Here, then, the foundation on which he keeps the world standing from 1813 to 1843, is a simple if. And to get in these supposititious 30 years, between the death of the pagan and the life of the Papal beast, he involves himself in a maze of absurdity. He makes the taking away of the daily sacrifice to be the putting an end to the Papal beast, that did daily sacrifice to idol abominations. The little horn, by whom the daily sacrifice was taken away, Mr. Miller takes to be the Papal beast, or Catholic church. This beast takes away the daily sacrifice, i.e., puts an end to the pagan beast, and yet does not exist until 30 years after the pagan beast is dead. This is truly an unheard of strait for a schemer to come to, to be obliged, in order to bring out his reckoning, to get 30 years between the existence of two beasts, one of which kills the other. The second beast slays the first, and performs many wonderful works, 30 years before he has any existence! No marvel that the man who could see into such mysteries should imagine that he could see the end of the world in 1843!
Mr. Miller commits various other errors in his calculations and dates, as, for instance, he states that pagan Rome commenced 148 years before Christ, whereas Rome was founded by Romulus, as an independent government, 752 years before Christ, being pagan from its beginning. He dates the erection of the Papal authority at A.D. 538. By the Papal power he means, of course,—not the Papal doctrine, for that existed much earlier than 538,—but the establishment of the civil authority. And this was not until about A.D. 750.
Indeed, Mr. Miller is palpably wrong in nearly all his positions; and the reason is, he is not looking for facts, but for reckonings to fill out his own scheme. And even in this, too, he fails. On page 109 of his Course of Lectures, first published in 1836, speaking of events to happen in 1839, he holds the following language: "He that is filthy will be filthy still. Mankind will, for a short season, give loose to all the corrupt passions of the human heart. No laws, human or divine, will be regarded; all authority will be trampled under foot; anarchy will be the order of government, and confusion fill the world with horror and despair. Murder, treason, and crime will be common law, and division and disunion the only bond of fellowship. Christians will be persecuted unto death, and dens and caves of the earth will be their retreat. All things which are not eternal will be shaken to pieces, that which cannot be shaken may remain. And this, if I am right in my calculations, will begin on or before A.D. 1839. 'And at that time (1839) thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.' Now is come salvation indeed. The people of God are now to be delivered from outward foes and inbred lusts, from the corruptions of the grave and the vileness of the flesh. Every one, the poor and despised child of God, will then (in 1839) be delivered when he makes up his jewels.'"
Mr. Miller, in finding that things did not take place as he prophesied, put a note in the end of his book, on the last page, stating that he had made a mistake of one year in some of his computations, and hence these things which he supposed would take place in 1839, according to the first computation, will not be realized until the year 1840! And yet 1840 passed over our heads, and these things did not take place. On page 296 of his Lectures, he says the sixth vial was poured out in 1822, when the Ottoman power began to be dried up. This he considered to be a very important sign, indicating that we were on the very brink of the judgment day. Here he introduces Rev. xvi. 12. "And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great River Euphrates; and the waters thereof were dried up, that the way of the kings of the earth might be prepared." This preparation, Mr. M. says, is for the last great battle, which will take place at the pouring out of the seventh vial, in the year 1839 or 1840. "At the pouring out of the seventh vial, a voice from the throne will pronounce the words, It is done. The kingdoms of the earth and the governments of the world will be carried away, and their places be known no more." But these kingdoms still remain.
Mr. Miller's last assumption was, that Christ would come in the spring of 1844, at the date corresponding with the ending of the Jewish year for 43. Mr. M. says, in his preface to his book, "If I have erred in my exposition of the prophecies, the time, being so near at hand, will soon expose my folly." He had already seen the folly of some of his computations, and he seemed to fear lest it might prove the same in the final result also. And this he soon experienced, as may be seen by reading his confession, made at the Tabernacle in Boston, on the evening of May 28, 1844. He there stated that what he had preached and published respecting the coming of the Lord in 1843 was done honestly; (!) that he fully believed it; but that the time had now passed, and he was proved to be mistaken; that when the time arrived and the event did not take place, he felt bad—felt lonely—thought he should never have any more to say in public; that he felt worse on the account of others than he did for himself. He said there was an error somewhere in his calculations, but he could not tell where. He had now no definite time—he should wait God's time: it might come in a day, it might not come in fifty years; he could not say exactly when; he was waiting. Thus the whole affair exploded—came to nought; although much evil in regard to Mr. Miller's prophecies may yet be experienced in the community. Some will yet cling most obstinately to the system, and still maintain that Christ may be expected every day, hour, or minute, while others will fix upon some other date within a short period of time. They will still refer us to certain signs in the starry heavens, endeavoring to persuade the people to believe that the whole machinery of nature is out of joint, and that this is a certain precursor to the speedy dissolution of the world.
One of the second advent preachers gave the startling intelligence that "fifteen hundred stars had recently faded from the vault of heaven." But what are the facts? Not more than thirteen stars are recorded in the annals of astronomy as having been lost; and so far from having faded recently, some of them disappeared many ages since. It is not even certain that any stars have been blotted out. There are nearly one hundred variable stars which have periods of unusual brilliancy, and then gradually fade till nearly invisible, and after a time revive again. The thirteen missing stars may be of this description. These changes were observed many centuries ago. The bright star which appeared suddenly, with unusual splendor and brilliancy, in Cassiopeia, in 1572, is supposed to be the same star which suddenly appeared in the same place, with great lustre, about the year 900, and also about 600 years before, during the intervals of which it was invisible.
The same preacher adduced the Aurora Borealis as another sign of the last days. "Is it not remarkable," says he, "that no record of them appears till quite recently?" But what are the facts? It was indeed supposed by many, who had not investigated the subject, that the Aurora was first seen in England in 1716; but on examination we find it spoken of in 1560, in a scientific work, entitled A Description of Meteors, published soon after the invention of printing, subsequent to which, and before 1716, there are many accounts of the same phenomenon.
Many have supposed that nothing has ever before appeared, similar to the remarkable red Aurora, which was witnessed on the evening of January 25, 1837. Yet such spectacles have often been witnessed in the northern parts of Sweden, Lapland, and Siberia, and in remote and different periods. The Aurora is a great blessing in those high northern latitudes, where the sun is absent for many weeks, furnishing the inhabitants with a splendid light, in the midst of their dreary winter nights. Gmelin describes the Aurora Borealis of those regions as differing in color according to the states of the atmosphere, "sometimes assuming the appearance of blood." He observes that "they frequently begin with single bright pillars rising in the north, and almost at the same time in the north-east, which, gradually increasing, comprehend a large space in the heavens, rush about, with incredible velocity, from place to place, and finally almost cover the whole sky to the zenith, producing an appearance as if a vast tent was expanded in the heavens, glittering with gold, rubies, and sapphire. A more beautiful spectacle cannot be painted." These lights occasionally come so far south as to illuminate the sky in our latitude. Sometimes they have not appeared for many years. In 1716, these lights were seen in England, though never witnessed before by the oldest inhabitants living; and, as might be expected, they were alarmed, and actually supposed the day of judgment had come. From Barber's History of New England, we learn that the first appearance of the northern lights in this country, after the period of its first settlement, was on December 11, 1719, "when they were remarkably bright; and, as people in general had never heard of such a phenomenon, they were extremely alarmed with the apprehension of the final judgment. All amusements, all business, and even sleep was interrupted, for want of a little knowledge of history." We were told by some of the advent preachers that meteors and shooting stars, falling to the earth, were never seen until 1799. But this is a great mistake. As early as the year 472, Theophanes relates, "The sky appeared to be on fire, with the coruscations of flying meteors." Virgil, in his book of Georgics, speaks as follows:—
"And oft, before tempestuous winds arise,
The seeming stars fall headlong from the skies,