The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 4

VII. Galusha-Casts in Lot With Miller Movement

ELON GALUSHA ³² was son of the governor of Vermont during the War of 1812, from whom William Miller received his commission as an officer in the State militia. Elon was given a good education and studied law. Then, in 1810, he was converted and united with the Baptists. Before long the gospel came to be more inspiring to him than the law, and he soon felt it his duty to preach. He started meetings in an old school-house in his home town, preaching every night to large congregations that assembled, and who were moved by the awakening power of the Word. He became an able minister, and was known as a sound reasoner and highly eloquent speaker as well as a careful writer.” ³³ Few men could carry an audience along as could Galusha with his glowing enthusiasm and substantial instruction. PFF4 676.2

In 1843 Miller was making a tour of New York State and came to Lockport, where Galusha resided. For several months he had been earnestly studying the question of the second coming of Christ. Miller’s presentation convinced him of the soundness of the premillennial position, and from thenceforth he became its ardent advocate, constantly preaching on the imminent advent, the literal resurrection, and a literal restitution of Eden. His joining the Millerite forces created quite a sensation in ministerial circles, and his example became a determining influence with some of the more timid clergy. (Cut of Galusha’s church appears on p. 671.) PFF4 677.1

The background was this: Galusha’s name, as “Pastor of the Baptist Church of Lockport,” headed a list of sixty signatures requesting Miller to deliver an entire course of lectures on the second advent, and to correct misunderstandings and misconceptions about his views. ³⁴ Up to this time Galusha had not committed himself on Miller’s specific teachings. But Miller responded to the invitation, and at the close of the series Galusha became an open advocate, and was thereafter an active preacher in the second advent movement. ³⁵ The Midnight Cry for February 8, 1844, states that Galusha had just tendered his resignation to the church trustees that he might be wholly free to preach his convictions. The Baptist church in Perry, New York, where he went to be pastor for a time, expelled him from their communion. ³⁶ PFF4 677.2

For years Galusha had regarded the world as on the “crumbling verge of time.” It is rushing along like a railroad train “on the track of time, to the last depot.” He had studied Newton, Gill, Poole, and Matthew Henry, and had received a letter from Prof. N. N. Whiting, likewise a prominent Baptist, urging a thorough and patient study of the advent and the prophecies. Regarding this as reasonable he resolved to comply. As a result he became fully satisfied that there was to be no restoration of the literal Jews to Canaan, no millennium before the second advent, and no eternal kingdom before the second coming of Christ. PFF4 677.3

He was convinced that the symbolic prophecies are fulfilled literally; that a day stands for a year; that the 70 weeks ended in A.D. 33, at the cross, and are cut off from the 2300 years; that the 2300 years and the 1335 end in 1843, as well as the seven times, or 2520 years; that the Papacy is the Mystery of Iniquity, and the 1260 years extended from 538 to 1798; that the grand jubilee, or year of release, was due, and the five months (or 150 years) of the fifth trumpet were from July, 1299, to 1449, and the 391 years of the sixth trumpet from 1449 to August, 1840; and that the predicted darkening of the sun came in 1780, and the falling of the stars in 1833. It is an overwhelming array. PFF4 678.1

Let us, he urged, learn an imperative lesson from the Jewish rabbis, who were so blinded by preconceived opinions as to crucify the very Lord of glory-and still continue to look to the future for Messiah’s coming. We have come to the last days, he averred, with their perilous times and scoffers. The days of Noah are repeated. Let us beware lest we be taken unaware. Be ready! he pleaded. Then comes his vivid climax, in swift, tumbling phrases, like staccato notes: PFF4 678.2

“The song of revelry soon will cease-the voice of mirth be heard no more forever-the chilling horror will suddenly seize upon you-the sheltering rocks will not protect you—the falling mountains will not hide you—the firey stream will not spare you—the wail of anguish will not relieve you—Nor gushing tears—nor Mercy’s name—unbleeding Lamb,—will then avail you! ‘Now is the accepted time—now is the day of salvation.’ Now, while the last tide may be ebbing—while the last sand may be falling—fly to Jesus—swiftly fly—your sins confess—for mercy plead—while He is on the mercy-seat.” ³⁷ PFF4 678.3

Then in another vein, through quiet reasoning in an article in the Southern Midnight Cry, Galusha asks, “Where Are We in the Chronology of the World?” And his answer is that only the last portions of the great outline prophecies, connected with the imminent second advent, remain unfulfilled-the last link in the long connected chain of prophetic events. We have passed through all the kingdoms of Daniel 2, and are only waiting for the stone to smite the image on its feet, and then to become the glorious kingdom that shall stand forever. The same is true of the series of Daniel 7, which is only waiting for the Ancient of Days to slay the fourth beast and give the kingdom to the Son of Man. We have similarly passed all the kingdoms of Daniel 8, and merely await the breaking without hand of the exceeding great horn, and the final cleansing of the sanctuary. The same is likewise the case with Daniel 11 and 12-only the standing up of Michael, the time of trouble, the deliverance of God’s people, and the awakening of those who sleep in the dust of the earth remain of all the many predictions and specifications. PFF4 679.1

We have passed nearly all the events” mentioned by Christ in Matthew 24, except the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven. The various signs of the times admonish us of the nearness of the end—the heaping up of treasures, of James 5; the unwillingness of men to hear sound doctrine, of 2 Timothy 4; the scoffers predicted of Peter for the last times—the perilous times, the departing from the faith, the arising of false teachers. We are clearly under the sixth seal of Revelation 6, between the falling of the stars (in 1833) and the departing of the heavens as a scroll—in the Laodicean state of the church, under the sixth trumpet, with the seventh ready to sound. We must therefore be near the end of the prophetic periods-the six thousand years from creation, the seven times of the Gentiles, the great jubilee of jubilees, the 1335 years from the time the “daily” was taken away-all alike pointing to 1843. After this comprehensive survey comes his sobering conclusion: PFF4 679.2

“Having therefore seen the fulfillment of all these prophecies, witnessed the appearance of all these signs, and reached that point of time when all the prophetic periods appear to terminate, sustained by the best historical and chronological evidence, we cannot be far from the ushering in of eternal realities. We ought, therefore, not to sleep as do others.” ³⁸ PFF4 680.1

These are echoes from the lips of Miller’s lesser-known associates, all of whom were stalwart characters. PFF4 680.2