Foundations of the Seventh-day Adventist Message and Mission

D. The Millerite Concept of World Mission

1. The interpretation of Mt. 24:14

And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. Mt. 24:14. FSDA 50.2

The concept of world mission among the Millerites was strongly determined by their interpretation of Mt. 24:14. There was no doubt in the mind of Miller that this prediction had been accomplished as one of the signs of the time of the end. As evidence for this opinion, he said that the FSDA 50.3

Bible [was] translated into more than 200 different languages; missionaries [were] sent among all the nations known to us on the globe, and reformation [was] succeeding reformation in every town, nook or corner in this land. The gospel has now spread over the four quarters of the globe. It began in Asia. In the apostles’ day, that quarter was full of light. From thence it went into Africa; and, for a number of centuries, Africa stretched out her hands unto God. Europe, too, has had a long visitation of gospel blessings; and now America, the last quarter of the globe, is reaping a harvest of souls for the last day. The gospel, like the sun, arose in the east, and will set in the west. ³ FSDA 50.4

In commenting on Mt. 24:14, John Hooper, ⁴ an English Adventist, had already stated a decade earlier that a comparison between the map of the world and reports of different missionary and Bible societies would make it difficult “to place our finger on one spot of the globe where the glorious gospel ... has not been sent!” ¹ The rapidity and the universality of the proclamation of the gospel were seen as unparalleled in history, and he remarked that “more has been effected in this way during the last five and thirty years, than since the introduction of the Christian era.” ² It was during the time of the French Revolution that the church was aroused from her lethargy and became actively involved in the missionary enterprise. ⁴ This global missionary awakening, Hooper said, was a clear fulfillment of Revelation 14:6. Other Christians also associated the universality of the proclamation of this first angel of Revelation 14, which was identified as the contemporary missionary movement, with the accomplishment of Mt. 24:14. Some also saw this missionary activity predicted in the phrase “many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased” (Daniel 12:4). Miller alluded to it by saying that “we live when ‘many (missionaries) shall run to and fro, and knowledge (of the word of God) shall be increased.’” FSDA 50.5

In 1842 Miller expressed himself even more specifically in his interpretation of Mt. 24:14 by elaborating on the term “witness” so that the fulfillment of the text could be convincingly harmonized with a return of Christ in 1843. He remarked that “the text does not tell us that the gospel shall be preached in all the world at one time, or that all men would believe it; but as a ‘witness among all nations.’” ⁷ Reasoning along similar lines Joel Spaulding, a Millerite lecturer, explained the accomplishment of this text through the idea that in the apostolic age Asia and parts of Europe and Africa received the gospel; in the fourth century Africa was completely reached, and after that, Europe, North and South America, and the Pacific. This led him to conclude that the gospel “has, as it appears, gone round the world and touched on shore on every land.” ⁸ FSDA 51.1

Litch dealt with this text even more specifically by relating it to the Millerite mission of proclaiming the Judgment Hour message. In focusing his attention on the interpretation of the phrase “this gospel of the kingdom,” he posed the question whether “this gospel” referred to the ordinary proclamation of the gospel truth or to a general proclamation of Christ’s coming. Then he argued that the ordinary gospel proclamation to the world of Luke 2:11, “To you is born in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord” ¹ was accomplished in the apostolic age. At Pentecost it reached men from every nation under heaven and thus was carried abroad by these men. This, he felt, was affirmed by Paul who said that “the gospel” was “preached to every creature which is under heaven” (Colossians 1:23). However, the gospel of Matthew 24:14 “proclaims ‘THE HOUR OF HIS JUDGMENT IS COME’ Revelation 14:7. This last, is the everlasting glad tidings of the kingdom or reign of Christ. It is to be proclaimed by the flight of the messenger or angel who bears it to every kindred, nation, tongue, and people. When this is accomplished, ‘then shall the end come.’” ² Then Litch proceeded to show that the news of Christ’s coming in 1843 had gone to the various parts of the world. Therefore, he concluded that it was not necessary that this message had to be preached to everyone, but the news throughout the world that such a truth was preached was a sufficient proclamation to fulfill the prediction of Mt. 24:14. Reasoning from analogy, he said: FSDA 51.2

If it was sufficient in the days of the apostles, it is now. That it was then is clear from Acts 19:8-10. Where Paul preached as taught in Ephesus two years and three months, so that all they in Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of Jesus. They could not all have heard a sermon, but they heard the sound of the gospel. In this sense I have no doubt but the gospel of the kingdom is preached in all the world. ³ FSDA 52.1

An attempt was made to harmonize the fact that the Midnight Cry and the Judgment Hour message were preached most generally in North America, less frequently in Europe, and the least in the rest of the world, with the fulfillment of Mt. 24:14. It was suggested that God had always sent His warnings to His people before significant events occurred which would affect them. On this basis it was reasoned that the greatest manifestations of the signs of the times were given in places where God had the greatest number of followers. There where He had fewer followers the sounds of warning were feebler. Because the object was to warn the people of God, it was not necessary that the world should be equally warned. Reference was made to the fact that when Christ came to make atonement for sins He came to that part of the world where “religion shone with the greatest lustre, however dark its brightness was; while only the sound of his mighty works was heard in other places.” ⁴ It was reasoned from analogy that the signs of the times would be most general in those parts of the world where there was the greatest proportion of true Christians. In other places with few Christians the evidence of the Lord’s coming would be less distinct, while in countries with no Christians there might be no evidence at all. FSDA 52.2

Thus, New England, being the most pious portion of the earth, would naturally be the theatre of the darkening of the sun and moon, and the falling of the stars.... The testimony of the fulfillment of these events has however gone into all the earth. The proclamation of the coming of Christ has also been the most effectually proclaimed here, while that sound has gone into all lands. ¹ FSDA 53.1

After New England came Europe as the place where the Christian religion was best known. There, however, the gospel light was darkened and “the heresies of Puseyism, Romanism, Neology, Rationalism, Transcendentalism, and Infidelity” had almost removed “the candle-stick of the true gospel” from its place. ² Signs, similar to those in the U.S.A. but less significant, had occurred in Europe, and the nearness of the Second Advent had been preached by Joseph Wolff in Asia. Such argumentation led to the conclusion that “the world has had the Midnight Cry, as much as we could expect from the analogy from other events, and in proportion to the prevalence of true Christianity in the various parts of the earth.” ³ FSDA 53.2

2. The extent of the Millerite world mission

Although the Millerites did not think the Advent message had to be preached to every individual, their concept of world missions was that they thought it necessary to send their publications to every reachable Christian community on earth so that the news of the message would reach those unaware of the imminence of Christ’s coming. Therefore, the Millerites did everything to increase their publications, giving them a circulation as wide as possible. FSDA 53.3

Miller’s lectures were frequently reprinted with slight additions and minor revisions. When in 1840 Himes joined Miller, the publishing work became of major importance in their mission efforts. ⁴ On March 20, 1840, Himes issued the first Millerite periodical, Signs of the Times, which endured as the leading representative periodical of the movement. Originally a bimonthly, after April 1842 it was published as a weekly. FSDA 53.4

At the First General Conference of Second Advent believers held at Boston (October 14-15, 1840) it was proposed that the printed report of the conference be sent to FSDA 53.5

1. The Theological Seminaries of the land. 2. The ministers of the gospel who are willing to examine the subject. 3. The members of Christ’s body- and the world, to as great an extent as our means will allow. 4. We shall send them to foreign lands. (1) To our friends in Great Britain, whom we shall get to assist us in this good work. (2) To the missionaries of the cross in all the world, so far as we can get access to them. ¹ FSDA 53.6

During the Bangor Second Advent Conference (July 12-19, 1841) some of the participants were engaged in missionary work on the various ships lying in the harbor of Bangor, Maine. Himes mentioned that “a number of our brethren being furnished with several thousand papers and tracts, on the subject of Christ’s second coming, visited every vessel, and supplied them.” ² By the use of this method in other ports also, Millerite publications received world-wide distribution, ³ so that in the following year Himes could report that most Millerite works had been “sent to all the Missionary stations that we know of on the globe. They have been sent also to many parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and also to the Islands of the Ocean.” ⁴ FSDA 54.1

On November 17, 1842 another influential periodical, the Midnight Cry, was published in New York. First, it was a daily paper with 10,000 copies an issue; after December 17, 1842 it became a weekly publication. ⁵ During 1842 Fitch and Hale had produced A Chronological Chart of the Visions of Daniel & John (Appendix IV) so that the prophetic positions on the year 1843 could be presented more effectively. This chart, called the 1843 Chart, was widely used and became the standard chart among Millerites. FSDA 54.2

One of the most detailed accounts on the global distribution of Millerite publications came from Litch: FSDA 54.3

Within the last three years, there have been sent from our office in this city [Boston], second advent publications to nearly all the English and American missionary stations on the earth. They have been sent to China; to Burma; to Hindostan; to the East Indies; to Persia, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, Constantinople; into Africa, the W. India Islands of the Pacific; the Indian missions both sides of the Rocky Mountains. They have also been scattered broadcast all over these States, and in the Canadas, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, etc. ⁶ FSDA 54.4

It was not surprising that because of such a missionary activity the Millerites concluded that the Midnight Cry and the Judgment Hour message, which were seen as the proclamation of “the everlasting gospel” (Revelation 14:6) or “this gospel of the kingdom” (Mt. 24:14), had been spread throughout all the world when the year 1843 had arrived. In that year one could read the firm belief that the “advent publications have been sent by the hundred thousand broadcast all over the world, to the islands of the sea, and to every missionary station on the globe. They have been scattered over land and ocean, and the sailors who came into port testify that the coming of Christ is a subject of conversation all over the world.” ¹ At the same time the leading periodicals the Signs of the Times and the Midnight Cry published testimonies and letters received from individuals of the various parts of the world who expected the Second Advent in 1843. ² All this confirmed the Millerite opinion that Matthew 24:14 had been fulfilled. FSDA 54.5