James White

“ In the name of all that is dear, all that is holy and good, we call upon some of you to come out and tell us wherein our great sin lies. Have we denied the faith once delivered to the saints? Tell us, we pray you, or, wherein is our fault? If there is an honest man among you, of which we cannot doubt, we shall expect to see your reasons publicly and honestly avowed; and if we are guilty of heresy or crime, let the Christian community know it, that we may be shunned by all who know and love the truth. ”

“ Let us be determined to live and die on the Bible. God is about to rise and punish the inhabitants of the world. The proud, the high, the lofty, must be brought low; and the humble, the meek, and the contrite, will be exalted. Then, what care I for what the world calls great or honorable? Give me Jesus, and a knowledge of his word, faith in his name, hope in his grace, interest in his love, and let me be clothed in his righteousness, and the world may enjoy all the high-sounding titles, the riches it can boast, the vanities it is heir to, and all the pleasures of sin ”

“ In him all power dwells. He is the evidence of all truth, the fountain of all mercy, the giver of all grace, the object of all adoration, and the source of all light; and I hope to enjoy him to all eternity. What! such a sinful wretch as I enjoy Christ? How can this be? Yes, yes; through the electing love of God, the sprinkling of the blood of the covenant, and the work of regeneration, such a sinner as I may be cleansed from sin, purified, and made white, and glorified in the New Jerusalem, together with him, and with all who love our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and who love his appearing. ”

“ Bliss:—We are now in this place laboring to prove to the people that the Bible is the revealed will of God, and that all may and will be known which concerns us, to make us perfect in every good work, by every sincere and candid inquirer, in this age of general expectation of some moral or physical revolution in the earth. And we believe, and we so teach, that the revolution so much expected, and so long desired by every child of God, is the coming of King Jesus, the marriage of the Lamb, and the completion of all the promises given us who believe in God’s word. ”

“ And so, say you, can fathers die for children, and mothers for their sons; children can give their lives, though rare the gift, to save the life of parents; husbands, and wives, and friends have fallen, to save each other from death. All this is true. But here is love greater than these; ‘for while we were enemies Christ died for us.’ Yea, more: he left his Father’s presence, his glory, and that Heaven where angels dwell; where he, the brightest star in all the upper world, stood highest; where seraphim and cherubim in glory cast down their crowns, and worshiped at his feet. ”

“ There is a forsaking of the world, an unconcern for the wants of life, a general searching of heart, confession of sin, and a deep feeling in prayer for Christ to come. A preparation of heart to meet him seems to be the labor of their agonizing spirits. There is something in this present waking up different from anything I have ever before seen. There is no great expression of joy: that is, as it were, suppressed for a future occasion, when all Heaven and earth will rejoice together with joy unspeakable and full of glory. ”

“ Therefore, let us lift up our heads and rejoice, knowing that our redemption draweth nigh. We regret to see any impatience manifested among the friends of Jesus. God is now trying our graces. How solemn the thought that any should lose the crown when near the goal! Let us arise, shake off our dullness, redouble our diligence, let all the world know there is such a grace as Christian perseverance, and let all see that we are truly seeking a better country. ”

“ This was a time of love, a time of faith, working by love and purifying the heart. It was this hope, “the blessed hope,” that made us purify ourselves from our sectarian prejudices and bigotry.
“‘I have often thought that we then enjoyed a foretaste of the love and fellowship of the saints in light. Why is it not so now? The reason is as obvious as the sun at noonday. We have been drawn from our first principles by wicked and designing men, who have crept in among us and drawn us into parties, to follow men instead of God, and to form new tests instead of the Bible. ”

“ Our learned critics are worse on the waters of truth than a school of sharks on the fishing-banks of the north, and they have made more infidels in our world than all the heathen mythology in existence. What word in revelation has not been turned, twisted, racked, wrested, distorted, demolished, and annihilated by these voracious harpies in human shape, until the public have become so bewildered they know not what to believe? ”

“ The world will watch for our halting. They cannot think we believe what we speak, for they count our faith a strange faith; and now beware, and not give them any vantage-ground over us. They will, perhaps, look for the halting and falling away of many. But I hope none who are looking for the glorious appearing will let their faith waver. Keep cool; let patience have its perfect work ”

“ Was it not a good thing to warn sinners of their danger, which might lead them to repentance and a preparation for the Judgment? Was it not a good thing to preach the kingdom [390] of Heaven at hand and the Judgment? Was it not a good thing to preach the resurrection of these bodies, the inheritance of the saints, and the reign of Christ and his people on the earth made new forever? Was it not a good thing to comfort the saints with the words of his coming, and to stir them up to a remembrance of the things which Christ, the prophets, and apostles, have spoken concerning his coming? ”

“ I have never courted the smiles of the proud, nor quailed when the world frowned. I shall not now purchase their favor; nor shall I go beyond duty to tempt their hate. I shall never seek my life at their hands; nor shrink, I hope, from losing it, if God in his good providence so orders. I thank God for your steadfastness in the truth, and pray him that you may endure unto the end. I remain as ever looking for, and expecting the King in his glory soon.
Wm. Miller.’
Again Mr. Miller writes for the Herald, Dec. 3, 1844 ”

“ I have studied it with an overwhelming interest, such as I never felt in any other book except the Bible. I have compared it with Scripture and history, and I find nothing on which to rest a single doubt respecting the correctness of your views. Though a miserable, guilty sinner, I trust that, through the Lord’s abounding grace, I shall be among those that love his appearing. I preached to my people two discourses yesterday on the coming of our Lord, and I believe a deep and permanent interest will be awakened thereby in God’s testimonies. ”

“ It consoles me in sickness, comforts me in tribulation, and gives me patience to endure the scoffs and tauntings of an ungodly, selfish, and unfeeling world. My faith and confidence in God’s word is as strong as ever; although he has not come in the time I expected. I still believe the time is not far off, and that God will soon, yes, too soon for the proud scoffers, justify himself, his word, and the cry of alarm which has been given through your indefatigable labors, with others whom God has raised up to assist in giving the midnight cry. ”

“ Be not turned away from your great work by friends or foes; but let each one occupy the talent intrusted to him—each working in his appropriate field of labor. Be charitable to all, and not indulge in harsh and bitter denunciations against those who are not enabled to see with you. Cultivate that spirit of good will toward all men, which shall fit you to be instrumental, in the hands of God, of saving some; and be less [399] interested to advance the prosperity of party or sect than to extend the cause of truth. ”

“ Can it be possible, after we have run well for a season, loved the appearing of Jesus, come to a time when we must expect him, and should be ready to cast ourselves into his arms, that we shall go back, or again strike hands with a thoughtless world? May God forbid! [354] Let us then go forward. It is death to go back; to go forward can be no more.
“‘We are pained to see a disposition to murmur against those who have been pioneers in the war—who have sacrificed all earthly considerations to support a truth so unpopular as the second advent and personal reign of Jesus Christ. ”

“ This system of teaching the young and ignorant took its rise between forty and fifty years since, at the very time that the Christian world were praying, and ardently praying, for the coming of Christ, before that part of the Saviour’s prayer was forgotten, “Thy kingdom come.” From a little fountain this stream of water has become a great river, and encompassed the whole land. Every quarter of the globe is drinking at this fountain or stream of knowledge, and the youth are taught to trim their lamps. ”

“ Miller did not consider that his reviewers always treated him and his arguments with the utmost fairness; and, in speaking of them, he sometimes retorted in terms of great severity. Considering his treatment, by the religious and secular press, and the contumely which was incessantly heaped on him, that he should, at times, manifest a degree of impatience, was more an occasion of regret than of surprise. Few men have been called to endure so great an amount of reproach as fell to his lot; and few could have endured it as he did. He was human, and shared in all the weaknesses common to humanity ”

“ True, after the manner of men, the sects had provoked us to the course we took by all the wicked arts and misrepresentation of our views and motives that human and satanic agency could invent—by slander, ridicule, and wresting the word of God from the meaning which had long been laid down in their own creeds, and departing from those rules by which their fathers, for centuries, had applied mystic Babylon to the church of Rome. ”

“ All others are dark and incomprehensible concerning a future state. “To be, or not to be,” was a question which the ancient philosophers of Greece and Rome could never settle among themselves. Nor all the wisdom of our modern writers were able to settle this important point for our hope. But you will acknowledge, if the Bible is the word of inspiration, then that point is forever settled, and we have an answer to the question of immortality and eternal life. ”

“ He remarked that, ‘Ere this, he had been in hopes of meeting all present in the heavenly kingdom. But, if we love the Lord Jesus Christ, however much we may be disappointed, we shall not forget Christ’s coming. God may see fit to disappoint us, sometimes, for our good. We may not see the wisdom and fullness of the whole of God’s plan; but he never tries us but for our profit. Therefore, we should not be disheartened or cast down.’ Every disappointment only made him more strong in the belief of the certainty of the nearness of Christ’s appearing. ”

“ It is as natural as my breath; and if I ever cease from vain and trifling conversation in this world, you must place me in society which I have no regard for,—either to love or to hate,—where I could be a hypocrite without any drawback. For I have often noticed, when I am alone and with no one to converse with, that I am not tempted to speak words of vanity. ”

“ The state between the cessation of the mortal life and the resurrection to immortal life being unconsciousness, hence no apparent lapse of time do those who sleep in Jesus, it seems most reasonable that the Holy Spirit should impress the dying Christian with the scenes of glory which he is next to witness at the resurrection of the just, whether the time of that resurrection to consciousness be near or distant. And how very natural for those who die in the faith of consciousness in death to suppose that they immediately enter upon the glories of the heavenly world. ”

“ Yet I think that we do realize some of the evils to which man is heir by reason of “sin, and death by sin,” which have entered the world. How manifest it is, at the present day, that all the influences of the pit are inciting men to crime, bringing in their trail consequences ten-fold more dreadful than those entailed upon us by the sin of our first parents! If there were one spark of philanthropy existing in the world, methinks it must bleed at beholding the rapid increase of evil within the last few years. ”

“ Is it not selfishness in us to discard the set times which God has fixed, and not man? Where is our faith? Why are we so slow of heart to believe? Three times we have witnessed,—yes, in the lifetime of some of us,—the fulfillment of the “time, times, and a half,” in the accomplishment of the “forty-two months,” in the completion of the “twelve-hundred and three-score days,” and yet, O God, we refuse to believe! Shame on that professor who will not open his eyes!
“‘They tell us we cannot understand prophecy until it is fulfilled. ”

“ Then if I could by any means, in accordance with God’s word, persuade men to believe in a crucified, risen, and coming Saviour, I felt it would have a bearing on the everlasting welfare and happiness of such. I had not a distant thought of disturbing our churches, ministers, religious editors, or departing from the best biblical commentaries or rules which had been recommended for the study of the Scriptures. And even to this day, my opposers have not been able to show where I have departed from any rule laid down by our old standard writers of the Protestant faith. ”