The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 4

V. Prophecy the Explanation of This Amazing Phenomenon

It is impossible to understand the hopes and expectations of the Millerites without understanding the deep-rooted prophetic beliefs that lay back of them. An ever-clarifying prophetic exposition was unquestionably the Common denominator underlying each major expansion and each definite advance. This, and this alone, explains the shift from the “1843” to the “1844” phase. And each new method employed, and each added facility used, was simply drafted upon as another and more adequate means of getting their message and convictions on prophecy ever more effectively before mankind. PFF4 452.2

The historical setting of the times, the introduction of the principal characters of the movement, the reporting of their convictions, their correspondence, sermons, and conferences, their camp meetings, writings, and group declarations, and their pamphlet, broadside, book, and periodical literature, simply form the framework for broadcasting the prophetic message they felt impelled to give to the world. It was the heart of the movement, the driving dynamic back of their astonishing activities, resulting in accomplishments that, considering their numerical size, were really phenomenal. Prophecy was therefore the pulsating heart of the Millerite movement. PFF4 452.3

Right or wrong, and orthodox or heretical, it was the key to all their attitudes, plans, and developments. Consequently, we must grasp their understanding of prophecy in order to understand the import of the movement. Otherwise their actions would be without rhyme or reason. This is in line with the goal of our quest through the centuries covered in these volumes. Part II (the Millerite movement) parallels Part I (the non-Millerite expositors), and together form the complete picture up to 1844. “”r PFF4 452.4

It may fairly be asked, Was their great expectation for“1843” and “1844” simply rash unreasoning speculation? Was it a capricious quirk of peculiar minds, without precedent or scholarly support, and devoid of sane foundation in Scripture, history, or logic? Or was it an outgrowth of hundreds of years, yes, of some two thousand years of gradual, progressively established and commonly accepted principles of Biblical interpretation and prophetic exegesis, fulfilled with undeniable accuracy, which, as had been the case at times through the centuries, were misapplied as to the nature of the event they anticipated, but which nevertheless made their erroneous expectation seem at the time the next logical step in the prophetic drama of the ages? That we shall seek to determine from the recorded source evidence—the writings of the men themselves. PFF4 453.1