1844_History Of The Second Advent Believers.pdf

SECOND

BELIEVERS.

BY N. SOUTHARD,

LDITOPOI 0. THE MIDNlQET IXY.

THEbelief that Christ's personal return precedes the Millennium has

been held by Christians in all ages ; but it has been accompanied by

a belief that those descendants of Abraham, erroneously called Jews

would be either gathered to Palestine or converted, or both, before

that coming. Within the last fifty years, the great principle thnt the

New Testament, is an infallible key to the Old, has led to the hearty

adoption of the truth that he is not a Jew who is one outwardly,"

that those " who are Christ's are Abraham's seed, and heirs accord-

ing to the promise," inasmuch as "the Gentiles are fellow-heirs, and

OF THE SAME BODY, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the

gospel," and that those are truly "the circumcision, who worship

God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence

in the flesh." Hence, tlrose who have confidence in the flesh," and

rest their hopes in a lineal descent from Abraham, have no share in the

promises to the true Israel, but dl Israel, shall be saved."

Among the rejecters of modern Judaism which gives the promises

to those who say they are the seed of Abraham, but are not the true

seed, William Miller is prominent. The following is a statement of

the views advocated in the Second Advent publications.

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLEEl ON WHICH THE SECOND ADVENT

CAUSE IS BASED.

1. The word of God teaches thnt this earth is to be regenerated in

the restitution of all things, and restored to its Eden stare as it came

from the hand of its Maker before the fall, and is to be ihe eternal

abode of the righteous in their resurrection state.

2. The only Millennium found in the word of God,is the one thousand

years which are to intervene between the first and second resurrec-

tions as brought to view in the 20th of Revelations. And the various

portions of scripture which are adduced as evidence of such a period

SWXND ADVENT BeLIEVERS.

689

in time, are to have their fulfilment only in the new earth, wherein

dwelleth righteousness.

3. The only restoration of Israel yet future, is the restoration of

the saints to the new earth, when the Lord my God shall come, and

all his saints with him

4. The signs which were to precede the coming of our Saviour,

have all been given; and the prophecies have all been fulfilled but

those which relate to the coming of Christ, the end of the world, and

the restitution of all things.

5. There are none of the prophetic periods, as we understand them,

extending beyond the (Jewish) year 1843, (which terminates in the

spring of 1844.)

The above we shall ever m'aintain as the immutable truths of the

word of God, and therefore, till our Lord come, we shall &er look

for hie return as the next event in historical prophecy.

Those who hold substantially the above views, are found in the

greatest numbers in the United States, but the doctrine has been pro-

mulgated in the four quarters of the globe. Wm. Miller commenced

lecturing in 1831; and his views were published about the same time,

in the Vermont Telegraph. To meet the calls for information, he

collected these articles in a pamphlet, which he distributed gratui-

tously. One edition of his lectures was published in 1836. Early in

1840, Joshua V. Himes, a minister in the Christian connexion, became

a believer in these views, and commenced the Signs of the Times,

issuing it for nearly two years only once in two weeks; it is now

weekly. It commenced without subscribers or funds, but gradually

gained friends Other works were issued, and their circulation steadily

increased. Josiah Litch, a member of the New England Conference

of the Methodist Episcopal Church, had in 1838, published a book

on the Probability of the Second Coming of Christ about the year

184%" In 1842, he issued " Prophetic Expositions," in two volumes

The Midnight Cry was commenced in New York, in Nov. 1842, and

continued daily for twenty-six numbers, and is now weekly. It has

been sent to every post office in the United States, and has excited an

interest in the Middle and Western States, like that which the Signs

had been the means of awakening in New ~n~land.

Charles Fitch,

formerly a pastor of the Free Presbyterian Church, Newark, N. J.,

wrote his "Reasons for believing the Second Advent of Christ in

1843," when he was at Haverhill, Mass., in Nov. 1841. A paper

called '* The Second Advent of Christ" was commenced by him at

Cleveland, about the close of 1842. George Storrs commenced

preaching the Second Advent Faith, in the summer of 1842. His

lectures are many of them published in a pamphlet called Bible

Examiner. Enoch Jacobs, a Methodist Protestant preacher, stationed

at Attorney Street, Eew York, advocated the Second Advent Faith

in the New York Luminary, in 1842. He has continued his labours

in New York, and at Cincinnati, where he is continuing the Western

Midnight Cry, a weekly paper, commenced by George Storrs. The

books and pamphlets of William Miller, Josiah Litch, G. F. Cox,

Charles Fitch, George Storrs, L. D. Fleming, S. Bliss, J. B. Cook, F.

G. Brown, N. Hervey, and others, are embodied in forty successive

numbers of the Second Advent Library. The writings of Lewis

Hersey, have been widely circulated in newspaper form. Several

millions of books, papers, and tracts haye been issued. Their circu-

lation has been chiefly in the United States and Canadas ; but con-

siderabl; quantities have been sent to England. The Voice of Elijah,

pt~blisl~ed

SYNOPSIS OF MILLER'S VIEWS.

I. I believe Jesus Christ will come again to this earth.

Pro?f.-John xiv. 3: And if I go and prepare a place for you, I

will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am,

there ye may be also.

Acts i. 11 : Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye

gazing up into heaven ? This same Jesus which is taken up from

you into heaven, phall so come in like manner, as ye have seen him

go into heaven.

1 Thess. iv. 10 : For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven

with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of

God ; and the dead in Christ shall rise first.

Rev. i. 7 : Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every cye shall see

him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth

shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

at Montreal, circulates in the British dominion8 both sides

of the Atlantic. Tracts have been translated illto French and Ger-

man. They have been sent, in English, to all the missionary stations

known, and carried by whaling vessels to the remotest parts. Several

hundreds of preachers constantly promulgate these views. The

cumber of befievers cannot be ascertained. They are every where

a minority. If the world generally embraced these views that fact

would prove them false, for at Christ's second coming, it shall be as

it was in the days of Noah ; and Christ's question, When the Son of

man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" clearly implies that

true faith will be very far from universal.

8&CY)ND ADVENT BEUSVER8 I

67 1

11. I believe he will come in all the glory of his Father.

Prof.-Matthew xvi. 27 : For the Son of man shall come in the

glory of his Father with his angels ; and then he shall reward every

man according to his works.

Mark viii. 38: Whosoever, therefore, shall be ashamed of me, and

of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also

shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his

Father, with the holy angels

111. I believe he will come in the clouds of heaven.

Pro?f.-Matthew xxiv. 30 : And then shall appear the sign of the

Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth

mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of

heaven, with power and great glory.

Mark xiii. 26: And then shall they see the Son of man coming in

the clouds, with great power and glory ; xiv. 62: And Jesus said,

+ ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of

power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

Daniel vii. 13 : I saw in the night visionas,and behold, one like the

Son of man cake with the clouds of heaven, and came to the An-

cient of days, and they brought him near before him.

IV. I believe he will then receive his kingdom, which will be

eternal.

PmJ-Daniel vii. 14 : And there was given him dominion, and

glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should

serve 11im : his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not

pass away, and his kingdom, that which shall not be destroyed.

Luke xix. 12, 15 : He said therefore, A certain nobleman went

into a far country, ta receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.

And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the

kingdom, then he commanded those servant8 to be called unto him,

to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much

,every man had gained by trading.

2 Tim. iv. 1 : I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord

ksus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing

and his kingdom.

V. I believe the saints will then possess the kingdom for ever.

, Proof.-Daniel vii. 18, 22, and !27 : But the saintsof the Most High

&all take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for

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