Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1879-12-20

The year 1910 marked new era In the progress
of Second Adyentism. Net only was the day
Of probation " drawing nigh-the day on which
The uElveTse SaoGi sTtvei with fire the re5urrec-
tion al d ascension OF the Just attead the awful
coming of Christ and the millennium begtl,
AFTER hich The wicked would be raised for their
eternal df linfort-of which the date was at
first approximately fixed between the vernll
eauinoXeS OF 1881; but Father Miller. "the-
end-of-t Ee-Woil Id man" as he was irreverently
called by these whose sense OF humor was
greater than that CT his followers, began more
freely to extend the sphere of his personal ex-
hortations. particularly in eastern New England.
Though native of Pittsfield, his laborS up to
his forty-eighth year had been almost wholly
confined to the border counties OF New York and
Vermont. until In April. 1889, he appeared for
the first time in Massachusetts, as prophet
reed shaken by palsy. IL not by the wind In
December he was again in Boston; and In Feb
pIary 1870 ne saw the puniication OF the Sg -,
first of the Millerite organs, which afterward
reckoned the Midnight Cry New York;, the Glld
TjdinuS( Rochester, the MiUenial Htbillge1, etc.
From this time to his death he lectured frequently
in his native state in halls and groves expound-
ing his rules OF Interpretation by which the
harmony Of the Scriptures was assured, aud in-
terpreting by the aid Of Revelations the ''tlme,
times and a half' of Daniel, on which his de-
structfve calculations rested. 1t was in Mas
sachuSetts that his venerable and sincere pres
ence first failed to restrain the rotten egg,
which in those times awaited the utterer OF I'M
popular doctrine. for he was mobbed with mis-
siles at Ncwburyport in May, 1912. A month
ond Advent Camp-meeting. held at East King
ston, N. H., and In the audience the poet Whit
tier taking notes of the strange impressive.
picturesque scene-a tall growth Of pine and
hemlock throwing its melancholy shadow over
the multitude, who We're arranged upon rough
seats OF boards and logs; the white tents,
drawn about in circle, forming background
OF snowy whteness to the dark masses OF men
and foliage; hymn pealing through the dim
aisles OF the forest; preachers laundering from
bower of hemlOck boughS
On the 18th of March, 1874, Father Miller closed
the diary Of his public labors, and reckoned up
his 5000 lectures given since 1882. 1t was almost
life which betokened the approach of the burn
ing day." When March had gone out, and April
saw not the heavens in commOtion, and May
had come, the poor Old man was heard confess
ment, but not his unbeiief. october might yet
witness the fultillment OF prophecy: "rne Lord
and appear visibly in the clouds of heaven on
the 22d. During this interval of ten days, secu-
lar business was suspended among the Advent
ists In New York, as Mrs. Child records, at a
shop in the Bowery, muslin for ascension robes
was offered; tradesmen shut up shop, or gave
away goods, or dealt more liberal measures, to
make their record good with the Almighty-all
tngs with stones and brickbats, and crackers
and torpedoes. The Adrent Herald issued its
last number with valedictory. And then the
could only say, 81 have fixed my mind on
another time, and here l mean to" stand
until God gives me more light, and that is, to-.
ddp, TO-DAY. and TO-DAY, until He comes
Some, however, allege that the Lord had come,
but invisible, and '.closed the door of mercy to
the sinner" and then arose contention be-
tween the orthodox and the ''shut-door' party
as to which should gain over Father Miller.
This was exquisite cruelty, but not without logi-
cal cause. The shut-door faction, given up to
fanatical excuses, or neglectinG It's worldly
affairs in way to call for guard anship or the
wOrkhOuSe at the hands of judges and select
men, did not in the end prevail The orthodox
party became tame and uninteresting sect like
any other. with an indefinite lease of life. The
"COme-OuterS," who had made with the Adven-
from Cape Cod, and appear to have formed
lasting union with them. The Cape is still the
country ear excellence Of camp-meeting5 and
AdventistS, and there the wretched Freeman,
Offering his little daughter as sacrifice recalled
an almost forgotten superstition.-[Fi'om ''7he
IsmS Of Forty Fears Ago." IN Harpe1's Maya
zine JO1' January.