The Gathering of Israel

Chapter 6—Three Post-1844 Divisions

It was a different story, however, after October, 1844. The Adventists who did not fall away from the movement soon split in the search for the cause of their disappointment. Had they been mistaken in their calculation of the 2300 years and in giving the “midnight cry” (“Behold the bridegroom cometh”) of the prophetic parable of the ten virgins? Or in looking for the Second Advent as that fulfillment? Or had they mistaken the nature of the Advent? GI 4.8

During the first few months the feeling was widespread that they were only in a brief “tarrying time” and that Christ would come in a few weeks or months at the most. But by the time the “Jewish year 1844” ran out in the spring of 1845, there were three main groups emerging. None of these three groups embraced the Literalist views (not until 1850 did that become an issue); yet it may be well to pause here to trace these three divisions since they help to explain Mrs. White’s reference to the “scattering time.” GI 4.9

1. The Majority. By the spring of 1845 the majority of the Adventists had abandoned the belief that 1844 had marked any fulfillment of prophecy—either the 2300 days of Daniel or the “midnight cry” of the parable. They concluded that these fulfillments and the three messages of Revelation 14 belonged to the indeterminate future. (Hence they remained open to further time settings.) This majority retained their earlier denial of the Literalists’ “Judaizing,” probationary millennium. ¹ GI 4.10

In April, the principal Millerite leaders, including Miller and Himes, held a conference at Albany, New York. There they adopted a statement of principles and formed a loose organization of Adventist congregations from which, later, came two denominations—the Evangelical Adventists (now defunct) and the Advent Christians. There were others who did not approve of the statement of faith adopted by the Albany conference or of the organization, however rudimentary; yet they also formed part of the majority who regarded the 1844 movement as a mistake. GI 5.1

2. The Two Minorities. A smaller number, on the other hand, held that the 1844 movement had indeed marked the fulfillment of prophecy. They regarded the majority group as having denied God’s leading in that movement, and therefore as having departed from the Advent message. They called the majority the “nominal Adventists,” or “professed Adventists.” GI 5.2

This minority, who held to “their past experience” in 1844, said that the 2300 days had ended and that the parable of the Bridegroom had been fulfilled; and therefore that “the door was shut” after the Bridegroom came to the wedding. (The “shut door” thus became more or less equivalent to the belief in the validity of the 1844 movement.) GI 5.3

But this minority comprised two incompatible groups, divided by two mutually exclusive interpretations of the coming of the Bridegroom to the wedding. Christ had obviously not appeared; if, then, His Second Advent had occurred, it was not a visible, personal coming. Or, if the Second Advent must be visible, personal and glorious, then that event had not yet taken place. GI 5.4

Minority group A held that they had been correct in both the time and the event expected. They insisted that the Second Advent was not a literal, personal return, but a spiritual and invisible coming, “in his saints.” Therefore they were dubbed “spiritualizers” or “spiritualists.” ² These, holding that Christ had indeed come and they were already in the millennial kingdom, went into “no work” or other fanaticisms. Many of them joined the “kingdom” of the Shakers in 1846, while others soon splintered off or returned to the other Adventists. ³ GI 5.5

Minority group B held that the time had been right, but that their mistake lay in the expected event; that the fulfillment was not the Second Advent at all; and that a personal, visible coming was still to be awaited. But they refused to deny the validity of their October, 1844, movement as the fulfillment of the 2300 days and of the “midnight cry” of the parable. They said that the Bridegroom had indeed come to the wedding and shut the door (hence they were known as “shut-door” people), but, as some explained it, the Second Advent would be the Bridegroom’s return from the wedding. ⁴ GI 5.6

This was the middle group of the three, avoiding on the one hand the spiritualizers’ insistence that both the time and the event had been right, and on the other hand the majority’s abandonment of both. ⁵ As time went on, many of this class joined the majority. GI 5.7