be kept from [original illegible] that the varied and multiform positions of our opponents, only confirmed us in our views. We saw that whether we were right or wrong, our opponents could not be right; and they had no agreement among themselves. The arguments of each were so weak and puerile, that they were under the necessity of continually undoing what they had themselves done; and by their opposite and contradictory views they demonstrated, that however they might regard our opinions, they had no confidence in the opinions of each other. And, moreover, there was not a cardinal point in our whole position, in which we were not sustained by one or more of those who labored to disprove the immediate coming of the Lord. While we had the literal rendering of the scriptures to sustain us, our opponents endeavored in vain to prove that the scriptures are not to be understood literally, although every prophecy which has been fulfilled, has been so, in its most literally minute particular. While we had the opinions of the primitive church in its best and purest ages, to sustain our views of the millennium, our opponents were in vain endeavoring to support a theory not two hundred years old, and which is expressly contradicted by the most positive declarations of scripture. And while our principles of interpretation were in accordance with those of all the standard protestant commentators in the English and American churches, our opponents were drifting about in search of new principles, and respecting which they could not agree among themselves. The signs of the times were all in our favor; we were at the termination of all the historical prophecies; and we were occupying the period of time to which the fathers and the reformers looked, as that which would witness the consummation of the Christian’s hope, and usher in eternal realities. Also the arguments used against us, were often most irrelevant to the question; and the greatest stress was often laid upon that, which, if true, would not materially affect it, and which at best was a mere supposition. Arguments were brought forth with great assurance, which would have been equally valid the day before the flood, or before the destruction of Sodom; and which, if they proved anything, only proved the Lord could never come. Ridicule and contempt were heaped upon us by grave and reverend divines, which was only a farther assurance to us of the abscence of all argument against us. And it was admitted that the principles of interpretation adopted by our standard commentator, are the foundation of “Millerism.” HST November 13, 1844, page 108.13
With such views of the question, we should have done violence to our own consciences, and been hypocrites before God, had we refrained from proclaiming to the world the time, as we believed, of the Advent of the Lord. We therefore determined to free our skirts from the blood of souls, by faithfully presenting to our fellow men the reasons of our hope, that we might by affectionate exhortations induce them to repent and be converted, that their sins might be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the Lord. In doing this, we had no sinister or selfish motives. We sought no worldly honor or fame. We looked not for the praise of our fellow men. We labored not for this world’s goods. We wished not to build up any party or sect; but we labored alone for the saving of souls.—And God blessed our labors. A few pennyless men, as unknown to fame as were the fishermen of Galilee, have, by the blessing of God, preached the tidings of his coming throughout all the land: and reformation has succeeded reformation, until thousands of souls have rejoiced in the forgiveness of their sins, hundred of infidels have been converted, backsliders have been reclaimed, and Christians been made to rejoice in the coming Savior; while barrenness and leanness of soul has been the universal consequence of opposing the doctrine of the Lord’s coming. But, to our utter surprise and astonishment, the great body of all the churches, instead of rejoicing that any could ever hope that the glorious Bridegroom might soon appear, united with the world in throwing obstacles in our way; and they endeavored to convince the scoffing and profane, that the judgment draweth not nigh, and to induce them to give no heed to our earnest exhortations to prepare for that event. HST November 13, 1844, page 108.14
Thus we performed in the fear of God what we believed to be our bounden duty; and in the accomplishment of that work, we surmounted obstacles, which we could not have hoped to overcome unaided by Him who controls the universe. We then believed, and we believe now, that as far as we were faithful in preaching the definite year, we have the approval of God, and have been blessed in our own souls; and that we have been made instrumental of a blessing to others. HST November 13, 1844, page 109.1
But the time—the year 1843, the Jewish year, passed, and we were disappointed in not beholding the King in his beauty. And all who opposed us, honestly supposed that every distinctive characteristic of our belief had been demonstrated to be false; and that we should as honest men abandon our whole position. And therefore it was with surprise they saw us still clinging to our hope, and still expecting our King. We, however, in our disappointment, saw no reason for discouragement. We saw that the scriptures indicated that there must be a tarrying time, and that while the vision tarried we must wait for it. We also saw, that with the end of the year, the periods could not be fully terminated, even upon the supposition that our chronology was correct; and that they could only be fulfilled some time in the present year; and yet we frankly and fully admitted to the world that we were mistaken in the definite point to which we had looked with so much confidence. But while we were thus mistaken, we can see the hand of God in that matter. We can see that he has made use of that proclamation as an alarm to the world, and as a test to the church. It placed his people in an attitude of expectation. It called out those who were willing to suffer for his name’s sake. It demonstrated to whom, the cry of the Lord’s coming was tidings of great joy, and to whom, it was an unwelcome sound in their ears. It has shown to the universe, who would welcome the Lord’s return and who would reject him at his second, as the Jews did at his first advent. And we regard it as a step in the accomplishment of God’s purposes, in this “day of his preparation,” that he might lead forth a people, who should only seek the will of the Lord, that they might be prepared for his coming. HST November 13, 1844, page 109.2
Thus we continued waiting and expecting, with no definite time,—and although the churches endeavored to persuade us that they were in the same position, yet because we would still look for the Lord, they continued to persecute us,and by refusing to listen to the evidences of his near coming, showed that it was not so much the definite time, as they had professed, to which they objected, but it was the doctrine itself they opposed. The passing by of the time, was, therefore, a still farther test to the churches,—another step in the accomplishing of God’s purposes respecting them. This position we occupied until within the last few weeks, when we were aroused by an argument drawn from the types of the Mosaic law, which had electrified and aroused to newness of life the Advent bands throughout the land, and by which it was believed that the very day of the Lord’s Advent was shadowed forth,—so that on the tenth day of the seventh month of the Jewish sacred year, we should realize the fruition of our hopes. On that day, the High Priest under the Jewish economy, made an atonement in the holy of holies for the sins of all Israel. As the law was “a shadow of good things to come,” as the crucifixion of Christ, the Paschal Lamb—“our Passover,” was on the very day,—though not the hour, as some have believed,—of the Jewish Passover, as He arose the first fruits of those that slept on the day the priest waved before the Lord the first fruits of the earth for a wave-offering, and as the Holy Spirit descended on the day of Pentecost—the feast of weeks; so we believed that our great High Priest having entered the holy of holies, and sprinkled it with his blood, might come out of the same to bless his people, on the day that this great antitype was shadowed forth by the observances of the Jewish law. It being also at a point of time to which all the various periods might extend, and where they might terminate,—as they would require a portion of this year to complete them—we could not resist the conviction that it was the true view of the time. HST November 13, 1844, page 109.3
Again we felt called upon to act in accordance with our faith; we could not refrain from again warning the world, and endeavoring to arouse the churches, so that as many as possible might be in readiness for the event. In this, however, we had very little to do, compared with what we might have done, had we commenced at an earlier day.—The work had been extensively done; yet we did all we could, and embarrassed ourselves by expending our means in the spread of publications explanatory of that position. But the alarm was every where made; the cry was every where 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 were 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. HST November 13, 1844, page 109.4
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 the 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 word 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 Ninevah a days’s journey, and cried, saying, “yet forty days and Ninevah shall be overthrown.” Ninevah was not then overthrown; nor has the Lord yet wrought deliverance in the earth, or the inhabitants of the world fallen. Was Jonah a false prophet when he preached the time of Ninevah’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.—Jeremiah 18:7, 8. “So, the people of Ninevah 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 had said he would do unto them; and he did it not.” The preaching of Jonah served as a test to the inhabitants of Ninevah, 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; and they may well ask themselves as God asked Jonah, “Doest thou well to be angry?” We thus have an instance on record where God has justified the preaching of time, although the event did not occur as predicted. And the men of Ninevah will rise up in the judgment against this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; but this generation have not repented. HST November 13, 1844, page 109.5
We have also, in the case of Abraham, when he withheld not his only son, an instance where God alone designed to try the faith of his servant.—When he was commanded to get him to Mount Moriah, and to offer up Isaac as a burnt offering, it was his duty to obey God, to act in accordance with his belief. Had Abraham stopped to inquire if he might not after all be mistaken, he would have sinned; but, believing God, and accounting that he was able to raise him even from the dead, he laid his only son on the altar and stretched forth the knife in his hand to slay him. God thus having tested him and proved his faith, spared him the offering; “for,” said God, “now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withholden thy son, thine only son from me.” No one will say that Abraham was mistaken in believing that he was to slay his son; but God chose this very way to test his faith. Even so do we believe that God permitted the preaching of this last time for the same purpose respecting his children now, to test their faith. And we should have sinned none the less, had we desired in our hearts to delay the Lord’s coming, than Abraham would, had he withheld his son. God has brought us to mount Moriah, and he will deliver us, or provide for us a lamb. HST November 13, 1844, page 109.6
As every cry of land, when a ship is nearing the shore, is an indication of its approach, although those cries are false; so the fact that God permits his people to indulge the expectation of his coming, as an indication that it draweth nigh. When God led the children of Israel out of Egypt, they had reason to expect they might sooner enter the promised land, than they were finally permitted to; but what was duty in view of such expectations? It was surely to act as though they believed they should enter, and thus to be in continued readiness for it. To have disbelieved they should enter, would have been to sin against God; and they were finally, after approaching the very borders of the land, sentenced to wander thirty-eight years longer in the wilderness than they would have done had it not been for their unbelief. In view of such examples in the word of God, we should do great violence to our views of truth, if, because we were disappointed in the event, we should deny that God was in this movement. We believe that he was in it, that he permitted it, and that wise ends will result from it. HST November 13, 1844, page 109.7
OUR POSITION,
We now find ourselves occupying a time, beyond which we can extend none of the prophetic periods, according to our chronology and date of their commencement. We are also, as we believe, past the time in this year, designated by the types,if they are to be fulfilled chronologically, for the Lord’s coming. And the question arises, whether this does, or does not, demonstrate that our position is erroneous? Our opponents contend that time has disproved our whole position. And we, as honest men, wish to acknowledge all that time has proved to be wrong. We admit that it is proved that we do not yet know the definite time; but we have seen no evidence yet to disprove that it is at the very door, that it cannot be long delayed, and that the events are of those for which we look. HST November 13, 1844, page 110.1
As we cannot extend the prophetic periods beyond the present time, we can, with our present light, have no more clue to the exact year of their termiation: for if there is an inaccuracy in chronology, we have no means of knowing whether it is one day, one month, or a longer period of time; and it would not be surprising if in a period of 2300 years there should be a variation, more or less, from the exact time. But the fact that we have now run out our reckoning, is one of the greatest evidences that we shall have to wait but a little while for the events which are to mark the termination of those periods. HST November 13, 1844, page 110.2
With regard to future dates, to which some are looking for the termination of the prophetic periods, we can only say that it will be time enough to look to them, when all the intervening time shall have expired. Our only safety is in continual watching: for if there is an inaccuracy in our chronology, these future dates may be as much too late, as ours may have been too early; and the authority, on which such are predicted, is far more questionable than that upon which we have relied. HST November 13, 1844, page 110.3
While we are at the end of our reckoning, which has thus far pointed to the year of our expectations, it may not be amiss for us to examine the true chronological argument which is contained in the types. We find that there were various observances under the Mosaic law, which were shadows of good things to come, and we suppose that they must be all antitypically fulfilled under the Christian dispensation; but the point of interest, is, how far they are, or are not, to be chronologically fulfilled. We find at Christ’s first Advent, a portion of the types were fulfilled as to time. Another portion of them were fulfilled, but not as to time. The killing of the pascal lamb on the 14th of April, was chronologically fulfilled by the crucifixion of our Savior the same day; and so was the offering of the first fruits on the morrow after the Sabbath of the pascal week, by his resurrection, the first fruits of those that slept. As God has thus observed times in the fulfilment of those types, no man can deny but those which are unfulfilled may be fulfilled in their time. But there were other types which were not thus [original illegible], and therefore, it is not necessary that they should be fulfilled chronologically. The goat for the sin offering, which was slain on the tenth day of the seventh month, was fulfilled in the death of Christ the 14th day of the first month; and the scape goat, on which was laid the sins of the people, and led away into the wilderness the same day, was fulfilled in Christ about the first of the eleventh month, when the Spirit led him away into the wilderness, immediately after his baptism; and when John next beheld him he exclaimed, “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” The high priest also entered the holy of holies on the tenth day of the seventh month, but our High Priest entered the holiest of all in the third month, when he ascended into heaven itself, and sat himself at the Father’s right hand, to make atonement for the sins of the world. We also find that some of the types, which can only be fulfilled at his second Advent, had their observance at one season of the year; while others, which shadow forth the same event, were observed at other seasons of the year. The feast of the wheat harvest, a type of the resurrection of the righteous, was in the third month; the coming of the high priest out of the holiest of all to bless the waiting congregation, was in the seventh month; the coming of the children of Israel out of Egypt, the passing over them by the destroying angel, and the slaying of the Egyptians, were all in the first month; the blowing of the Jubilee trumpet, and the deliverance of captives were also in the seventh month. As, therefore, the types which shadow forth the second Advent were observed on different days, they cannot all be fulfilled chronologically; and, if it is notnecessary that all should be thus fulfilled, it may not be that any must; or, we cannot tell which day, should be thus distinguished. And as some of the types of Christ’s first Advent were fulfilled on days which were honored by the observance of other types, and others—the leading the scape goat into the wilderness, and the entering of the high priest into the holy of holies,—were fulfilled on days which had been honored by no observances; if we reason by analogy, and judge of the future by the past, they leave us entirely in the dark as to the day which will be honored by the advent of the Lord. And, therefore, we need to watch continually, in obedience to our Savior’s commands, to live with our loins girt about and our lights burning, to live in daily and constant expectation of his glorious appearing. And while we are thus daily looking, if we should continue here, as it may please God to have us, for the trial of our faith, until the anniversary of those days which were chosen of God, and set apart for the observance of the rites of the Mosaic law, we may look to them with peculiar interest; and to those feasts which have never been honored by an antitypical fulfillment, we may look with still greater assurance; and yet it cannot be shown but that any day may witness the coming of the Lord. We are, therefore, now occupying a period of time in which we are to take heed to ourselves, lest at any time our hearts be over charged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon us unawares. Our position therefore, is one of continual and confident expectation. With no time which must necessarily intervene between the present and the time of the Lord’s return—having run out all the prophetic periods, according to our chronology and date of their commencement, being at the terminus of all historical prophecy; and occupying that point of time, to which the primitive church and the reformers looked, and which is designated by the signs of the times; we may daily and hourly look for the coming of our King,—no knowing the day or the hour, or when the definite time is; and yet knowing that it is at the very door that it cannot be long delayed, and may burst upon us at any moment. Thus we will continue to wait and watch, praying for, and loving his appearing; yet willing to tarry here God’s time, until Salem’s golden spires shall burst upon our vision, and we shall enter upon eternal realities. HST November 13, 1844, page 110.4
It will be our purpose, the “little while” we may continue here, to present the doctrine of the Advent in all its purity; to show that we occupy the position of the church in its primitive state, in our adherance to the faith which was once delivered to the saints, being built upon the foundation of the apostles, Jesus Christ the chief corner stone; to show, that while we witness both to small and great, we say none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come; to show that we are sustained by the wisest and best men of the church in all ages, and that the churches have sadly departed from the principles of interpretation adopted by the fathers of the church, and adhered to by the reformers, and which are sustained by all the standard Protestant commentators of the English and American school. HST November 13, 1844, page 110.5
That we are sustained in our views of prophecy by the standard commentators, our opponents do not deny. Our views of prophetic time are neither new or novel. We are ridiculed for understanding the prophetic days as symbols of years, and yet Prof. Stuart says that “It is a singular fact, that the great mass of interpreters in the English and American world have, for many years, been wont to understand the days designated in Daniel and in the Apocalypse, as the representatives or symbols of years;” and “I have found it difficult to trace the ORIGIN of this general, I might say, almost UNIVERSAL custom.”—Hints. p. 77. He also says, “For a long time these principles have been so current among the expositors of the English and American world, that scarcely a serious attempt to vindicate them has of late been made. They have been regarded as so plain and so well fortified against all objections, that most expositors have deemed it quite useless even to attempt to defend them. One might indeed almost compare the ready and unwavering assumption of these propositions, to the assumption of the first self-evident axioms in the science of geometry, which not only may dispense with any process of ratiocination in their defence, but which do not even admit of any.—Ib. p 8. Prof. Bush, in writing to Mr. Miller, says:—“I do not conceive your errors on the subject of chronology to be at all of a serious nature, or in fact to be very wide of the truth. In taking a day as the prophetical time for a year, I believe you are sustained by the soundest exegesis, as well as fortified by the high names of Mede, Sir I. Newton, Bishop Newton, Faber, Scott, Keith, and a host of others who have long since come to substantially your conclusions on this head. They all agree that the leading periods mentioned by Daniel and John do actually expire about this age of the world, and it would be strange logic that would convict you of heresy for holding in effect the same views which stand forth so prominently in the notices of these eminent divines.” “Your results, in this field of inquiry, do not strike me as so far out of the way as to effect any of the great interests of truth or duty.”—Ad. Her. Vol. 7. p 38. HST November 13, 1844, page 110.6
Writing to Prof. Stuart, Prof. Bush says:—“I am not inclined precipitately to discard an opinion long prevalent in the church, which has commended itself to those whose judgments are entitled to profound respect. That such is the case in regard to the year-day calculations of prophecy, I am abundantly satisfied, and I confess, too, at once to the pleasure that it affords me to find that that which is sustained by age is also sustained by argument.”— Again he says:—“Mede is very far from being the first who adopted this solution of the symbolic term day. It is the solution naturally arising from the construction put in all ages upon the oracle of Daniel, respecting the SEVENTY WEEKS, which by Jews and Christians have been interpreted weeks of years, on the principle of a day standing, for a year. This fact is obvious from the Rabinical writers en masse, where they touch upon the subject, and Eusebius tells us (Dem. Evangl. viii, p. 258.—Ed. Steph.) that this interpretation in his day was generally, if not universally admitted.” “I have in my own collection, writers on the prophecies, previous to the time of Mede, who interpret the 1260 days as so many years, and who are so far from broaching this, as a new interpretation, that they do not even pause to give the grounds of it, but proceed onwards, as if no risk were run in taking for granted the soundness of the principle which came down to them accredited by the immemorial usage of their predecessors.”—Hierophant, Vol. 1, p. 245. With such authority for adhering to the ancient method of computing prophetic time, we are condemned by those who are sustained in their position, neither by Scripture, custom, or common sense. HST November 13, 1844, page 110.7
Our views of the prophetic symbols, by which it is proved that “we have arrived at a momentous era of the world”—Prof. Bush—are also equally well sustained. Wm. Cunningham Esq., of England, an eminent expositor, in speaking of the four parts of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the great image, says, that they “are respectively applied by Daniel himself to four kingdoms, which have by the unanimous voice of the Jewish and Christian Churches, for more than eighteen centuries, been identified with the empires of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. The Targum of Jonathan, Ben Uzziel, Josephus, and the whole modern synagogue of the Jewish church, Barnabas, Ignatius, Chrysostom, Cyril, and according to Jerome, all the ecclesiastical writers of the early ages of the church; and Luther, Calvin, Mede, the Newtons, Faber, Dr. Hales, Scott, Clarke, Brown, with almost every biblical expositior of any note in the Protestant churches, all sustain this application of this vision; and our application of the remaining visions are equally well sustained; and the only way in which our opponents could avoid our conclusions, was by abandoning these principles. The editor of the Boston Recorder, the standard oracle of the N. E. Orthodoxy, in speaking of Prof. Chase’s new views in opposition to those of these standard commentators, says:—“It must needs be acknowledged” “that our faith is greatly shaken in the interpretations, on which, in common with most of our own brethren, we have heretofore relied: and which forms the FOUNDATION of the baseless theories of Miller”!! And he adds, that “Stuart and Chase have given us new views of the design and purport of Daniel’s prophecies, and such as, “we strongly suspect, will ere long obtain universal credence among the reflecting and sober-minded.” Dr. Bond, the editor of the “Christian Advocate & Journal,” the official mouth piece of the Methodist Episcopal church, in speaking of the same work, says,—“If his views in regard to the prophecies of Daniel, be correct, the long established opinion that the Roman empire is the fourth kingdom of the prophet, must give way to the more successful researches of Dr. Chase. Some other opinions which have been thought to be settled beyond a doubt, ARE TERRIBLY SHAKEN.” HST November 13, 1844, page 111.1
Thus it is admitted on all hands that we are sustained in our views of the historical prophecies, and of prophetical designations of time, by the voice of the Church IN ALL AGES,—and that it is our opponents who are forsaking the platform of our fathers, and the faith which was once delivered to the saints. And yet they accuse us of introducing novelties and new views, while the views with which they oppose us are only the product of yesterday. Then why should we be condemned as heretics for adhering to the faith which we received from our fathers? Standing on that faith, we are brought down to our present position,—disappointed in the definite time, and yet assured that yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Indeed, so little dispute has there been as to the point of time in this world’s history that we occupy, that even one of our opponents, Mr. Morris, exclaims,—“Who does not see ‘that all things are ready for the great consummating moral change of this world, which is to follow the sounding of the seventh trumpet, when the kingdoms of this world shall become the empire of Christ?’” Mod. Chil. p. 55. HST November 13, 1844, page 111.2
That we are on the eve of some mighty and wonderful event, all are ready to admit. It is the burden of the poet’s song; and the politician, the philosopher and Christian are all united in the admission, that mighty events are at the door. What is the nature of these events? is the great question at issue. HST November 13, 1844, page 111.3
Respecting this point, there is a diversity of views,—there being three different theories now prominently before the public. HST November 13, 1844, page 111.4
I. The Belief of the Churches. According to Mr. Morris, a prominent writer against the doctrine of the Advent, they believe that “under the gospel dispensation, there will be a universal prevalence of Christian principle, the cessation of war, and the war-spirit, settled tranquility, and permanent protection of property and person, the outpouring of the spirit upon all flesh, the conversion of the Jews and Gentiles, and their incorporation into the Christian Church;” “that there is but one resurrection, and one judgment, that both are universal, including the just and the unjust, and that the Second Advent of Christ is immediately connected with them;” “that those who live during the millennium will be fallible, capable of being deceived and misled by temptation;” and yet that there will be no devil to deceive them, Satan being bound during the 1000 years. The churches also believe that the reign of Christ is only spiritual; that after the 1000 years Satan, being loosed, will obtain the ascendency in the earth; after which will be the general resurrection and judgment. HST November 13, 1844, page 111.5
This theory was first broached by Daniel Whitby, who died 1728, and was adopted by such men as Dr. Hopkins, President Edwards, and others, until for the last century it has been the prominent belief of the Church. During the last 20 years, however, it has been greatly modified by many, who adhere to its general characteristics; and by others in the churches, it has been discarded altogether. Some understand the thousand years of Revelation 20:4 as 360,000, each day being a symbol for a year. Others understand it as a long indefinite time; and that instead of the whole world’s being christianized during that period, the religion of the cross will only be predominant, and that sinners, “like the sand of the sea,” will still exist on the earth. See Stuart’s Hints, p. 133. Many are also denying that Christ will ever descend visibly to this earth. Prof. Stuart, so often quoted, and who occupies a most prominent position among the Orthodoxy of our country, being at the head of the Andover Theological Seminary, where he has a commanding influence in controling the theological mind of young aspirants for the ministry, says, that he has “a deeper conviction than ever of the difficulties which attend the supposition of a personal, actual, and visible descent of Christ, and the glorified saints to the earth.” Hints, 2nd ed. p. 153. Again. “All the prophecies respecting the appearance of the Messiah are invested with the costume of figurative language.” Ib. p. 183. And again. “Christ himself assumed a visible appearance” at his first advent “only that he might take on him our nature and die for sin. When he appears a second time, there is no necessity of assuming such a nature.” Ib. p. 185. As the visible coming of Christ is thus rejected by the highest authority in the church, and as the churches feel no alarm at such a rejection, it is but reasonable to conclude that the views of the Prof. are not so much at variance with many in the church. The literal resurrection of the body is also beginning to be greatly scouted. Prof. Stuart says that the kingdom which the saints will inhabit after the resurrection, will be of a nature “incompatible with the residence of material bodies.” Ib. p. 181. Again, in endeavoring to show that the kingdom of God cannot be a “mundane, palpable, visible reality,” he says, “It is impossible in the nature of things, that glorified bodies should dwell in and belong to a material world.” Ib. p. 159. According to the Prof., therefore, God’s kingdom will be invisible and unreal; and as the bodies of the saints must correspond to their residence, does he not discard the literal resurrection of the dead? Prf. Bush, another luminary, who is doing as much to mould the mind of the church as any other man in the country, in an elaborate work just from the press, denying the material revivification of the dead, says, “The resurrection of the body, if my reasonings and expositions are well-founded, is not a doctrine of revelation.”- p. 5; and “the Second Advent of the Savior is not affirmed to be personal, but spiritual, providential.” p 9. Many other prominent clergymen, and others, are denying the resurrection, the final judgment, the personal coming of Christ, and end of the world; and as they are unrebuked by their respective ecclesiastical associations,” it demonstrates that such views are working like leaven in the churches. Thus, while the believers in a terrene millennium oppose us with a theory that is not 200 years old, those who have thus modified it are departing still further from what has been the belief of the church in all ages. HST November 13, 1844, page 111.6
II. That commonly called the Literalist’s View. This is a view extensively believed by many in England, who believe with us in the pre-millennial advent of Christ; and it also has many advocates in this country. They believe that we may now look for the return of the King; that with his return the Jews will return to their own land, and Jerusalem be rebuilt; that the Lord will dwell there; that the nations on the earth will go to worship him and keep the annual feasts; that the consummation will not be until the end of the 1000 years, but that at the advent of the Lord, the Man of sin will be destroyed, and the resurrection of the saints and martyrs transpire; that the earth will have a more genial climate and more fruitful soil; that men will be long-lived, and mostly holy; that after this state a short apostacy will follow, and that then the last resurrection and final judgment will take place. This view has many learned and brilliant advocates,—particularly in England—among whom are Bickersteth, Burgh, Fry, Hooper, Marsh, Madden, M’Neil, Noel, Pym, Syrr, Sabine, Stuart, etc., among the clergy; and Frere, Habershon, Viscount Mandeville, Granville Penn, T. P. Platt, and Wood, among the laity. We however are forced to differ from them in some material points. This brings us, HST November 13, 1844, page 111.7
III. To the Views of the Second Adventists, by which designation our own views are known to the public. These are contained in short, in the following HST November 13, 1844, page 111.8
Fundamental Principles, On which the Second Advent Cause is based
1. The word of God teaches that this earth is to be regenerated, in the restitution of all things, and restored to its Eden state as it came from the hand of its Maker before the fall, and is to be the eternal abode of the righteous, in their resurrection state. HST November 13, 1844, page 111.9
2. The only Millennium found in the word of God, is the 1000 years which are to intervene between the first and second resurrection, as brought to view in he 20th of Revelations. And the various portions of Scripture which are adduced is evidence of such a period in time, are to have their fulfilment in the New Earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. HST November 13, 1844, page 112.1
3. The only restoration of Israel yet future, is the restoration of the Saints to the New Earth, when the Lord my God shall come, and all his saints with him. HST November 13, 1844, page 112.2
4. The signs which were to precede the coming of our Savior, have all been given; and the prophecies have all been fulfilled but those which relate to the coming of Christ, the end of the world; and the restitution of all things. HST November 13, 1844, page 112.3
5. There are none of the prophetic periods, as we understand them, extending beyond the present time. HST November 13, 1844, page 112.4
These we believe are immutable truths of the word of God, and therefore, till our Lord come, we shall over look for his return as the next event in historical prophecy. HST November 13, 1844, page 112.5
These principles have been fully explained in the works of Wm. Miller, and the other numbers of the Second Advent Library. Our belief on all these points are the same as those put forth in the Address of the Committee of the Tabernacle, at its dedication, from which we copy the following:— HST November 13, 1844, page 112.6
“In believing that this earth, regenerated, is to be the eternal abode of the ‘children of the resurrection,’ and that the great and glorious promises of Isaiah and the other prophets which are applied to a millennial state, are to be then fulfilled, we are sustained by the belief of the church in its purest and best ages; and in proof of which we have the testimony of not a few divines and historians in every age. HST November 13, 1844, page 112.7
In opposition to this view, there is no trace of any belief in the primitive church from the time of our Savior prior to Origen, who flourished in the middle of the third century. HST November 13, 1844, page 112.8
Bishop Newton says, ‘the doctrine of the millennium was generally believed in the first three and purest ages; and this belief, as the learned Dodwell has justly observed, was one principal cause of the fortitude of the primitive Christians; they even coveted martyrdom, in hopes of being partakers of the privileges and glories of the martys in the first resurrection.’ HST November 13, 1844, page 112.9
In the first two centuries there was not an individual who believed in the resurrection of the dead, whose name or memory has come down to us, that opposed it; nor does there exist any fragment of the writings of any author that denied it. The testimony also is, that it was received from those who saw our Lord, and heard of him respecting those days. HST November 13, 1844, page 112.10
Thomas Burnet, in his ‘Theory of the Earth,’ printed in London, A. D. 1697, states that it was the received opinion of the primitive church, from the days of the apostles to the Council of Nice, that this earth would continue 6000 years from creation, when the resurrection of the just and conflagration of the earth would usher in the millennium and reign of Christ on earth. HST November 13, 1844, page 112.11
As Popery arose, it became less prominent, but was revived at the reformation, and was not supplanted by the doctrine of a temporal millennium till the time of Daniel Whitby, who died 1728. It is also admitted by all that this was taught by Barnabas, Papias, Polycarp bishop of Smyrna and disciple of John, Justin Martyr, Irenaus, Turtullian bishop of Carthage, Cypryan, Lactantius, Methodeus bishop of Olympus, Epiphamius, Paulinus, bishop of Antioch, etc. who were contemporaries and successors of the apostles. This belief was adopted A. D. 325, by the council of Nice, which consisted of 318 bishops, from all parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. In the reformation, this was the belief of Tyndel, Luther, and Calvin. It was also the belief of the martyr Bradford, Goodwin, Gouge, Langley, Bunyan, Wesley, Burnet, the learned Joseph Mede, Fletcher, Horseley, Bishop Newton, Sir Isaac Newton, Milton, Sterry, Cotton Mather, and a host of others. In asserting this doctrine, we therefore only comply with the apostolic command, to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. HST November 13, 1844, page 112.12
The accomplishment of this glorious promise must be the next event in historial prophecy, when have been fulfilled all the events predicted which were to precede the consummation; and be it remembered, that the only prophecies claimed by our opponents to be unfulfilled, are those which they claim belong to a temporal millennium and the restoration of the Jews. HST November 13, 1844, page 112.13
These predictions we have shown, by thus far unanswered arguments, drawn from the word of God, to apply only to the eternal state of the righteous in the regenerated earth, and in the restoration of the true Israel of God to their everlasting state, according to the sure promise of God made to our Father Abraham. As, therefore, no events of prophecy, now unfulfilled, precede the Second Advent, we shall not turn aside from the expectation of the immediate fulfilment of these glorious promises—even if there should be any seeming delay, until we can say, ‘Lo, this is our God: we have waited for him, and he will save us.’ We have no expectation of retiring from the contest till our King appear. We have enlisted for the war. Should time continue, the contest is well begun. Should the Savior come to-day, we intend to be at our posts. With regard to the time of that event, we except in the ‘fulness of times,’ in the fulfilment of all the prophetic periods, none of which have been shown to extend beyond the present. We are therefore looking for it at this time. Six thousand years from creation was the time when the primitive church was expecting the Advent. And Luther, Bengel, Burnet, Fletcher, Wesley, and others, all had their eye at about this period of time. But now the fulfilment of the prophecies, the end of the prophetic periods, and the signs of the times, admonish us that it is truly at the very doors. HST November 13, 1844, page 112.14
To maintain the belief of the coming of Christ now at the doors, to restore this earth to its Eden state, and restore to it the righteous, we claim the same right that any of our opponents have to present a contrary belief. And we mean to be put down neither by the spiritualizing of the word of God, the wresting its alphabetical and commonsense meaning, or by the sneers, scoffs, sarcasms, or falsehoods of those who oppose us—the principal forms of opposition with which we have had to contend. HST November 13, 1844, page 112.15
When it is shown, by sound argument, and the sure word of God, that no second personal coming of Christ, and restoration of this earth to its Eden state, is taught in the Scriptures, then we shall cease to look for the coming of the Lord; and not till then. We are ready and anxious to meet any and all candid arguments which may appear to any to militate against these truths; and we claim an equal privilege to present, in return, the strong arguments and the promises of God upon which alone we stand. In the discussion of this great question, the truth or falsity of which vitally affects every son and daughter of Adam, we ask for a candid hearing, and are willing to abide an impartial examination. HST November 13, 1844, page 112.16
In support of our positions, we rest solely upon the testimony of the word of God, in its plain, obous, and literal acceptation, and as understood by the apostles and their immediate successors. To the law and the testimony we appeal; for we expect none other things but what Moses and the prophets have said shall come. We place no reliance whatever upon any visions or dreams, mere impressions, or private revelations. “We have a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day-star arise in your hearts.” “Search the Scriptures,” said our Savior; and from them we profess to be able to give a reason for the hope that is in us, to every man that asketh us. Neither have we any confidence in the stability of those whose hopes are based upon impressions, and not upon the word of God; for when their impressions are gone, their hopes will disappear with them. But the word of God endureth forever, and those whose hopes are grounded upon it cannot be shaken, whatever may betide. HST November 13, 1844, page 112.17
Believing as we do that we are living in the very crisis of this world’s history, we have endeavored to be faithful, in presenting to the world the evidence of our belief. In doing this we have not trespassed on the rights of any, or conducted ourselves differently than our enemies acknowledge they would do if they believed with us. And yet to our astonishment, men of all classes and parties have united in opposing us—not with arguments, but with the most malicious falsehoods that a depraved heart could suggest. Why is this? we inquire.—It has been replied that we encourage idleness, and induce men to leave their business, to waste their property and to leave their families unprovided for. This is not true. While some have thus taught, we have protested against it. Those who “walk disorderly, working not at all, but are busy-bodies,” we have felt it our duty, to “command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work and eat their own bread,” and that they “be not weary in well-doing:”—believing with the apostle that “if any would not work, neither should he eat.” We have, however, advised those who wished to be relieved from the cares of this world for a few days before they expected the Lord, to lay by for a time, and prepare for and await the result. But if this was a crime in us, it is also a crime in those who accuse us. Says a political paper in reference to a mere presidential election: HST November 13, 1844, page 112.18
“Spend the little remaining time in hard work among the doubting, the lukewarm, and the open enemy. Forget business—forget everything but your country till the election is over, and then you will read the result with a clear conscience.—Mer. Journal. HST November 13, 1844, page 112.19
And we know that in advocating the present election, more time and money have been expended, a thousand times over, than have been expended in circulating the evdiences of the coming of the King of kings. In the opinion of the world, this is, however, all right and proper; but if we act in accordance with our faith, in view of our eternal well-being, we are, by those who do the same things, condemned and censured as inconsistent. HST November 13, 1844, page 112.20
We have advised none to waste their property. But we have taught that we were only stewards of God, and that if any have this world’s goods, having the love of God in them, and seeing their brother have need, they will not shut up their bowels of compassion; and also, that if any man can do more good in the advancement of the cause of God than in their regular occupation, they will do so.—But we have examples for thus doing in the days of the apostles. Matthew left a good business that he might follow one who had not even a place to lodge. Peter left the labor which was his living; and so did James and John, and left their father also, to follow the same leader. Many rich men sold their property; and in one place property worth 50,000 pieces of silver was burned up, under the influence of what the world called a delusion. HST November 13, 1844, page 112.21
The various falsehoods which have been industriously circulated against us, we have refuted, and in vain challenged the world for their proof. And again we ask why is it? Why should the preaching of the immediate coming of the Lord awaken such opposition from such different quarters? The gambler, the libertine, the drunkard, and the profane all unite in opposition to this doctrine; and strange as it may seem, the professed church of Christ has united with them in opposing it. How could this be, unless the church had lost her love for the Savior’s return?—unless, as Prof. Gaussen, of Geneva, says, “these are times of lax theology and infidelity?” We can conceive why the profligate and the unprincipled should hate these truths; for it presents to them the judgment, before which dread tribunal they must stand; and it unmasks the hypocrite, and shows his heartlessness, so that he too may hate it. HST November 13, 1844, page 112.22
But why should the child of God—the humble teachable child of Jesus, not love to hear this cry? And yet we know that the church has united with the world, with the profligate, and despiser of that which is good, in ridiculing those who look for the Lord. We therefore feel that the church cannot be right. And we know too that the devil is not on our side. We are therefore encouraged to preserve, believing that we are approaching “the last act in the great drama of the world.” Believing with Prof. Bush, that “If we take the ground of right reason, we must believe that the present age, is one expressly foretold in prophecy, and that it is just opening upon the crowning consummation of all prophetic declarations.” HST November 13, 1844, page 112.23