Two numbers of an advent periodical, The Southern Midnight Cry, were issued in connection with the lectures in Washington. Later numbers were issued at Baltimore. Urgent calls came from Charleston, Savannah, Mobile, and other large cities in the South, but it was not possible to respond to them, owing to previous engagements.

The lecturers held meetings in Baltimore, March 3-8. Mr. Miller lectured in Philadelphia on the 10th, in Newark, N. J., on the 11th, in New York on the 12th, and in Brooklyn and Williamsburg, N. Y., on the 13th, after which he returned to his home at Low Hampton.

From this on, his biographer tells us, he seems to have kept no account of his labors, his notebook closing at the end of this tour with the words: "Now I have given, since 1832, three thousand two hundred lectures." The tired workman thought he was laying down his tools; for his exposition of the prophecy had led him to expect the Lord to appear in glory during that year from March 21, 1843, to March 21, 1844. He expected soon to hear the" Well done, good and faithful servant; " but he was to be disappointed. The Lord had yet larger things in view for the advent people. The command had gone forth: "Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings." But before this larger sphere of usefulness could be entered upon, there must come a period of bitter trial and disappointment, which would test to the utmost the patience and endurance of the advent believers.

"UNTO 2,300 DAYS; THEN SHALL THE SANCTUARY BE

2,300 YEARS

1,810 years

CLEANSED"

A.D.
1844

THE 2300 DAYS

The heavy line represents the full 2300 year-day period, the longest prophetic period in the Bible.
Beginning in B. C. 457 when the decree was given to restore and build Jerusalem (Ezra 7:11-26; Dan. 9:25),
seven weeks (49 years) are measured off to indicate the time occupied in this work of restoration. These,
however, are a part of the sixty-nine weeks (483 years) that were to reach to Messiah, the Anointed One.
Christ was anointed in 27 A. D., at His baptism. Matt. 3:13-17; Acts 10:38. In the midst of the seventieth
week (31 A. D.), Christ was crucified, or "cut off," which marked the time when the sacrifices and oblations of the
earthly sanctuary were to cease. Dan. 9: 26, 27. The remaining three and one-half years of this week reach to
34 A. D., or to the stoning of Stephen, and the great persecution of the church at Jerusalem which followed.
Acts 7:59; 8:1. This marked the close of the seventy weeks, or 490 years, allotted to the Jewish people.

But the seventy weeks are a part of the 2300 days; and as they (the seventy weeks) reach to 34 A. D., the
remaining 1810 years of the 2300-day period must reach to 1844, when the work of judgment, or cleansing of
the heavenly sanctuary, was to begin. Rev. 14:6, 7. Then special light began to shine upon the whole sanc-
tuary subject, and Christ's mediatorial or priestly work in it.

Four great events, therefore, are located by this great prophetic period, the first advent, the crucifixion, the rejection of the Jewish people as a nation, and the beginning of the work of final judgment.

142

"At midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go yet out to meet him." Matt. 25: 6.

CHAPTER V

IT was in the summer of 1844 that the followers of William Miller first became a separate body. In tracing the steps leading up to this consummation, it will be necessary to go back a few years in the history of the movement. When Mr. Miller first began to lecture on the second advent, he was cordially welcomed by the ministers and laymen of all evangelical denominations. In fact, he expounded his views only where he was invited to do so, and the hearers, if they did not wholly agree with the lectures, manifested a friendly interest in the subject.

As an example of this open-minded attitude, the Rockingham Christian Conference, held at Newton, N. H., in the summer of 1840, passed the following resolutions:

"1. Resolved, That the doctrine of Christ's second coming to judge the world, is, in our view, one of great importance to be taught, and very generally found in the Bible; and although we are not prepared to decide in regard to the particular period of the event, we consider it perfectly safe and Scriptural for all to be looking out and prepared for it as being, now, specially at hand.'

"2. Resolved, That it be recommended to all, so far as our influence may extend, to give the subject a ready and faithful examination, as found in the Scriptures; and to avail themselves of such help in doing it, as in their views shall be most safe and scriptural.

"3. Resolved, That the Signs of the Times of Christ's Second Coming, published at Boston, so far as we have had opportunity to learn, bids fair as being a useful help on the subject.

"4. Resolved, That we approve of the doings of our appointed council for conducting the Christian Herald (published at Exeter), in regard to their opening its columns, as they have done, for a fair and judicious discussion of the subject of Christ's coming and kingdom at hand."— Signs of the Times, 1840, Vol. I, p. 95.

This generally friendly attitude, with some exceptions, lasted well through the year 1840. But as the work went on, and papers, tracts, and books were issued, and Himes, Litch, and other practised speakers began to do aggressive work on the platform, the ministers who had not accepted Mr. Miller's views, nor perhaps even investigated them, began to find themselves in an embarrassing position. Some of them favored Whitby's theory of a millennial age upon this earth previous to the second advent. This teaching the Adventist preachers very strongly opposed, believing it to be contrary to the plain declaration of Scripture, and calculated to produce spiritual apathy and worldliness.

Thus there developed gradually on the part of many a feeling of dislike and suspicion toward the "Miller " movement, as it was sometimes called. It began to assume in their eyes the semblance of fanaticism, or at least of unwise emphasis upon portions of the Bible not susceptible of being understood. Yet for a time there was little active opposition; for the results of the lectures in producing deep spiritual awakenings, could not be gainsaid.

Perhaps this intermediate position of the clergy is well exemplified in the attitude of some of the Methodist ministers toward Josiah Litch when he attended the annual gathering of ministers of the Providence Conference in the summer of 1841, after having been for two or three years more or less connected with Mr. Miller. The presiding elder, under whose supervision he labored during the last year, said he had nothing against Brother Litch, but he believed he preached the Miller doctrine, and he felt it his duty to bring up the matter.

Various questions were then asked by the bishop and others, embracing nearly every point in the advent doctrine. After due deliberation, the conference came to the conclusion that Mr. Litch held to nothing contrary to Methodism, although he went in some points beyond it.

This second period, in which the advent movement was under suspicion, but was not to any great extent opposed by the evangelical clergy, lasted a little more than two years, from the end of 1840 to the early part of 1843. From that time on the opposition was general, and grew more intense from month to month.

When the Methodists held their annual meeting in Bath, Maine, in 1843, resolutions were passed condemning the advent teaching as having "an immediate, and more particularly an ultimate, disastrous tendency." Methodist ministers "who persist in disseminating these peculiarities," were to be "admonished by the chair, and all be hereby required to refrain entirely from disseminating them in the future."

The resolutions were rigidly carried out, and created a very painful situation for the members of the conference who had adopted Mr. Miller's views. One of these, L. F. Stockman, who was laboring in Portland, continued to preach as he had done, and was, after due admonishment, brought to trial for heresy. The general charge was "disseminating doctrines contrary to our articles of religion, as explained by our standard authors." Stockman was expelled, and a few months later was laid away to rest. The obituary notice in Zion's Herald gave him a noble Christian and ministerial career, "with the exception of this one dark blot upon his character," referring to his belief in Christ's soon coming.

With official action being taken to expel ministers who taught the advent views, it was not to be expected that the churches would long retain Adventist believers in their membership. The crisis was precipitated by the presence in the various congregations of a number who had imbibed a violent prejudice against the Adventists and their doctrines, and objected strongly to their expressing in class or prayer meeting their hope in the near advent of the Saviour. In some cases they were advised to withdraw quietly, and did so; in others they were publicly disfellowshiped.

To Mr. Miller this growing opposition on the part of church members was a source of pain and anxiety. He was a man of peace, and one who valued the friendship of his fellow Christians. It cut him to the quick to have the churches take a hostile attitude toward him and his associates, and he wrote a letter of protest, addressed to "believers in Christ of all denominations." The letter was published in the Advent Herald and Signs of the Times of Feb. 14, 1844, and possibly in some of the church papers; but in general little notice was taken of it.