The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1880-02-13
SUNDAY READING.
FATHER EILhEB.

Gili II T1H 'Ii7'iiiIIlc
The year 1910 marked a new era in
The progress. of second adyentism. Not
only was the "day of probation" draw
ing nigh-the day on which the universe
sliouldshrivel with fire, the eresm'fcctio
and ascension of the lust attend the aw-
ful coming OF Christ, and the millcn-
mum begiu, afler which. the Wicked
would be raised from their eternal dis
comfort-of which tho date was at first
approximately fixed between the ver-
nal equinoxes OF 18l3-44; but ~Fatbcr
Miller, the-end-of-the-woll man, as
he was irreverently called by those
whose sense Of hunor was greater than
that of his followers, began more free
ly to extend the sphere Of his persunal
exhortations particularly in eastern
New England. Though native of
Piltsficld, his labors up to his IS year
had been almost wholly confined to the
border counties of New York and Yer
mont, until in April, 1889, he appeared
for the first time in Massachus elts las
prophet-a reed shaken by palsy, if not
by the wind. In December he was
again in Boston; and in February,
1910, he saw the publication of the Signs
of the Times (afterWards Advent Her
ald) begun, the first of tho Millerite or
gans, which afterward rcckoned the
Midnight Cry (Ncw York;, the Glad
Tidings (Rochester), the Millcnnial
Harbinger, etc. From this time to his
death he lcctured frequently in his ma
tive state in halls and groves, expound-
ing his rules of Interpretation by which
the harmony of the Scriptures was as
sured, and Interpreting BY the aid of
Revelations the time, time and half of
Daniel, on which his destructive calcu-
lations rested. 1t was in Massachusctte
that his venerable and sincere presence
first failed to restrain the rotten ogg.
which i'll those times awaited the utterer
OF unpopular doctrine, for he was mob
bed with missiles at Newburyport in
May, 1912. A month later we find him
holding forth at the first Second Advent
camp-meeting, held at East Kingston,
New Hampshire, and in the audience
the poet Whittier taking notes of the
strange, picturesque scene-a tall
growth Of pine and hemlock throwing
its melancholy shadow over the multi
tude, who were arranged upon rOugh
seats of boards aud logs: the white
tents, drawn about in circle, forming
background of snowy whitencss to
the dark masses of men and foliage: n
hymn pealing through the dim aisles of
the forest; preachers laundering from
u bower of hemlocl boughs.
On the II of March, 1914, Father Mil
Ter closed the diary Ct his labors, and
reckoned up his $500 lectures given
since 1882. 1t was almost the only
change in the regularity Of his daily life
which betokened the approach OF" "thc
burning day" When March had gone
out, and April saw not the heavens Ia
commotion, and May had come, the poor
old man was heard confessing hisNror
and acknowledging his disappointment,
but not his unbelief. October might vet
witness the fullillment of prophesv:
"The Lord will certainly leave his mcr-
cy seat on the 18th, and appear visible
in the clouds of heaven on the 22d."
During this interval of ten days, sect
lar business was suspended among the
Adventists. In New York, as Mrs.
Child records, at a shop in the Bowcry,
muslin for ascension robes was offered;
tradesmen shut up shop or cave away
goods, or dealt liberal measure, to make
their record good with the Almighty
all the while tue ungodly disturbed
the meetings with stones and brick
bats, and crackers and torpedos. The
Advent Herald issued its last number
with valcdictory. And then the sun
rose on the 23d, and tho sad prophet
could only say II have fixed my mind
on another time, and here mean to
stand until God gives me nose light,
and that is to-day, TO-DAY and TO-DAE -
until He comes" Some, however, al
legged that the Lord had como but inyis-
IDLY. and "closed the door of mercy TO
sinners" and then arose q contention
between the orthodox and the "shut-
door" party as to which should gain
over Father Miller. This was exquisite
cruelty, but not without logical cause.
The snut-doOr faction, given up to IL
natical excuses, or neglccting its
worldly affairs in way TO call for
guardianship or Work-hOuse at the
hands of Judges and selcctmcn, did not
in the end prevail. The orthodox be-
came q tame aud unintercstcd sect like
any others with an indefinite lease of
life. The "COme-outers,9 who had
made with the Adyentists the joint con-
vcntion at GrOton, were chiefly from
Cape Cod, and appear to have formed II
lasting union with them. The Cape is
still the country par excellence of camp
meetings and Adventists. and there the
wrctched Freeman, Offering his little
daughter rs Il sacr llce, recalled an al-
most forgotten superstition.
Henry Ward Beecher, lately preach
ing on the subject of death, made the
following remarks: Generally there is
no pain at the last moment, for it seems
that the body suffers in proportion to it,
remotencss from death. 1t is common
ly supposed that evil men die in great
horror of their doom. They don't.
Wicked men usually pass out OF life as
TRANQUILITY as any one else. Tranquility
is the law of decadcpce. Pain or eX-
quisite pleasure at the last are only cN-
perienccd in exceptional cases. Men
suffer more every day of their lives
than they do in dying. Every man sub
iect to the incursions of rheumatic
afilictions, or 10 the pangs of ioothache,
suffers hundred times more than he
will when he is on his death bed. No
death is moro painless than n sudden
death. Livingstone records his expert
ence when sprung upon and struck
down by n lion. The moment when the
beast was on him was one of the most
exquisite tranquility. No death Is TOO
sudden for him who is doing his duty.
Not the stroke OF lightning; not the
fall from the prccipice. Right living is
the correct road to right dying, and no
man need fear death.
Robert COllycr on Baptism.
Iattach no mystical meaning or worth
to the simple and beautiful rite of bal
tism: and if one in the robes of light
shouldcome aud tell me that few drops
of waier from priesrs hand. or its alb