FOOTNOTES
[1] For a full exposition of the subject of the sanctuary and the nature of its cleansing, see Thoughts on Daniel, by U. Smith, and The Sanctuary and Twenty-three Hundred Days, by J. N. Andrews.
[2] See John 14:3; Acts. 1:11; 1 Thess. 4:16; Rev. 1:7; Matt. 16:27; 24:30; Mark. 8:38; 13:26; Dan. 7:13.
[3] Dan. 7:14, 18, 22, 27; Matt. 25:34; Luke 12:32; 19:12, 15; 22:29; 1 Cor. 9:25; 2 Tim. 4:1, 8; James 1:12; 1 Pet. 5:4.
[4] 2 Pet. 3:7-10; Isa. 65:17-19; Rev. 21:22.
[5] 1 Cor. 15:20, 23, 49, 51-53; Phil. 3:20, 21; 1 Thess. 4:14-17; 1 John 3:2.
[6] Isa. 34:8; 40:2, 5; 41:10-12; Rom. 8:21-23; 1 Cor. 1:7, 8; 4:14; 15:54, 56; Eph. 5:27; Col. 1:22; 1 Thess. 3:13; Heb. 2:13-15; Jude 24; Rev. 20:1-6.
[7] It will be seen that Wm. Miller held the doctrine of consciousness in death, which most of the Adventists have renounced.
J. W.
[8] Ps. 50:3; 97:3; Isa. 60:15, 16; 24:21, 22; Dan. 7:10; Mal. 4:1; Matt. 3:12; John 25:29; Acts 24:15; 1 Cor. 3:13; 1 Thess. 5:2, 3; 2 Thess. 1:7-9; 1 Peter 1:7; 2 Peter 3:7, 10; Jude 6, 7, 14, 15; Rev. 20:3, 13-15.
[9] Ps. 37:9-11, 22, 28, 29, 34; Prov. 2:21, 22; 10:30; Isa. 40:21; Matt. 5:5; 6:10.
[10] Rev. 20:2-7.
[11] Matt. 13:37-43; 24:14; Dan. 7:21, 22; 2 Thess. 2:8.
[12] 2 Pet. 3; Isa. 65:17; Rev. 21:22.
[13] Rom. 2:14, 15; 4:13; 9:6; 10:12; 11:17; Gal. 3:29; Eph. 2:14, 15.
[14] The supposition that two of the periods of Daniel extended to the second advent constituted Mr. Miller’s mistake, hence the consequent disappointment.
J. W.
[15] At this place they raised, and placed in his hands, quite a sum of money for his services. He took $1.50 to pay his stage fare to the next place, and directed them to give the balance to some benevolent object.
[16] A son of Mr. M., who was at that time postmaster in Low Hampton.
[17] Mr. M. was in the habit of replying to those who denied that God has revealed the time by asking them: “What ‘wonders’ are referred to in Daniel 12:6?” “Who gave the answer to the inquiry there asked?” and “If those ‘wonders’ include the resurrection,—and the Lord has sworn with an oath that it shall be for a time, times, and a half,—is not the time revealed?” adding. “Whether we understand it correctly or not, is another question.”
[18] See Introduction, vol. 1, p. 333; vol. 4, pp. 189, 191.
[19] See Harmony of Scripture.
[20] Theol. Dic., p. 228.
[21] A Hebrew scholar, of high reputation, makes the following remarks upon the word: “The verb chathak (in the Niphal form, passive, nechtak), is found only in Daniel 9:24. Not another instance of its use can be traced in the entire Hebrew Testament. As Chaldaic and Rabbinical usage must give us the true sense of the word: if we are guided by these, it has the single signification of cutting or cutting off. In the Chaldeo-Rabbinic dictionary of Stockius, the word ‘chathak’ is thus defined:—
“‘Scidit, abscidit, conscidit, inscidit, excidit.’—To cut, to cut away, to cut in pieces, to cut or engrave, to cut off.
“Mercerus, in his ‘Thesaurus,’ furnishes a specimen of Rabbinical usage in the phrase chathikah shelbasar—‘a piece of flesh,’ or ‘a cut of flesh.’ He translates the word as it occurs in Daniel 9:24, by ‘præcisa est’—was cut off.
“In the literal version of Arias Montanus it is translated ‘decisa est’—was cut off; in the marginal reading, which is grammatically correct, it is rendered by the plural ‘decisæ sunt’—were cut off.
“In the Latin version of Junius and Tremellius, nechtak is rendered ‘decisæ sunt.’—were cut off.
“Again: in Theodotion’s Greek version of Daniel (which is the version used in the Vatican copy of the Septuagint as being the most faithful), it is rendered by συνετμἡθησαν—were cut off; and in the Venetian copy by τετμήνται—have been cut. The idea of cutting off is pursued in the Vulgate, where the phrase is ‘abbreviatæ sunt,’ have been shortened.
“Thus Chaldaic and Rabbinical authority, and that of the earliest versions,—the Septuagint and Vulgate,—give the single signification of cutting off to this verb.”
[22] Dowling’s Reply to Miller.
[23] It will be evident to the reader that Mr. Miller held the doctrine of endless misery in a local hell at the time he gave this discourse. In fact, there is no evidence that he changed his views on the immortality question to the time of his death. His writings and his labors give evidence that his mind was not called to the investigation of the subject, it being fully occupied with the great second advent question. The discussion of the immortality theme among the Adventists seems to have been left to younger men at a later period.
J. W.
[24] From personal acquaintance with Mr. Miller, and a thorough knowledge of his teachings, we are happy to state that during his entire public life he had no sympathy whatever with those teachings and influences which lead to fanaticism; and that his broad and liberal feelings of Christian fellowship are expressed in the following address.
J. W.
[25] While it may now appear very evident that the stand taken by Mr. Miller, relative to the character, and the final results, of the fanaticism of which he speaks, was a proper and right one, it is not so clear that he disposed of the question of the gifts and manifestations of the Spirit of God, in harmony with the general scope of Scripture testimony upon the subject. The reader will observe that he does not produce the proof, in his accustomed style of proving his points, that the great commission, with its duties, and its blessings, was given to the ministry for only a limited portion of the Christian age. Mr. Miller, Mr. Himes, and other leading Adventists, failed to show the time when, and by whom, the gifts were removed from the church of God. This gave the fanatics great advantage; and as they maintained the scriptural position upon the perpetuity of spiritual gifts they gained very large numbers to their ranks. The false positions of those who opposed them added fuel to the flame of fanaticism already kindled, and resulted in the breaking up of the once united and happy body of believers.
Seventh-day Adventists have held the scriptural position upon the perpetuity of the gifts from their first existence. They have taken heed to the admonition of Paul to “Despise not prophesyings;” but to “Prove all things;” and “Hold fast that which is good.” 2 Thess. 5:20, 21. They have with their Bibles in their hands applied the rule of John by which to test the spirits. “Believe not every spirit; but try the spirits, whether they are of God.” 1 John 4:1. With this position those who have held it have been prepared to meet every form of fanaticism that has sought a place among us, and now our people are reaping the good fruits of their patient, firm, and energetic efforts upon this point, in the unparalleled union and order throughout the ranks. We would not encourage a disposition to blame those who acted according to the best light they had under the pressure of the trials of the past; but we here express our solemn conviction that very much of the past fanaticism and confusion among the Adventists who could not adopt an unscriptural position, is chargeable to those leaders who took a false position relative to the perpetuity of spiritual gifts.
J. W.
[26] “1. The ark rested on the seventh month, seventeenth day. This has an appearance of a type, the rest of the gospel ark at the judgment. Gen. 8:4.
“2. The sanctuary and worshipers, and all appertaining to it, were cleansed on the seventh month, tenth to seventeenth day. Lev. 16:29-34. Surely this is a type.
“3. The Israelites of God were to afflict their souls, from the evening of the ninth to the evening of the tenth day, seventh month. Lev. 23:27-32, a type of the troubles, Dan. 12:1.
“4. The holy convocation of all Israel, seventh month, 1-15th day, Lev. 23:24; Num. 29:1. Is not this a type of the gathering of the elect? Ps. 81:3, 4; 98:6-9.
“5. The great feast, seventh month, fifteenth day, all Israel appeared before the Lord. Lev. 23:34; 1 Kings 8:2. Type of the marriage supper. Heb. 9:9, 10.
“6. The jubilee trump sounded, seventh month, tenth day, throughout all the land. Lev. 25:9, 10. Type of final redemption. 1 Thess. 4:14-17.
“7. The time of release of all Hebrews in bondage, seventh month, fifteenth day. Deut. 15:1-15; 31:10, 11; Jer. 34:8-14, at the feast of the tabernacles. This evidently is typical of the release of the Israel of God.
“8. The atonement was made on the tenth day of the seventh month, and is certainly typical of the atonement Christ is now making for us. Lev. 16:1-34, antitype. Heb. 9:1-28.
“9. When the high priest came out of the holy of holies after making the atonement, he blessed the people. Lev. 9:22, 23; 2 Sam. 6:18. So will our great High Priest. Heb. 9:28. This was on the seventh month, tenth day.
“10. This was in harvest time, the feast of harvest was kept in the seventh month, from the tenth day to the seventeenth. Lev. 23:10. And the end of the world is compared to the harvest. Matt. 13:30. Christ says plain in “harvest time.”
“11. Also in the feast of tabernacles, in the great day of the feast in the last day. John 7:2, 37. So in the last great day, Jesus’ voice will call forth the righteous dead. John 5:28, 29; 1 Thess. 4:16.”— Wm. Miller in Sings of the Times for May 17, 1843.
[27] Here Mr. Miller expresses the views and feelings of the Adventists generally for a time after the disappointment in October, 1844. Many of the leading men in the movement soon became impatient, and backed out of this position by rashly condemning the time movements of 1843 and 1844 as the result of error, and they took the majority of believers with them. This division left those who took good heed to the godly exhortations of Mr. Miller exposed to great trials and the ravages of fanaticism.
God had the great sanctuary question in reserve for the Adventists, which, in connection with the three messages of Rev. 14, if they had waited patiently in the position where his word and providence had brought them, would have explained the past, given certainty to the then present, and would have opened before them the future work of the third message.
J. W.
[28] From this communication, the reader will be able to gather much relative to the trials of the time when it was written. Mr. Miller had not the true light upon the sanctuary question, consequently held that the 2300 and 1335 days reached to the second coming of Christ. But at the same time, his convictions were so very strong that the hand of God had been in the distinct movements of 1843 and 1844, that leading Adventists could not influence him to reject the work of God in his past deep experience. This communication called out a reply nearly twice its length from the editors of the Herald. He respected and loved these his fellow-laborers; and any statement that he was not influenced by them to a greater or less extent would be unreasonable. And although at a later period he did enter the lecturing field, he held firmly, to the day of his death, that he was fully justified in preaching the time.
J. W.
[29] The leading object in giving matter of this kind from the pen of Mr. Miller is to let the Christian character and tender spirit of the man appear, whom God had raised up to do a great work. He had been a brave soldier in the service of his country, and had fearlessly stood in defense of unpopular truth, and had dared to meet opposition, scoffs, and even scandal, from the popular churches. But now, under the most trying circumstances, we see the aged Christian warrior, clothed with humility as with a garment, and his spirit all softened and sweetened by divine grace, tenderly entreating his brethren to be patient, gentle, true, and kind.
J. W.
[30] 2 Pet. 3:7, 10, 13.
[31] Dan. 7:27.
[32] Heb. 9:28.
[33] Acts 1:9, 11.
[34] Matt. 2:1.
[35] Matt. 1:18.
[36] Matt. 1:25.
[37] Matt. 11:5.
[38] 1 Pet. 3:18.
[39] Luke 23:46.
[40] Luke 23:53.
[41] 1 Cor. 15:4.
[42] Luke 24:51.
[43] Acts 3:21.
[44] 1 Thess. 4:16, 17; 1 Cor. 15:52.
[45] 2 Thess. 1:7, 8.
[46] 2 Tim. 4:1.
[47] Matt. 24:33.
[48] Dan. 7:25; 8:14; 9:24; 12:7, 11, 12; Rev. 9:10, 15; 11:2, 3; 12:6, 14; 13:5.
[49] Dan. 2d, 7th, 8th, 9th, 11th, and 12th chaps.; Rev. 9th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 17th chaps.
[50] Matt. 24:29; Luke 21:25, 26.
[51] Luke 21:28; 1 Thess. 4:18.
[52] 2 Cor. 5:11.
[53] Luke 13:24, 25.
[54] Acts 20:21; Mark 1:15.
[55] Titus 2:11-13.
[56] John 5:28, 29.
[57] Acts 24:15.
[58] 1 Cor. 15:23.
[59] Rev. 20:5.
[60] 1 Cor. 15:51, 52.
[61] Rev. 20:2-7.
[62] Isa. 11; 35:1, 2, 5-10; 65:17-25.
[63] Rom. 4:13.
[64] Rom. 9:6.
[65] Rom. 10:12.
[66] Eph. 2:14, 15.
[67] Rom. 2:6.
[68] Gal. 3:29.
[69] Eze. 37:12; Heb. 11:12, 13; Rom. 11:17; John 5:28, 29.
[70] Matt. 24:14.
[71] Dan. 7:21, 22.
[72] Matt. 13:37-43.
[73] 2 Thess. 2:8.
[74] Rev. 5:9, 10; 21:24.
[75] Matt. 28:19, 20.
[76] Rev. 14:7.
[77] Acts 3:19, 20.
[78] Dan. 12:13; Rev. 6:9-11; Rom. 8:22, 23.
[79] Heb. 11:40.
[80] 1 Pet. 1:4, 5.
[81] 2 Tim. 4:8.
[82] Ps. 17:15.
[83] Matt. 25:34.
[84] Luke 20:36.
[85] The great sin of this time evidently was the disposition of the leading men in the cause to draw back from the clear position, powerful work, and deep experience, of the time movement. They were disappointed and greatly embarrassed. And, instead of patiently waiting for God to open to their minds the great sanctuary question in his own good time, they impatiently and rashly cast away their confidence in the work of God, and abandoned themselves to the fearful work described in the following prophetic exhortation of Paul: “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.” Heb. 10:35-39.
The application of this exhortation is so very natural and forcible that it will hardly be called in question. It was a fearful time. Satan was in a most powerful manner attaching the fancies and extravagances of fanaticism to the only true and correct position. This made the gulf between the two parties still wider. Both in their extreme positions hurt each other. The course of those who were drawing back filled the other with terror, while their extremes in turn confirmed the more prudent that to draw back was the only safe position.
In such a position, with God’s frown upon them, he could not bless their associated efforts at the Albany Conference to rise above existing elements of confusion, and shake off the reproach that was being brought upon the second advent cause. Associated action, upon proper ground, has been right in all periods of the Christian church; but that work at the Albany Conference proved itself not of God, in that it has, in the main, come to nought. The present condition of the surviving leaders in that compact to facilitate a grand march into Egypt, and who drew Mr. Miller in a degree into their confederacy, is indeed deplorable. But that faithful man of God, with the weight of years, and the feebleness of the terrible strain of labors upon him, could not be induced to deny the hand of God in the advent movement, to which he had confidingly devoted all.
J. W.
[86] With Mr. Miller, there were very many who deplored the spirit in which the Babylon question was handled by rash spirits, and a very few, including Mr. Miller, never accepted the view that the term applied to all corrupted Christianity, Protestant as well as Papal. But we do not regard the error of these a tithe as injurious to the cause of truth and religion as the conduct of selfish and rash ones who held the truth in unrighteousness.
J. W.
[87] The reader may now understand the real position of the man whom God had led in the great movement which occurred in fulfillment of the first message of Rev. 14. We believe that the third message, now being proclaimed, and the preparatory work for the coming of the Son of man now in progress with those who embrace it, is by the direct providence of God, in fulfillment of certain portions of his word. And this position makes the conclusions that the first and second messages of the same series were given under the same providence, and that God raised up William Miller to bring out the great truths of the first message, appear very reasonable. Hence we are the more willing to let him speak for himself, that the candid reader may correctly view this representative and providential servant of Jesus Christ, whose name is associated in the public mind with Adventism everywhere.
But few public men “grow old gracefully.” Mr. Miller entered upon his public labors as a lecturer upon the prophecies in the strength of manhood, after acquiring habits of self-reliance, firmness, and undaunted courage, as an army and civil officer. And this stamp of character, sanctified by the grace of God, constituted one of the important qualifications necessary to meet the different forms of determined opposition and persecution which he met. And then, after nerving himself to the battle for thirteen years, forming the strongest combative habits at that period of his life when he was about sixty years of age, when strong men’s habits generally become very strongly established, to see him calmly and gently laying off the armor, and under his bitter disappointment, to witness his resignation to the will of God, and his affectionate appeals and warnings to his younger brethren to be holy men of God, ready for the coming of the Son of man, carries the strongest conviction to candid minds that God had raised him up to do the very work which he did do. As he thus laid his armor off, he said to his brethren that his work was done. In this we can see the hand of God. He had spent the strength of his ripe manhood in giving the first message. His burden fell off, which he interpreted, for a short time, to mean that the work of warning sinners was done. But the great work of the third message was then in the future, and had God designed to use him in giving it, he would have given him a new lease of life, and opened the subject to his mind. But he did not see this work nor feel its importance; and why should he? He had done his work faithfully and well, and was soon to sleep in Jesus.
It is proper here to state that Mr. Miller did not view the second message as we do. Neither did he change his views upon the immortality and Sabbath questions. Having finished his mission in giving the first message, and having reached the point in respect to age and debility, from his extremely arduous labors as a lecturer for thirteen years, with no periods of cessation, only when compelled by sickness, the candid reader can see the love and wisdom of God in not impressing his mind with those subjects which he could not investigate and vindicate before the people.
Having done, and well done, the great work given him to do, the probation of public labor with him successfully past according to the will of God, he could say in the language of Paul, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” 2 Tim. 4:7, 8.
It is just what might be expected, that those who understandingly embrace the principles of the third message, would first inquire relative to the second and first messages, and would feel the deepest interest in the man whom God raised up to lead off in the opening work of giving the great threefold warning to the world.
Those who have been continually publishing a new time upon the heels of a failure, have been, not only disgusting the public, but, at each effort, have been virtually condemning the position of Mr. Miller on the time question, and losing regard for his valuable labors. These can have but little, if any, interest in his life and views.
And on the other hand, those who stood with him on the time question in 1844, and have confessed to the world that they were in error, and have given up their past second-advent experience, virtually condemn his position and work, and can take, comparatively, but little interest in the history of his life, views, and labors. Both of these classes have departed from the position of Mr. Miller, and have denied, or, at least, hold very lightly their past second-advent experience, and have left the field to Seventh-day Adventists, who stand upon the “original advent faith.” And while occupying the position we do relative to the past movement, the public have reason to expect that, while we hold that Mr. Miller moved in the providence of God in his work, we should publish the facts as they existed in his life, views, and labors, in explanation and defense, so far as such facts constitute a defense, of our position.
We still love the advent name, and hold it very dear. And while we hold the name, consistency would lead us to cherish and also hold dear the very means that made us Adventists. To still hold the advent name, and turn round and curse, or deny, or even hold lightly, the means God employed to make us what we are, seems the very climax of inconsistency. When Seventh-day Adventists can no longer honor the great second-advent movement, but feel called upon to confess to the world that the pioneers of the cause were mistaken on the very calculation that shook the world, and which resulted in making Adventists a separate people, then they will drop “Adventists” from their denominational name, and pass for simply Sabbatarian Christians.
J. W.
[88] God in his providence is justifying the preaching of time by the light of the heavenly sanctuary, in connection with the third angel’s message.
J. W.
[89] Mr. Bliss, Mr. Miller’s biographer, served a party who held the popular views of consciousness in death. This is also true of Eld. Himes, who professed faith in the same views of man in death at that time. This accounts for the decided efforts of both these friends of Mr. Miller to use his last experience on the side of natural immortality. It is proper, however, here to state that Eld. Himes, when differently related to the Advent people, was suddenly and unexpectedly found on the other side of the immortality question, and has since given his pen and voice in support of unconsciousness in death and immortality alone through Christ. The effort to use the honest convictions of this aged and wornout pilgrim before and at his last sickness on the side of popular error shows a want of plain Bible testimony to sustain a sinking cause.
The state between the cessation of the mortal life and the resurrection to immortal life being unconsciousness, hence no apparent lapse of time do those who sleep in Jesus, it seems most reasonable that the Holy Spirit should impress the dying Christian with the scenes of glory which he is next to witness at the resurrection of the just, whether the time of that resurrection to consciousness be near or distant. And how very natural for those who die in the faith of consciousness in death to suppose that they immediately enter upon the glories of the heavenly world.
J. W.