The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 4

IV. Himes-Publishing and Publicity Genius Joins Hands

Judged by any standard of measurement, JOSHUA VAUGHAN HIMES (1805-1895) was a remarkable character. Courageous, versatile, and a born leader, he was the great publicist, promoter, and organizer of the Millerite movement. While he was a power in the pulpit, he was an even greater power in the editorial chair. He was a really remarkable publisher, with the knack of knowing how to appeal to the public. His daring and his swiftness of action is illustrated by the speed with which he produced the first copy of the Signs of the Times. After Miller’s first suggestion, coupled with his own conviction of its need, it was under way within one week, starting from nothing. PFF4 549.3

He had business acumen and organizational ability to a marked degree-managing conferences and giant camp meetings, as well as evangelistic and revival meetings, and keeping a great publishing and distribution project going smoothly and without needless duplication. (Portrait appears on p. 529.) Under his guidance the best publishing facilities the country afforded were enlisted to send forth the advent message. It is perhaps not too much to say that his was a feat unequaled in the annals of American church history, or of any other land so far as we know. PFF4 550.1

This indefatigable publishing and publicity genius of the Millerite movement was born in Rhode Island. His father had planned to educate him for the Episcopal ministry at Brown University, but financial disaster overtook the family and made it impossible to send the son to college at that time. Instead, he went to New Bedford to learn a trade. He was converted in 1823, joining the First Christian Church. He quickly showed ability in evangelism, and felt he was called to preach. He began as an exhorter, and was soon commissioned to hold meetings in neighboring schoolhouses, where revivals followed. PFF4 550.2

In 1825 he entered upon the ministry as his lifework. He began to preach in Plymouth, and was appointed an evangelist by the Massachusetts Christian Conference. After raising up a church of 125 at Fall River, he was called to become pastor of the First Christian Church of Boston in 1830, resigning in 1837 to organize and build the Second Christian Church, with its Chardon Street Chapel, seating five hundred. It was here that the advent message reached him. PFF4 550.3

Himes, a reformer by nature, was always crusading against the prevalent evils of the day. He fought the liquor traffic energetically, and was an assistant to William Lloyd Garrison in his spectacular battle against slavery. In fact, Himes’s Chardon Street Chapel was the birthplace of Garrison’s New England Antislavery Society. ⁵⁴ Himes promoted a manual labor school, and was also one of the founders of the Peace Society, for the prevention of war and strife. Indeed, his church became the headquarters for all kinds of reform meetings in Boston. Garrison was very reluctant to release Himes from the antislavery activities, but did so when he had come to feel he must give his whole talents to the Advent Movement. PFF4 551.1

On November 11, 1839, William Miller began a series of meetings in Exeter, New Hampshire. The very next day, the twelfth, a conference of Christian Connection ministers convened there, Himes being one of the group. During the session they adjourned, out of curiosity, to call on Miller in a body, and began to ply him with every sort of question. It was here that Himes first heard and met Miller, who for eight years had worked alone and untiringly in the small towns and rural sections of New England, telling of the soon-coming Saviour. Greatly impressed with Miller’s humble yet effective answers to the many pointed and sometimes tricky questions put to him, Himes invited him to hold a series of meetings in his own church in Boston. Miller accepted, and that eventful day marked a turning point in both lives and launched a new epoch in the advent cause and movement. PFF4 551.2

Himes combined deep spirituality and strict integrity with a true instinct for popular presentation. He was just thirty-five, pleasant and genial, neat in dress, and possessed of a charming personality. (Portrait appears on p. 529.) He was the embodiment of energy, and had marked initiative. And his entire manner begot confidence and gave assurance of his honesty and sincerity. He was dignified in bearing, but was ever a restless and energetic promoter of some cause in which he believed. Miller stayed in Himes’s home while giving his first series of lectures in Boston. Here they had many talks about Miller’s position on the second advent and on the millennium and the prophecies related thereto. PFF4 551.3

Himes became convinced of the general points, and felt a burden to get this premillennial truth before the people. He asked Miller why he had not gone to the large cities. Miller responded that he only went where he was invited, and he had not been invited to the cities before. Himes asked him if he would go if the doors opened, and Miller responded that he was ready to go anywhere. Himes then told him to prepare for a great campaign-that the doors would be opened in every State in the Union east of the Mississippi. And this erelong was literally fulfilled-beyond Miller’s fondest expectations at that time. PFF4 552.1

Miller had felt the need of a printed medium that would get his views before the public and shield him from abusive stories circulated. During the second series in the Boston Chardon Street Chapel, he bared his heart’s burden to Himes, who immediately offered to start the Signs of the. Times. This he did the very next week-without patrons or a single subscriber, and with only a dollar of capital. This dollar was given by an elderly sea captain from Maine. The initial issue was dated February 28. And when a permanent publisher was found, a Boston firm of antislavery publishers, that first number was reissued as Volume I, No. 1, under date of March 20, 1840. PFF4 552.2

The paper was hailed with joy by believers in the advent, while opponents of the advent were disturbed. It was first launched as a medium for discussion of the second coming of Christ, prophecy, prayer, Bible study, revival, consecration, et cetera. It was nonsectarian, and at the outset its columns were a forum for opponents as well as proponents to present their views. But as time passed, it was restricted to presenting the positions of the Adventists. PFF4 552.3

A new edition of Miller’s printed Lectures was agreed upon, and Himes cheerfully undertook the revision and supervision of the publication. Five thousand additional copies were sold without profit to Himes. As opposition grew heavy, Himes became the unwearying friend of Miller, always in the thickest and hottest of the battle. Himes then brought out a third edition of Miller’s Lectures, and was thenceforth in charge of the publication and distribution of Advent literature. He published charts, pamphlets, books, tracts, songbooks, broadsides, and handbills. The scarcity of presses made the distribution more difficult. But the ingenious Himes built up quantities of literature and sent them to the post offices and newspaper offices over the country, and to various depots, distributors, and reading rooms. Ship and harbor workers placed bundles on ships starting out for the various ports of the world. Lighthouse tenders that plied the Atlantic Coast left literature with the lighthouse keepers, in order that they might read the advent news. PFF4 552.4

In an effort to acquaint New York City with the advent message, Himes established a daily paper, Midnight Cry, in connection with a great evangelistic series. Ten thousand copies were printed daily for a number of weeks, and hawked on the streets by newsboys, or given away. When the meetings closed, the paper continued publication as a weekly. The policy of starting a paper for a few weeks or months in a new place while a major evangelistic effort was in progress, was followed rather consistently thereafter. Sometimes these temporary papers were discontinued, the subscribers being transferred to the permanent papers. In other cases the interest was so great that the printing of that interim journal was continued. PFF4 553.1

Himes was noble-hearted, generous, and self-denying. The funds accruing from the publication venture were turned to the spread of the tidings of the second advent. ⁵⁵ He traveled some twenty thousand miles, giving a lecture a day much of the time, and held some five thousand meetings, including a remarkable series of all-day camp meetings. In many ways Himes was the leading figure in the Millerite movement—a human dynamo of energy, ever pushing the cause of publishing and preaching, and organizing the various enterprises connected with the movement. Although Miller was the actual leader, he delegated much authority to Himes, who had his complete confidence. The relationship between the two was like that of father and son. Of this fellowship Himes touchingly said: PFF4 553.2

“We had rather be associated with such a man as William Miller, and stand with him in gloom or glory, in the cause of the living God, than to be associated with his enemies, and enjoy all the honors of this world.” ⁵⁶ PFF4 554.1

Next to the publishing work, perhaps his chief contribution was his part in the great camp meetings. At the Boston General Conference in May, 1842, the decision was made to attempt certain camp meetings, a plan which had been very successfully used by the Methodists. The first, as noted elsewhere, was pitched in Canada, with the first in the States at East Kingston, Massachusetts, both in June, 1842. At the latter Himes was superintendent, and arranged everything with his customary efficiency. The grounds were close to the Boston and Portland Railroad. Tall hemlocks furnished the shade and adjacent groves provided retreats for prayer. Seven to ten thousand people attended daily, coming from all over New England. At one meeting Himes had the people tell how the advent message had come to them-through Miller’s lectures, the Signs, et cetera. The offerings in gold, silver, and jewelry amounted to one thousand dollars-a large sum for that day. PFF4 554.2

Although Himes led out in the camp meeting project, it grew beyond all expectation, and was beyond the ability of any one man to supervise. PFF4 554.3

But more of Himes later. PFF4 554.4