“THE MIDNIGHT CRY.
“Such was the interest in New York City, that it was determined by Bro. J. V. Himes, to commence a daily Advent paper, and publish it at least for four weeks, in which the principal arguments sustaining our views were to be embodied and given to the public in a cheap and popular form. The paper was commenced in the latter part of November, 1842, entitled The Midnight Cry. It was principally under the editorial supervision of our beloved and faithful brother, N. Southard. The twenty-four numbers were published, and ten thousand copies of each number circulated. Most of these were gratuitously distributed through the post-offices at the expense of the publisher. Of course, such a distribution could not fail to awaken an interest throughout the country, of the most salutary character. Thousands were enlightened and instructed, and embraced the doctrine, who never heard a lecture on the subject. The ‘Cry’ has been continued as a weekly paper up to the present time, and has each successive week been extending its sphere of usefulness, and cheering the hearts of thousands of lonely pilgrims in every part of the land.
“In February, 1843, Bro. Miller and Bro. Himes visited Philadelphia, and gave a course of lectures, with very great effect. The city was convulsed throughout with the influence of the lectures. Saints rejoiced, the wicked trembled, backsliders quaked, and the word of the Lord ran and was glorified. It is doubtful whether Mr. Miller ever gave a course of lectures with greater effect than at that time. It placed the cause on a permanent foundation in the city, and prepared the way for extending it into the South and West. A book-room was opened in the city early in January, and a small penny paper, the Philadelphia Alarm, was issued. Thirteen numbers of it were published, about four thousand copies per number.”
Efforts were now made in Washington, D. C., and Pittsburgh, Va. “Indeed, the whole West seemed ripe and ready for harvest. Letters written from Pittsburgh, and published in the Midnight Cry, soon aroused the friends at the East, and a number of lecturers immediately started for that field of labor. The Advent banner was unfurled in Cincinnati, and from thence the light has been spreading all over the western and southern country.
“Returning from Pittsburgh, about the middle of March, the Philadelphia Alarm was merged in the Trumpet of Alarm, a paper containing the diagrams of the visions of Daniel and John, and a connected view of the Advent doctrine, gotten up for the express purpose of circulating in the West and South. From twenty-five to thirty thousand copies of it have been circulated.
“While these things were going on at the West, the Lord was still at work in the East. By his gracious Providence, those beloved brethren, N. N. Whiting, J. B. Cook, and F. G. Brown, were brought into the faith and began to proclaim it aloud. The effect of it was electrical. Very many, who had previously looked upon the subject as beneath their notice, began to feel that it was possible, after all, that there might be something in it. This induced examination of the evidence, and that again produced conviction of the truth of the doctrine.
“In a manner too rapid to record, the Advent cause went forward during that winter. I am aware that history loses more than half its interest from the absence of its details; but such are the limits to which this sketch must be confined, it is impossible to enter into the minutiæ of the thing. All that can be done will be to record the outlines of the story.
“Then, again, Bro. Fitch’s mission in Ohio resulted in the establishment of a Second-Advent paper in Cleveland, which has proved an instrument of great good to the cause in that section of the country. Brn. H. B. Skinner and L. Caldwell, who spent the winter in Canada East, also commenced a paper there, devoted to the cause.
“As the summer opened, preparations were made for tabernacle and camp-meetings. East, West, and North, they were appointed and held; most of which were attended with the special blessing of God on the people, and greatly extended the knowledge of the Advent views. The same anxiety to hear on the subject, which has characterized the doctrine from its beginning, marked it still. Not only in places where it had gained a foothold, but in new places where it had never been proclaimed, the greatest anxiety to hear was manifested.