I saw that God was in the proclamation of the time in 1843. It
was His design to arouse the people and bring them to a testing
point, where they should decide for or against the truth. Ministers
were convinced of the correctness of the positions taken on the
prophetic periods, and some renounced their pride, and left their
salaries and their churches to go forth from place to place to
give the message. But as the message from heaven could find a
place in the hearts of but few of the professed ministers of Christ,
the work was laid upon many who were not preachers. Some left
their fields to sound the message, while others were called from
their shops and their merchandise. And even some professional
men were compelled to leave their professions to engage in the
unpopular work of giving the first angel's message.
Ministers laid aside their sectarian views and feelings and united
in proclaiming the coming of Jesus. Wherever the message was given,
it moved the people. Sinners repented, wept, and prayed for forgiveness,
and those whose lives had been marked with dishonesty were anxious
to make restitution. Parents felt the deepest solicitude for their
children. Those who received the message labored with their unconverted
friends and relatives, and with their souls bowed with the weight
of the solemn message, warned and entreated them to prepare for
the coming of the Son of man. Those cases were most hardened that
would not yield to such a weight of evidence set home by heartfelt
warnings. This soul-purifying work led the affections away from
worldly things to a consecration never before experienced.
Thousands were led to embrace the truth preached by William Miller,
and servants of God were raised up in the spirit and power of
Elijah to proclaim the message. Like John, the forerunner of Jesus,
those who preached this solemn message felt compelled to lay the
ax at the root of the tree, and call upon men to bring forth fruits
meet for repentance. Their testimony was calculated to arouse
and powerfully affect the churches and manifest their real character.
And as the solemn warning to flee from the wrath to come was sounded,
many who were united with the churches received the healing message;
they saw their backslidings, and with bitter tears of repentance
and deep agony of soul, humbled themselves before God. And as
the Spirit of God rested upon them, they helped to sound the cry,
"Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment
is come."
The preaching of definite time called forth great opposition from
all classes, from the minister in the pulpit down to the most
reckless, heaven-daring sinner. "No man knoweth the day nor
the hour," was heard from the hypocritical minister and the
bold scoffer. Neither would be instructed and corrected by those
who were pointing to the year when they believed the prophetic
periods would run out, and to the signs which showed Christ near,
even at the doors. Many shepherds of the flock, who professed
to love Jesus, said that they had no opposition to the preaching
of Christ's coming, but they objected to the definite time. God's
all-seeing eye read their hearts. They did not love Jesus near.
They knew that their unchristian lives would not stand the test,
for they were not walking in the humble path marked out by Him.
These false shepherds stood in the way of the work of God. The
truth spoken in its convincing power aroused the people, and like
the jailer, they began to inquire, "What must I do to be
saved?" But these shepherds stepped in between the truth
and the people, and preached smooth things to lead them from the
truth. They united with Satan and his angels, crying, "Peace,
peace," when there was no peace. Those who loved their ease
and were content with their distance from God would not be aroused
from their carnal security. I saw that angels of God marked it
all; the garments of those unconsecrated shepherds were covered
with the blood of souls.
Ministers who would not accept this saving message themselves
hindered those who would have received it. The blood of souls
is upon them. Preachers and people joined to oppose this message
from heaven and to persecute William Miller and those who united
with him in the work. Falsehoods were circulated to injure his
influence; and at different times after he had plainly declared
the counsel of God, applying cutting truths to the hearts of his
hearers, great rage was kindled against him, and as he left the
place of meeting, some waylaid him in order to take his life.
But angels of God were sent to protect him, and they led him safely
away from the angry mob. His work was not yet finished.
The most devoted gladly received the message. They knew that it
was from God and that it was delivered at the right time. Angels
were watching with the deepest interest the result of the heavenly
message, and when the churches turned from and rejected it, they
in sadness consulted with Jesus. He turned His face from the churches
and bade His angels faithfully watch over the precious ones who
did not reject the testimony, for another light was yet to shine
upon them.
I saw that if professed Christians had loved their Saviour's appearing,
if they had placed their affections on Him, and had felt that
there was none upon the earth to be compared with Him, they would
have hailed with joy the first intimation of His coming. But the
dislike which they manifested, as they heard of their Lord's coming,
was a decided proof that they did not love Him. Satan and his
angels triumphed, and cast it in the face of Christ and His holy
angels, that His professed people had so little love for Jesus
that they did not desire His second appearing.
I saw the people of God joyful in expectation, looking for their
Lord. But God designed to prove them. His hand covered a mistake
in the reckoning of the prophetic periods. Those who were looking
for their Lord did not discover this mistake, and the most learned
men who opposed the time also failed to see it. God designed that
His people should meet with a disappointment. The time passed,
and those who had looked with joyful expectation for their Saviour
were sad and disheartened, while those who had not loved the appearing
of Jesus, but embraced the message through fear, were pleased
that He did not come at the time of expectation. Their profession
had not affected the heart and purified the life. The passing
of the time was well calculated to reveal such hearts. 236 They
were the first to turn and ridicule the sorrowful, disappointed
ones who really loved the appearing of their Saviour. I saw the
wisdom of God in proving His people and giving them a searching
test to discover those who would shrink and turn back in the hour
of trial.
Jesus and all the heavenly host looked with sympathy and love
upon those who had with sweet expectation longed to see Him whom
their souls loved. Angels were hovering around them, to sustain
them in the hour of their trial. Those who had neglected to receive
the heavenly message were left in darkness, and God's anger was
kindled against them, because they would not receive the light
which He had sent them from heaven. Those faithful, disappointed
ones, who could not understand why their Lord did not come, were
not left in darkness. Again they were led to their Bibles to search
the prophetic periods. The hand of the Lord was removed from the
figures, and the mistake was explained. They saw that the prophetic
periods reached to 1844, and that the same evidence which they
had presented to show that the prophetic periods closed in 1843,
proved that they would terminate in 1844. Light from the Word
of God shone upon their position, and they discovered a tarrying
time--"Though it [the vision] tarry, wait for it." In
their love for Christ's immediate coming, they had overlooked
the tarrying of the vision, which was calculated to manifest the
true waiting ones. Again they had a point of time. Yet I saw that
many of them could not rise above their severe disappointment
to possess that degree of zeal and energy which had marked their
faith in 1843.
Satan and his angels triumphed over them, and those who would
not receive the message congratulated themselves upon their farseeing
judgment and wisdom in not receiving the delusion, as they called
it. They did not realize that they were rejecting the counsel
of God against themselves, and were working in union with Satan
and his angels to perplex God's people, who were living out the
heaven-sent message.
The believers in this message were oppressed in the churches.
For a time, those who would not receive the message were restrained
by fear from acting out the sentiments of their hearts; but the
passing of the time revealed their true feelings. They wished
to silence the testimony which the waiting ones felt compelled
to bear, that the prophetic periods extended to 1844. With clearness
the believers explained their mistake and gave the reasons why
they expected their Lord in 1844. Their opposers could bring no
arguments against the powerful reasons offered. Yet the anger
of the churches was kindled; they were determined not to listen
to evidence, and to shut the testimony out of the churches, so
the others could not hear it. Those who dared not withhold from
others the light which God had given them, were shut out of the
churches; but Jesus was with them, and they were joyful in the
light of His countenance. They were prepared to receive the message
of the second angel. -