Ellen White: Woman of Vision

The Great Disappointment Of October 22, 1844

With bated breath the Adventists, no fewer than 50,000 and probably nearer 100,000 scattered largely across the northeastern portion of North America, arose to greet the eventful day, Tuesday, October 22, 1844. WV 22.1

Some sought vantage points where they could peer into the clear heavens, hoping to catch a first glimpse of the coming of their returning Lord. When would Jesus come? The morning hours passed slowly. Noon came, then midafternoon. Finally darkness settled upon the earth. But it was still October 22, and it would be till midnight. At last that hour came, but Jesus did not come. WV 22.2

Their disappointment was almost beyond description. In later years some wrote of the experience. Hiram Edson gave a vivid account of how they looked for the coming of the Lord “until the clock tolled twelve at midnight. Then our disappointment became a certainty.” WV 22.3

Our fondest hopes and expectations were blasted, and such a spirit of weeping came over us as I never experienced before. It seemed that the loss of all earthly friends could have been no comparison. We wept and wept, till the day dawn. WV 22.4

I mused in my own heart, saying, “My advent experience has been the richest and brightest of all my Christian experience. If this has proved a failure, what was the rest of my Christian experience worth? Has the Bible proved a failure? Is there no God, no heaven, no golden home city, no Paradise? Is all this but a cunningly devised fable? Is there no reality to our fondest hopes and expectation of these things?” And thus we had something to grieve and weep over, if all our fondest hopes were lost. And as I said, we wept, till the day dawn (DF 588, Hiram Edson manuscript [see also The Review and Herald, June 23, 1921]). WV 22.5

Ellen White gave this eyewitness account: WV 22.6

We were disappointed but not disheartened. We resolved to submit patiently to the process of purifying that God deemed needful for us; to refrain from murmuring at the trying ordeal by which the Lord was purging us from the dross and refining us like gold in the furnace. We resolved to wait with patient hope for the Saviour to redeem His tried and faithful ones. WV 22.7

We were firm in the belief that the preaching of definite time was of God. It was this that led men to search the Bible diligently, discovering truths they had not before perceived.... WV 22.8

Our disappointment was not so great as that of the disciples. When the Son of man rode triumphantly into Jerusalem they expected Him to be crowned king.... Yet in a few days these very disciples saw their beloved Master, whom they believed would reign on David's throne, stretched upon the cruel cross above the mocking, taunting Pharisees. Their high hopes were drowned in bitter disappointment, and the darkness of death closed about them. Yet Christ was true to His promises (Life Sketches of James White and Ellen G. White (1880), 190-192). WV 22.9