“‘In all my labors I never had the desire or thought to establish any separate interest from that of existing denominations, or to benefit one at the expense of another. I thought to benefit all. Supposing that all Christians would rejoice in the prospect of Christ’s coming, and that those who could not see as I did would not love any the less those who should embrace this doctrine, I did not conceive there would ever be any necessity for separate meetings. My whole object was a desire to convert souls to God, to notify the world of a coming judgment, and to induce my fellow-men to make that preparation of heart which will enable them to meet their God in peace. The great majority of those who were converted under my labors united with the various existing churches. When individuals came to me to inquire respecting their duty, I always told them to go where they would feel at home; and I never favored any one denomination in my advice to such.
“‘But my brethren began to complain that they were not fed by their ministers, and wanted expository preaching. I told them it was their duty to interest their ministers in the prophecies; but, if they could not receive the teachings under which they sat, they must act in accordance with their own sense of duty. They then began to complain that they had not liberty in the churches to present their views freely, or to exhort their brethren to prepare for the Judgment. Those in the neighborhood of advent preaching felt that, when they could listen to these glorious truths, it was their privilege so to do. For this, many of them were treated coldly. Some came out of their churches, and some were expelled. Where the blame lay it is not necessary here to inquire; there was, doubtless, wrong on both sides. The result was, that a feeling of opposition arose, on the part of many of the ministers and churches that did not embrace these views, against those who were looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.’
“He then spoke of various points as follows:—
“‘DEFINITENESS OF PROPHETIC TIME.
“‘I had never been positive as to any particular day for the Lord’s appearing, believing that no man could know the day and hour. In all my published lectures will be seen, on the title-page, “about the year 1843.” In all my oral lectures I invariably told my audiences that the periods would terminate in 1843 if there were no mistakes in my calculation; but that I could not say the end might not come even before that time, and they should be continually prepared. In 1842, some of my brethren preached, with great positiveness, the exact year, and censured me for putting in an if. The public press had also published that I had fixed upon a definite day, the 23d of April, for the Lord’s advent. Therefore, in December of that year, as I could see no error in my reckoning, I published my belief that some time between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844, the Lord would come. Some had their minds fixed on particular days; but I could see no evidence for such, unless the types of the Mosaic law pointed to the feast of tabernacles.
“‘During the year 1843, the most violent denunciations were heaped upon me, and those associated with me, by the press and some pulpits. Our motives were assailed, our principles misrepresented, and our characters traduced. Time passed on, and the 21st of March, 1844, went by without our witnessing the appearing of the Lord. Our disappointment was great, and many walked no more with us.
“‘Previously to this, in the fall of 1843, some of my brethren began to call the churches Babylon, and to urge that it was the duty of Adventists to come out of them. With this I was much grieved, as not only the effect was very bad, but I regarded it as a perversion of the word of God, a wresting of Scripture.[86] But the practice spread extensively; and, from that time, the churches, as might have been expected, were closed against us. It prejudiced many against us, and created a deep feeling of hostility between Adventists and those who did not embrace the doctrine; so that most of the Adventists were separated from their respective churches. This was a result which I never desired nor expected; but it was brought about by unforeseen circumstances. We could, then, only act in accordance with the position in which we were thus placed.
“‘On the passing of my published time, I frankly acknowledged my disappointment in reference to the exact period; but my faith was unchanged in any essential feature. I therefore continued my labors, principally at the West, during the summer of 1844, until “the seventh-month movement,” as it is called. I had no participation in this, only as I wrote a letter, eighteen months previously, presenting the observances under the Mosaic law which pointed to that month as a probable time when the advent might be expected. This was written because some were looking to definite days in the spring. I had, however, no expectation that so unwarranted a use would be made of those types that any should regard a belief in such mere inferential evidence a test of salvation. I therefore had no fellowship with that movement until about two or three weeks previous to the 22d of October, when, seeing it had obtained such prevalence, and considering it was at a probable point of time, I was persuaded that it was a work of God, and felt that, if it should pass by, I should be more disappointed than I was in my first published time.
“‘But that time passed, and I was again disappointed. The movement was of such a character that, for a time, it was very mysterious to me; and the results following it were so unaccountable that I supposed our work might be completed, and that a few weeks only might elapse between that time and the appearing of Christ. However that might be, I regarded my own work completed, and that what was to be done for the extension of these views must be done by younger brethren, except an occasional discourse from myself.
“‘As time has progressed, I have been pained to see many errors which have been embraced, in different sections of the country, by some who have labored in connection with myself; errors which I cannot countenance, and of which I wish to speak freely, although I may lose the fellowship of some for faithfully doing my duty.