The Advent Herald, for November 13, 1844, J. V. Himes, S. Bliss, and A. Hale, editors, says:
“But the alarm was everywhere made; the cry was everywhere given. And again we can see that God was with us. It was a soul-purifying work; and the children of God bowed themselves in his presence and received blessings to their souls, unprecedented in the history of the Advent cause. And yet we are disappointed; the day passed away and we are still here. And those who only looked on, and passed by, were ready to exclaim that it was all a delusion; and that now of a certainty we must relinquish all our hopes, and abandon all our expectations. We, however, do not thus feel. As great a paradox as it may be to our opponents, yet we can discern in it the leadings of God’s providence; and when we are reviled and censured by those to whom the world look as the Gamaliels of our age, we feel that they are only speaking evil of the things they understand not.
“Those who have not been in this late movement, can appreciate nothing respecting it. And we regard it as another, and a more searching test, than the first proclamation of the time. It has searched Jerusalem as with candles; and it has purged out the old leaven. It has tested the hearts of all who heard it, and awakened a love for the Lord’s appearing; or it has called forth a hatred, more or less perceivable, but known to God, of his coming. It has drawn a line, and awakened sensibilities, so that those who will examine their own hearts, may know on which side of it they would have been found, had the Lord then come; whether they would have exclaimed, ‘Lo! this is our God, we have waited for him and he will save us;’ or whether they would have called to rocks and mountains to fall on them to hide them from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. God thus, as we believe, has tested his people, has tried their faith, has proved them, and seen whether they would shrink, in the hour of trial, from the position in which He might see fit to place them; and whether they would relinquish this world and rely with implicit confidence in the work of God.
“And we as much believe that we have done the will of God in thus sounding the alarm, as we believe that Jonah did when he entered into Nineveh a day’s journey, and cried, saying, ‘Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown.’ Nineveh was not then overthrown; nor has the Lord yet wrought deliverance in the earth, nor the inhabitants of the world fallen. Was Jonah a false prophet when he preached the time of Nineveh’s destruction? No; he had only preached the preaching that God had bid him. But God had said that ‘at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it; if that nation against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.’ Jer. xviii, 7, 8. ‘So, the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them; and God saw their works that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil that he said he would do unto them; and he did it not.’ The preaching of Jonah served as a test to the inhabitants of Nineveh, and accomplished God’s purposes, as much as it would have done had the city perished.
“So we believe that this last cry has been a test; and that with our views of duty, we should as much have sinned against God, had we refrained from giving that message, as Jonah did when ‘he rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord;’ that we should as much have sinned, had we refused to give heed to it, as the Ninevites would in refusing to repent at his preaching; and that all who are angry that we have preached a time which has not been realized, are as guilty as Jonah was when he was angry and prayed the Lord to take his life from him, because God had spared that great city.”
The following is from the Advent Herald of October 30, 1844, relative to the suspension of meetings in the Advent Tabernacle of Boston. The article from which it is taken, had previously been inserted in several of the daily papers of that city. It is important, as it correctly sets forth the views and feelings of Adventists at that time. In view of such testimony, it is vain for any man to deny that it was the universal belief of Adventists, in the autumn of 1844, that their work for the world was forever done. After giving some of the reasons why they expected the Lord on the tenth day of the seventh month, the writer of the article says:
“With this expectation we were desirous to meet once more, to mingle our prayers, and to encourage one another in the last work of preparation; and for this purpose we had met at our well-known place of worship in this city. We gave no special notice of our meeting, we made no appeal to the public, and it was characterized by no exercises which were calculated to excite either the mirth or vengeance of any portion of the community.
“We were serious, we were bowed in penitence and prayer before God, or heartily affected by the mutual confessions of tried and dear friends. We had no ill-feeling to indulge toward any man; we felt that we were done with the world, and had forgiven them the many injuries they had inflicted upon us; but stale and silly slanders in reference to us were revived; the restless spirits of the community have been aroused; we could not meet in peace, and our meetings in consequence have been suspended. And we now make these remarks to disabuse the public, and with the hope that some, who would not otherwise give their attention to the calls of the present time, may lay them to heart.
“To the city authorities, who faithfully rendered their services, we are grateful, though we could not promote the objects of the meeting when such protection was needed.
“We forgive our enemies. They have not injured us; and oh! that they could see how much they may have injured themselves; but we have done with them now. We expect the realization of the promise of God. He who delivered Noah and Lot; he who brought his people out of Egypt and Babylon, has promised (as we believe) to save them finally ‘by his Son from Heaven.’ We expect it. We have hazarded all on that expectation; and we only ask that God may give us, and all who look for him, grace to abide the issue.