October 22, 7:21 AM
Patricia Hysell
October 22, 1844: Jesus Christ does not return to Earth. William Miller was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts in 1782 and had little formal education although he was well-read. His family moved around New England and after marrying, Miller settled in Poultney, Vermont where he held a number of civil offices. He was raised as a Baptist but became a Deist as a young man. After serving in the War of 1812 and wrestling with the meaning of death, he returned to the Baptist church and became a Baptist preacher. He studied the Bible diligently for his own benefit and to gain ammunition for debate with his Deist friends. Miller became convinced the actual date of the Second Coming was to be found in Scripture.
Miller "did the math" and was certain he found the correct date in 1818. His first calculations brought Jesus to Earth in 1843, however he continued his private study. In September 1822 Miller went public with his revelations. In 1832 he sent 16 articles to the Vermont Telegraph, a Baptist paper, for print. By 1840 Miller's following burst out of Vermont and he became a national figure. He was helped in this by publisher Joshua Vaughn Hines who spread his message via print. Miller did not give an exact date for Christ's reappearance, stating it would happen between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844. On March 22, 1844 the date was moved to April 18. In August, after much recalculation, the date October 22, 1844 was chosen.
Miller's followers, called Millerites, were deeply saddened on October 23 and many abandoned their beliefs. Some of his followers continued to learn from him and eventually founded the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, based on many of his teachings. Not everyone was sanguine in regards to the failed prophecy. Millerites were taunted, subjected to ridicule and even physically assaulted. One church was burned and a mob armed with clubs and knives attacked a group of Millerites. Another group of believers was tarred and feathered.
The bewildered and disillusioned included even Miller, who died in 1849 while still awaiting his Savior's return. The responses of the believers were of three varieties. By 1845 religious doctrines began to gel. Joseph Turner led the first sect, holding to the "shut door" theology. If a believer did not accept gospel prior to the Second Coming, the door of opportunity would close and the individual was beyond redemption. Joshua Hines refused to accept the shut door philosophy especially after the no-show in 1844. The third group, led by Hiram Edson, said the date was correct but the event itself was misinterpreted. He preached Jesus' return happened on this date. It was given that the return was to heaven and not to this mortal realm.
"I was thus brought… to the solemn conclusion, that in about twenty-five years from that time 1818 all the affairs of our present state would be wound up." – William Miller
"I waited all Tuesday [October 22] and dear Jesus did not come;– I waited all the forenoon of Wednesday, and was well in body as I ever was, but after 12 o’clock I began to feel faint, and before dark I needed someone to help me up to my chamber, as my natural strength was leaving me very fast, and I lay prostrate for 2 days without any pain– sick with disappointment." – Henry Emmons
"Our fondest hopes and expectations were blasted, and such a spirit of weeping came over us as I never experienced before....We wept, and wept, till the day dawn." – Hiram Edson
"Some are tauntingly enquiring, 'Have you not gone up?' Even little children in the streets are shouting continually to passersby, 'Have you a ticket to go up?' The public prints, of the most fashionable and popular kind…are caricaturing in the most shameful manner of the 'white robes of the saints.'" – William Miller, letter dated November 18, 1844
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Our Sanctuary Doctrine
Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. Dan. 8:14.
God bids us give our time and strength to the work of preaching to the
people the messages that stirred men and women in 1843 and 1844. . . .
My brethren, take your position where God bids you. Leave alone those
who, after light has been repeatedly given them, have taken a stand on
the opposite side. . . . Take up the work which has been given us. With
the Word of God as your message, stand on the platform of truth and
proclaim the soon coming of Christ. Truth, eternal truth, will prevail.
For more than half a century [i.e., since 1844] the different points of
present truth have been questioned and opposed. New theories have been
advanced as truth, which were not truth, and the Spirit of God revealed
their error. As the great pillars of our faith have been presented, the
Holy Spirit has borne witness to them, and especially is this so
regarding the truths of the sanctuary question. Over and over again the
Holy Spirit has in a marked manner endorsed the preaching of this
doctrine. But today, as in the past, some will be led to form new
theories and to deny the truths upon which the Spirit of God has placed
His approval.
Any man who seeks to present theories which would lead us from the light
that has come to us on the ministration in the heavenly sanctuary should
not be accepted as a teacher. A true understanding of the sanctuary
question means much to us as a people. When we were earnestly seeking
the Lord for light on that question, light came. In vision I was given
such a view of the heavenly sanctuary, and the ministration connected
with the holy place, that for many days I could not speak of it.
I know from the light that God has given me that there should be a
revival of the messages that have been given in the past, because men
will seek to bring in new theories, and will try to prove that these
theories are scriptural, whereas they are error, which, if allowed a
place, will undermine faith in the truth. We are not to accept these
suppositions and pass them along as truth. No, no; we must not move from
the platform of truth on which we have been established.
There will always be those who are seeking for something new, and who
stretch and strain the Word of God to make it support their ideas and
theories. Let us, brethren, take the things that God has given us, and
which His Spirit has taught us is truth, and believe them, leaving alone
those theories which His Spirit has not endorsed.
>From Devotional: Our Father Cares, p. 271.
.
Source: http://egwlists.whiteestate.org/pipermail/devotional/2005/000466.html
.
Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. Dan. 8:14.
God bids us give our time and strength to the work of preaching to the
people the messages that stirred men and women in 1843 and 1844. . . .
My brethren, take your position where God bids you. Leave alone those
who, after light has been repeatedly given them, have taken a stand on
the opposite side. . . . Take up the work which has been given us. With
the Word of God as your message, stand on the platform of truth and
proclaim the soon coming of Christ. Truth, eternal truth, will prevail.
For more than half a century [i.e., since 1844] the different points of
present truth have been questioned and opposed. New theories have been
advanced as truth, which were not truth, and the Spirit of God revealed
their error. As the great pillars of our faith have been presented, the
Holy Spirit has borne witness to them, and especially is this so
regarding the truths of the sanctuary question. Over and over again the
Holy Spirit has in a marked manner endorsed the preaching of this
doctrine. But today, as in the past, some will be led to form new
theories and to deny the truths upon which the Spirit of God has placed
His approval.
Any man who seeks to present theories which would lead us from the light
that has come to us on the ministration in the heavenly sanctuary should
not be accepted as a teacher. A true understanding of the sanctuary
question means much to us as a people. When we were earnestly seeking
the Lord for light on that question, light came. In vision I was given
such a view of the heavenly sanctuary, and the ministration connected
with the holy place, that for many days I could not speak of it.
I know from the light that God has given me that there should be a
revival of the messages that have been given in the past, because men
will seek to bring in new theories, and will try to prove that these
theories are scriptural, whereas they are error, which, if allowed a
place, will undermine faith in the truth. We are not to accept these
suppositions and pass them along as truth. No, no; we must not move from
the platform of truth on which we have been established.
There will always be those who are seeking for something new, and who
stretch and strain the Word of God to make it support their ideas and
theories. Let us, brethren, take the things that God has given us, and
which His Spirit has taught us is truth, and believe them, leaving alone
those theories which His Spirit has not endorsed.
>From Devotional: Our Father Cares, p. 271.
.
Source: http://egwlists.whiteestate.org/pipermail/devotional/2005/000466.html
.